STATE COLLEGE-The Central Mountain boys swim team put it all together this weekened at the PIAA AAA District 6 Swimming Championships held at Penn States McCoy Natatorium. Over the 2 days of swimming, the boys had 13 PR’s out of 14 swims and Junior Jonathan Hughes won gold in the 100 Breaststroke and re-broke his school record with a new time of 59.55. With the victory, Hughes automatically advances to the PIAA AAA State Championships held at Bucknell University on March 13-14. Hughes is the first male swimmer to advance to the state championships since 2001.
Day 1 of the meet started with the 200 Medley Relay. The relay team of Neil Kaluzny, Jonathan Hughes, Cory Matejovich, and Raiden Newcomer fininshed in 3rd place in a time of 1:48.92. Rhys Swift would be next up for the Wildcats. Swift dropped almost 4 seconds in the 200 IM finishing 5th in a time of 2:20.04. In the 50 Freestyle, Raiden Newcomer was 6th in 24.46, Bryce Warren was 7th in 25.68, and Owen Wunder was 8th in 25.82. In the 100 Fly, Hughes and Matejovich both hit PR’s. Huges finished 2nd in 55.58 and Matejovich was 5th in 1:03.66. The final race Friday was the 200 Freestyle Relay. The team of Warren, Wunder, Kaluzny, and Newcomer finished 2nd in 1:41.82.
Day 2 began with the 100 Freestyle. Cory Matejovich led the way for the Wildcats finishing 6th in 55.92, Kaluzny finished in 7th in 55.94, and Newcomer was 8th in 57.28. In the 500 Free, Sophomore Rhys Swift had a huge swim for the Wildcats as he dropped 22 seconds the finish 3rd in 5:27.89. In the 100 Backstroke, Kaluzny finished in the 5th position in 1:03.61 and Wunder was 7th in 1:05.14. The last individual race was the 100 Breaststroke. Jonathan Hughes took the lead early. Going into the final turn, Hughes was narrowly leading Hollidaysburg’s Kaden Henderson. Hughes remained strong through the final 25 yards and outtouched Henderson to win by .18 in a time of 59.55. In the final event of the Championships, the Wildcat 400 Free Relay team of Matejovich, Swift, Warren, and Hughes finished 3rd in 3:42.21.
