It’s been a long, fallow period for boys from Delaware County at the PIAA Championships. Not since Shane Ryan won four gold medals from 2010-12 has a Delaware County boys swimmer reached the top step of the podium – swimmer or diver, Class 3A or 2A.
Friday and Saturday, a special cohort of swimmers made up for lost time in a hurry.
Ridley’s Shane Eckler did the sprint double at the PIAA Class 3A Championships, leading five gold medals from Delco. More impressive was two 1-2 finishes, Eckler followed by Springfield’s Jake Kennedy in the 50, then Kennedy winning the 100 backstroke with Penncrest’s Jonathan Hoole second.
Kennedy anchored the winning 200 free relay, which also included 100 fly champ Jacob Johnson.
The dynamic between Eckler and Kennedy is particularly telling. They train together at Ridley YMCA. A year ago, Kennedy, the Daily Times Swimmer of the Year, finished sixth in the 50 free and 12th in the 100 free. Eckler was 14th in the 100 free and didn’t final in the 50. Eckler won the District 1 title in the 50 with Kennedy third last month.
At Bucknell, Eckler qualified first from prelims in 20.49, with Kennedy second in 20.65. In the final, Eckler pulled away to win in 20.14 seconds. Kennedy was second in 20.41.
“I practice with him and race him every single day,” Eckler said. “So I feel like when we come here, it’s like we’re swimming a practice, being next to each other in the 50 free final at states.”
“I love swimming with him and racing with him,” Kennedy said. “He gets me back from other years that I’ve been beating him. It’s a good race, good fight between both of us.”
Eckler carried more pressure in the 100 free, having set the top time in prelims and having the 50 free title under his belt. But it didn’t seem to stop him. He was .48 seconds faster at night to win in 44.21.
“I just kind of swim the 100 free like, you know, I’m going to swim a 50 free and then at the end, I’m going to do it again,” Eckler said.
Eckler is Ridley’s first state swimming champion, boys or girls, joining only Josh Bonner’s diving titles in 2003 and 2004. Eckler also helped get a pair of Ridley relays to states, the 200 medley and 200 free both finishing 23rd.
“I’m really proud of getting Ridley out there a little bit more, and I’m really glad that I’m the person that’s able to give Ridley a little bigger name,” Eckler said. “I want to put us on the map a little bit more.”
Ridley added another medal in girls diving Friday, with Jolie Torrens finishing eighth. She scored 211.75 points, easily clear of the ninth-place finisher, to get on the podium. Teammate Ava Keller finished 14th.
Springfield’s 200 free relay on Friday qualified first by eight tenths in prelims in 1:23.95, 1.5 seconds quicker than at districts. They found another half-second in the evening to make it a laugher, winning by a full second, Johnson and Kennedy joined by Alex Chan and Luke Kennedy. Johnson split 20.65 seconds; Jake Kennedy’s split of 19.82 on the anchor was the best of the meet.
“I’m very happy about that,” Kennedy said. “I’ve got 20.0 three or four times now, and I don’t have the best starts – I’m usually a pretty safe starter – but very glad I could get under 20.”
A year ago, Johnson had made the A final in the 100 fly in third but had a disappointing night swim, sliding to third. This time, he was the top seed out of prelims by nearly two seconds. He was .06 slower at night, but his 47.58 still blew the field away by more than a second. Johnson also won the B final of the 100 free on Saturday in 45.98 for ninth overall.
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Ridley’s Shane Eckler stands atop the podium at states in the 100 freestyle during the PIAA Swimming and Diving Championships. (Submitted Photo)
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