Weaverling’s finish is good as gold in 100 fly at districts

PHILADELPHIA — Catherine Weaverling has a pile of District 1 medals at home. There’s a silver from the 100-yard butterfly, a couple from the 100 backstroke, plus four from Garnet Valley relays.

But one thing the junior didn’t have was a gold. That was rectified in an exciting race Thursday.

Weaverling timed her finish to perfection in the 100 fly on the first day of the District 1 Swimming and Diving Championships at La Salle University’s Kirk Natatorium, winning an event where the top three swimmers were separated by less than a quarter-second.

Weaverling, who entered as the top seed, finished first in 55.66. It appeared that she had touched out Molly Braun of Upper Dublin in an adjacent lane to repel her biggest threat. But touching the wall between Weaverling and Braun (in 55.84) was Radnor’s Casey Cullen, who went 55.80 in lane 1 to nab silver.

“Honestly, I did not see Casey at all,” Weaverling said. “I really thought the girl next to me (Braun) was going to get me at the end, so I just tried to throw my arms as hard as I could, really put in those last kicks to get to the wall.”

Weaverling was surprised to get there first. She worked her 75-yard wall, coming up just ahead of Braun. The swimmers’ strokes were out of phase, leaving one with a perfect finish to hit the wall at speed and the other to choose between a long glide or a half-stroke. Weaverling was lucky to time it right.

“I’m never really good at touching people out,” she said. “I’m used to getting touched out. So this was kind of a shock to me that I touched someone out.”

The Jags enjoyed relay success in recent years thanks to the All-Delco duo of Weaverling and Noelle DiClemente. With DiClemente at the University of Washington in St. Louis, Weaverling is the Jags’ leader. And a gold medal is a fine reward.

“All the hard work put in from a year ago, it pays off,” she said. “… It feels great. A lot of hard work, it all pays off and it feels really nice.”

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Cullen is likely headed to states in two events, also finishing fifth in the 200 freestyle in 1:52.36. It took 1:55.35 to reach states last year, where eight district champions get automatic bids and the other 24 at-largest are selected by time.

But the biggest swim for shock value was provided by her classmate, Audrey Collins. Collins finished 11th in the 200 individual medley, setting a personal-best of 2:07.73 by lopping 3.37 seconds off her seed time.

“I couldn’t see the board because I have really bad eyesight,” Collins said. “So my friend came over to me and I was like, ‘what did I go?’ And she was like, ‘you went a 2:07.’ And I was so shocked.”

The sophomore has to wait for a lot of district compatriots in the states queue. But the last at-large last year was earned with a time of 2:10.15, which gives Collins lots of reason to hope.

Collins went 2:14.98 at districts last year, one of many things that has changed. Last year, she was 36th in the 100 breaststroke at districts with a season-best of 1:09.69. Over the summer, she pivoted to butterfly and finished 16th in the 100 fly Thursday in 58.54, a drop of 1.22 seconds from her entry time but likely not enough to get to states.

It’s emblematic of the work she’s done in refining her IM stroke by stroke.

“You always have to work on the turns and the underwaters,” she said. “It’s the small things that make or break your race. Without those small things, you won’t go fast.”

Collins will wait and see on states. Cullen is certainly going, and Collins is happy to credit the Raiders’ dynamic with helping her get this far. The team is led by underclassmen, with Collins, Cullen, Avery Barber and Kelsey Wakiyama just sophomores, plus fast freshmen Marina Wang and Campbell Coonley.

“I think it’s really good for our team,” Collins said. “It brings the future of the high school and the team. It brings competition, too, for relay spots. It’s a friendly competitive, but it’s fun, all freshmen and sophomores.”

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Garnet Valley’s Catherine Weaverling, left, and Casey Cullen of Radnor pose with their medals after finishing first and second, respectively, in the District 1 Class 3A 100-yard butterfly Thursday afternoon.