McDowell and Cathedral Prep swimmers half of District 10 meet's honored performers

GENEVA, Ohio – Nick Publicover expected to win his maximum four starts during this weekend’s District 10 swimming meet.

Doing so meant the McDowell senior also planned to be in a school van for an upcoming trip to Bucknell University in Lewisburg. That’s where the Class 3A portion of the PIAA meet will run March 13-14.

What Publicover didn’t fathom, though, was being honored for such a perfect sweep. He received the Erie County Aquatic Hall of Fame’s outstanding performer award for large-school males after Saturday’s action at the S.P.I.R.E. Institute.

“I’m just grateful this happened,” Publicover said. “I really didn’t expect this (award).”

Publicover started the third leg of McDowell’s victorious 400-yard freestyle relay on Saturday. He joined Alex Fisher, Deacon Pierce and anchor Camden Pierce for a low time of 3 minutes, 17.90 seconds.

It represented Publicover’s only formal appearance during that session. He won his first three events, the 50 free, 100 butterfly and 200 free relay, during Friday’s competition at S.P.I.R.E.’s natatorium.

Publicover also helped the Trojans win the district’s 3A boys team title with 594 points.

“We’re all doing so good right now,” he said. “I think we’re going to go very far at states.”

McDowell topped the 3A girls team standings with 446 points. That total included those Halaina Palmer contributed as Saturday’s individual victor in the 100 breaststroke. The freshman finished first at 1:08.03.

'An out-of-body experience'

Cathedral Prep, like McDowell, swept the team titles for the meet’s Class 2A portion. Its boys had 472½ points and its girls recorded 407.

The Rambler girls also boasted Maria Costa, recipient of the district’s outstanding small-school female award. The last of the junior’s four district gold medals was for Saturday’s 100 backstroke, which the event’s top seed won at 56.64.

“I feel like the work I’ve put in this season has come up and benefitted me,” Costa said. “I’m ready to do more of this at states.”

While Costa was favored to win Saturday’s 100 back, the same didn’t apply to teammate Kendal Johnston.

The freshman, from an outside lane, stunned even herself to win the 2A girls 100 free.

Johnston’s time of 53.54 was more than two seconds faster than her sixth-place seed time of 55.95. Slippery Rock’s Raely FaJohn, the favorite at 54.88, was second at 54.07.

“That was an out-of-body experience,” Johnston said. “Being honest, I was very nervous. But once I got in the water, everything took a turn (for the) better.”

Jaslene Cage, another freshman for the Ramblers, also won Saturday’s 100 breaststroke. Her victorious time of 1:08.26 was exactly one second faster than her seed time.

More meet honorees

Franklin’s Camden Smith and Meadville’s J.J. Gowetski were the other recipients of outstanding swimmer trophies for the meet.

Smith was a three-time champ. None was more notable than Saturday, when he anchored the Knights to an upset of top-seeded Prep in the 400 free relay. Franklin won at 3:12.31 to the Ramblers’ 3:14.58.

Smith also helped Franklin’s 200 medley relay qualify for states during Friday’s action.

Gowetski was a four-time winner in her last appearance at districts. The senior, bound for John Carroll University this fall, led off Meadville’s first-place 400 free relay (3:42.73) that also included classmates Jaidyn Jordan and Brielle Cheney and junior Bryndyn McCullough.

That win occurred a day after Gowetski set the district’s record for the 3A girls 100 fly (56.38).

'A really nice surprise'

Whenever Sharon star senior Mark Cattron spoke with the Erie Times-News this season, he made sure to mention teammate Nate Dorsch. The St. Bonaventure University recruit inevitably thanked the sophomore, a fellow distance specialist, for pushing him to go faster in the pool.

Dorsch made good on Cattron’s lauds Saturday. He not only set district’s record for the 2A boys 500 free at 4:42.67 but erased the 2017 mark of 4:44.64 set by Prep graduate Alec Thomas, who recently concluded his college swimming career at St. Bonaventure.

“I was expecting around a 4:45,” Dorsch said, “but not that. That was a really nice surprise. I always try to get hyped up before a race. As this one was going on, I was thinking, ‘Look, I worked all year for this!’”

“That helped.”

Dorsch set his record a day after Cattron lowered the district 2A boys mark in the 200 free to 1:42.03. He finished second to Smith in Saturday’s 100 free with a 46.86.

Contact Mike Copper at mcopper@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNcopper.

The team and event champions and PIAA automatic qualifiers during Saturday’s District 10 swimming meet at the S.P.I.R.E. Institute in Geneva, Ohio:

Class 3A girls

Team: 1. McDowell 446, 2. Meadville 315, 3. District 9 DuBois 236, 4. Erie High 51

100-yard freestyle: 1. Sidney Beers (District 9 DuBois) 54.27

500 free: 1. Ellie Wertz (Erie High) 5:24.75

100 backstroke: 1. J.J. Gowetski (Meadville) 57.77

100 breaststroke: 1. Halaina Palmer (McDowell) 1:08.03

400 free relay: 1. Meadville (Jaidyn Jordan, Brielle Cheney, Bryndyn McCullough, J.J. Gowetski) 3:42.73

Class 3A boys

Team: 1. McDowell 594, 2. District 8 Taylor Allderdice 225, 3. District 8 Obama Academy 150, 4. Meadville 141, 5. Erie High 20, 6. District 8 Brashear 13

100-yard freestyle: 1. Deacon Pierce (McDowell) 48.55

500 free: 1. Ben Miller (McDowell) 5:02.18

100 backstroke: 1. Aiden Suzensky (District 8 Taylor Allderdice) 57.39

100 breaststroke: 1. Camden Pierce (McDowell) 1:00.41

400 free relay: 1. McDowell (Alex Fisher, Deacon Pierce, Nick Publicover, Camden Pierce) 3:17.90

Class 2A girls

Team: 1. Cathedral Prep 407, 2. General McLane 298, 3. Slippery Rock 209, 4. Fairview 187, 5. Titusville 150, 6. Harbor Creek 135, 7. North East 130, 8. Sharon 129, 9. Corry 125, 10. (tie) Iroquois and Warren 121, 12. Oil City 111, 13. Grove City 69, 14. Franklin 51, 15. Wilmington 27, 16. Mercyhurst Prep 12, 17. Girard 8, 18. (tie) Maplewood and Union City 4

100-yard freestyle: 1. Kendal Johnston (Cathedral Prep) 53.54; 2. Raely FaJohn (Slippery Rock) 54.07

500 free: 1. Logan Wilson (Sharon) 5:19.60; 2. Katherine Quinn (General McLane) 5:24.84

100 backstroke: 1. Maria Costa (Cathedral Prep) 56.64; 2. Chloe Borrero (Cathedral Prep) 58.70

100 breaststroke: 1. Jaslene Cage (Cathedral Prep) 1:08.26; 2. Ellie Brugger (Cathedral Prep) 1:09.29

400 free relay: 1. Slippery Rock (Season Grant, Maddy Gauselman, Mollie Massella, Raely FaJohn) 3:39.71; 2. Cathedral Prep (Kendal Johnston, Ellie Brugger, Chloe Borrero, Ellie Natemeier) 3:42.77

Class 2A boys

Team: 1. Cathedral Prep 472½, 2. Franklin 255, 3. Fairview 222, 4. Oil City 220, 5. Grove City 165, 6. Sharon 154, 7. Titusville 144, 8. Union City 111, 9. Corry 88½, 10. Girard 63, 11. General McLane 53, 12. Slippery Rock 52, 13. Wilmington 35, 14. Harbor Creek 29, 15. Iroquois 20, 16. West Middlesex 6

100-yard freestyle: 1. Camden Smith (Franklin) 46.11; 2. Mark Cattron (Sharon) 46.86

500 free: 1. Nate Dorsch (Sharon) 4:42.67 (DISTRICT RECORD); 2. Owen Carson (Cathedral Prep) 4:53.35

100 backstroke: 1. Jack Raimy (Cathedral Prep) 50.91; 2. Kye Winslow (Franklin) 55.74

100 breaststroke: 1. Drew Brown (Cathedral Prep) 58.76; 2. Matthew Hinman (Cathedral Prep) 1:00.59

400 free relay: 1. Franklin (Nathan Pfennigwerth, Kye Winslow, Jordan Stumpf, Camden Smith) 3:12.31; 2. Cathedral Prep (Jack Raimy, Callum Snider-Mills, Owen Carson, Colin Troutman) 3:14.58

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: McDowell and Cathedral Prep sweep team titles for D-10 swimming meet