Swimming: Fallston Boys, Patterson Mill Girls, Take Regional Titles

Fallston and Patterson Mill ruled the pool in Saturday's 123A North Regional meet at Magnolia Middle School. The Cougars boys bested second place Havre de Grace for the title while the Huskies finished third. On the girls the side, the Huskies edged second place North Harford, 308 to 304, with the Cougars one more point out of the mix.

The Fallston boys opened the meet setting a new record in the 200 yard medley relay with a time of 1:48.54. Senior Dan Power led off the relay followed by classmate Jared Anzelc, sophomore Austin Appel and junior Grant Burgess.

A Burgess struck again in the second boys event of the day, when Sam won the 200 yard freestyle with a time of two minutes flat, besting Havre de Grace junior Daniel Schoeberlein by 0.68 seconds. Patterson Mill senior Billy Lang finished third (2:05.76).

Patterson Mill junior Emily Hirschman won the girls 200 yard freestyle in 2:15.64. She was followed by Bel Air junior Erika Armetta and Fallston senior Stephanie D'Anna.

Another local swimmer set a meet record in the 200 meter individual medley. Harford Tech junior Brandon Carestia's time of 2:06.29 beat Fallston freshman Ryan Hutchens (2:16.18) by nearly 10 seconds. On the girls side, Fallston sophomore Madison Brown (2:19.7) beat Harford Tech junior Katie Doleschal by 13.9 seconds.

Patterson Mill senior Myles Daniels (24.21 seconds) and Bel Air senior Carley Nitchie (25.6 seconds—meet record) won the boys and girls 50 yard freestyle, respectively.

In the boys 100 yard butterfly, Fallston's Appel and senior T.J. Barry finished one-two. North Harford senior Alexandra Jacobs beat Bel Air junior Chan Taylor.

Fallston's Grant Burgess and Bel Air's Nitchie won the boys and girls 100 yard freestyle, respectively.

In the 500 yard freestyle, Patterson Mill senior Collin Hickey (5:17.07) beat Fallston's Sam Burgess by 11.23 seconds. Fallston sophomore Madison Brown (5:38.85) dominated the girls side, beating second place Elizabeth Hays, a Patterson Mill senior, by 20.27 seconds.

Havre de Grace took the boys 200 yard freestyle while Fallston, Patterson Mill, Bel Air and Harford Tech rounded out the top five. Bel Air and Patterson Mill's girls finished one-two in the same event.

Harford Tech's Carestia (56.47 seconds) struck again in the boys 100 yard backstroke, beating Fallston's Appel (59.81) and Patterson Mill's Hickey (1:00.76). North Harford's Zoey Friedel won the girls event (1:08.10), beating Fallston sophomore Sarah Roesner by 6.18 seconds.

Havre de Grace's Robbie Orzewicz won the boys 100 yard breaststroke (1:08.10) ahead of Fallston's Anzel and Hutchens, who tied for second (1:11.78). On the girls side, North Harford's Jacobs (1:15.58) beat Harford Tech's Doleschal.

In the day's final event, Fallston's 400 yard freestyle relay team beat Havre de Grace by more than 10 seconds with Patterson Mill finishing third. Bel Air won the same event on the girls side, beating North Harford, Patterson Mill and Fallston, which finished second through fourth, respectively.

The state finals take place Saturday at the University of Maryland.

CORRECTION: An earlier edition of this article omitted Sam Burgess's first name for an event. Bel Air Patch regrets the error.