Phoenixville’s Padilla scores quadruple gold at PAC Swimming Championships

KING OF PRUSSIA >> After winning two gold medals and two silvers at last year’s Pioneer Athletic Conference girls swimming championship meet, Kenzie Padilla had her own difficult act to follow.

As it turns out, her encore performance was even more impressive.

The Phoenixville senior picked up four gold medals at Saturday’s event, repeating as champion in the 200 freestyle and 100 butterfly while also swimming as a leg on both the 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay teams that placed first as well. Padilla set two pool records in her individual events, breaking her own marks from a year ago while also setting a pool record in the 400 free relay along with Phantoms teammates Brynn Lewis, Maddy Deeney and Liza Barbash.

“It was definitely really exciting,” Padilla said. “I was actually surprised with how well I swam today because I didn’t rest much for this meet, which makes a big difference in swimming. I always try to race everything 100 percent, even in the random dual meets, just to go as fast as I can to get my best time. The 200 free was a huge surprise to me — I swam a lifetime best and was really excited to go under 1:50, which I never had before.”

Both Deeney and Lewis described Padilla as “determined,” and Deeney referred to her teammate as “inspirational” as well.

“I’m so proud of all of us,” Deeney said. “In practice we always push each other in our sets and we worked so hard to do great in our relays. Normally I’m the kind of person to sit behind the blocks and get really nervous and tight, but today I tried to be in the mindset of being excited to swim and not worrying about the clock. I knew our hard work would pay off, and it did.”

Deeney set a pool record in the 100 breaststroke and finished second in the 200 freestyle. Lewis, a freshman, won the 500 freestyle while placing second in the 200 IM.

Methacton’s Madison Wimmer set a pair of pool records en route to winning the 200 IM and 100 freestyle. She was also the anchor leg of the 400 freestyle relay team that finished second, along with Truly Sommer, Lucy Michel and Sam Cancro. Additionally, Sommer nabbed third place in the 500 freestyle.

“For the 200 IM I had to get out fast in my breaststroke, which is not my strongest event,” Wimmer said. “I worked a lot this week on butterfly and backstroke and then tried to bring it home in the freestyle. As for the 100 free, it was an all-out sprint. I think as a team we did really well, with a lot of best times.”

“Amazing,” added Methacton coach Tori Rosa. “We didn’t rest her [Wimmer], with her eyes set on districts and states, so for her to do what she did in the IM today was amazing. Her 100 free is always stellar. As a team, we get so nervous coming into this championship meet, so when everybody swims their best, it means that we had a successful season.”

PAC regular-season champion Owen J. Roberts scored the most team points on the day and featured several stellar performances. Freshman Meredith Hummel captured first place in both the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke while also helping lead the Wildcats to a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay, along with Mackenzie Gorman, Audrey Schroeder and Kaitlyn McGuire.

“She’s a competitor,” Owen J. Roberts head coach Kevin Bott said of Hummel. “She enjoys racing, and even though she’s only a freshman, she’s a very experienced swimmer at a variety of levels, so she knows how to handle herself in meets like this.”

The Wildcats also secured a third-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay behind strong swimming from Gorman, Kate Spencer, Olivia Cooper and Eva Bierman. Schroeder finished second in the 500 freestyle and third in the 200 free, and Gorman placed third in the 200 IM.

Spring-Ford repeated as champions in the 200 freestyle relay thanks to the efforts of Sydney Koehler, Chloe Fennimore, Abby Koehler and Kaia Griffith. Sydney Koehler was second in the 100 breaststroke, while the Rams also nabbed three third-place finishes: Griffith in the 100 butterfly, Abby Koehler in the 100 backstroke and the 200 medley relay (the same quartet as the 200 freestyle).

“I was really happy with our girls’ performance,” Spring-Ford head coach Jack Graham said. “Particularly our two relays, which we think we can get into states. Abby and Kaia had really good individual performances and did exactly what they needed to do. After losing two Division-I swimmers from last year, to come back and repeat as champions in the 200 free relay is something we’re really happy about. That should be good enough to get into districts and hopefully states.”

Other medal winners on the day included Pope John Paul II’s Shae Gonzales (second place, 50 freestyle); Upper Merion’s Abby Yuen (third place, 50 freestyle); Boyertown’s Evelyn Lacock (second place, 100 butterfly) and Tamara Engler (third place, 100 breaststroke); Pottsgrove’s Bayley Richard (second place, 100 freestyle) and the 200 freestyle relay team of Bayley Richard, Colbie Richard, Elsa Lucas and Kennedy Krock; and Upper Perkiomen’s Beatriz Santos (second place, 100 backstroke), Elianna Smith (third place, 100 freestyle) and the third-place 200 freestyle relay team of Smith, Santos, Katie Kovalenko and Charlotte Forte.

At the end of the day, everybody from all of the competing teams seemed satisfied with their results, as well as how the meet went as a whole. Even though everybody there wanted to win their respective events, there was also a tremendous amount of sportsmanship and encouragement involved amongst all of the swimmers.

“That part is always cool,” Graham said of swimmers from different schools supporting each other. “Yeah. you want to do well, but you doing well doesn’t come at the expense of another team.”

PAC Championships results

At Upper Merion

200 medley relay: 1. Phoenixville (Brynn Lewis, Maddy Deeney, Kenzie Padilla, Liza Barbash), 1:47.91; 2. Owen J. Roberts (Mackenzie Gorman, Meredith Hummel, Audrey Schroeder, Kaitlyn McGuire); 3. Spring-Ford (Abby Koehler, Sydney Koehler, Kaia Griffith, Chloe Fennimore)

200 freestyle: 1. Kenzie Padilla, Phoenixville, 1:49.71; 2. Maddy Deeney, Phoenixville, 1:53.88; 3. Audrey Schroeder, Owen J. Roberts, 1:58.32

200 individual medley: 1. Madison Wimmer, Methacton, 2:05.67; 2. Brynn Lewis, Phoenixville, 2:06.62; 3. Mackenzie Gorman, Owen J. Roberts, 2:15.02

50 freestyle: 1. Meredith Hummel, Owen J. Roberts, 24.76; 2. Shae Gonzales, Pope John Paul II, 25.48; 3. Abby Yuen, Upper Merion, 25.50

100 butterfly: 1. Kenzie Padilla, Phoenixville, 54.97; 2. Evelyn Lacock, Boyertown, 1:00.28; 3. Kaia Griffith, Spring-Ford, 1:00.72

200 freestyle relay: 1. Spring-Ford (Sydney Koehler, Chloe Fennimore, Abby Koehler, Kaia Griffith), 1:41.99; 2. Pottsgrove (Elsa Lucas, Kennedy Krock, Colbie Richard, Bayley Richard), 1:43.56; 3. Upper Perkiomen (Elianna Smith, Katie Kovalenko, Charlotte Forte, Beatriz Santos), 1:46.88

100 freestyle: 1. Madison Wimmer, Methacton, 52.44; 2. Bayley Richard, Pottsgrove, 55.17; 3. Elianna Smith, Upper Perkiomen, 55.97

500 freestyle: 1. Brynn Lewis, Phoenixville, 5:08.43; 2. Audrey Schroeder, Owen J. Roberts, 5:16.92; 3. Truly Sommer, Methacton, 5:18.03

100 backstroke: 1. Meredith Hummel, Owen J. Roberts, 59.11; 2. Beatriz Santos, Upper Perkiomen, 1:01.39; 3. Abby Koehler, Spring-Ford, 1:01.83

100 breaststroke: 1. Maddy Deeney, Phoenixville, 1:05.81; 2. Sydney Koehler, Spring-Ford, 1:06.76; 3. Tamara Engler, Boyertown, 1:07.29

400 freestyle relay: 1. Phoenixville (Brynn Lewis, Liza Barbash, Maddy Deeney, Kenzie Padilla), 3:35.45; 2. Methacton (Truly Sommer, Lucy Michel, Sam Cancro, Madison Wimmer), 3:44.50; 3. Owen J. Roberts (Kate Spencer, Olivia Cooper, Eva Bierman, Mackenzie Gorman), 3:48.73