Mahanoy Area's Lily Brown stands atop the podium after winning the girls' 200 IM at Friday's District 11 Swimming Championships at Parkland High School (Photo by Leroy Boyer).

Tamaqua, Blue Mountain capture relay victories

ALLENTOWN — A pair of event changes proved to be golden decisions Friday at the District 11 Swimming Championships at Parkland High School.

Mahanoy Area’s Lily Brown cruised to victory in the girls’ 200-yard individual medley and Marian’s Lydia Strucko dominated the field in the girls’ 100 butterfly during Day 1 of the Class AA competition.

The Schuylkill League won four of the six contested girls’ events Friday, with the Tamaqua 200 medley relay and Blue Mountain 200 freestyle relay also claiming gold.

On the boys’ side, Marian’s Michael Strucko and Blue Mountain’s Brody Moyer also climbing to the top of the podium (see related story: https://www.t102sportsnow.com/2026/02/20/d-11-boys-swimming-eagles-moyer-marians-strucko-race-to-district-11-gold/)

“It feels amazing,” Brown said after winning gold. “I’m just so happy. I feel like I put in so much work to be here. I’m so proud of myself.”

DISTRICT 11 RESULTS: Get the top eight finishers in every event from Friday’s District 11 Swimming Championships at Parkland: https://www.t102sportsnow.com/2026/02/20/d-11-swimming-district-11-day-1-live-results/

Brown, a sophomore, earned a pair of silvers last year, placing second in both the 500 freestyle and 100 backstroke.

She opted this year to compete in the IM instead of the 500 freestyle. Her decision proved to be the right one when she finished first in 2:14.01, 3.35 seconds faster than her seed time.

Blue Mountain sophomore Alayna Hensel was second in 2:21.22.

“I feel like I had a better chance of making states in the 200 IM,” Brown said of why she changed events. “The 500 I felt really wasn’t my event. I like the 200 IM because I think I’m good at all the strokes. I just wanted to switch things up, too.”

Strucko, a junior, won the 200 IM last year in 2:10.51 and placed 10th at states. A backstroke specialist, she analyzed her situation at the state level and felt the butterfly provided the best chance to earn a PIAA medal.

She looked capable of that Friday, winning in a season’s-best 57.49. Tamaqua’s Savannah Wilson was second in 1:02.00.

“I think the past two years, I’ve enjoyed doing the IM,” Strucko said. “I realized I only have two years left and I wanted to branch out and try something new and see where the 100 fly can take me. I’m thankful I’m going to states.

“When I got up on the blocks, I just told myself I’m going to take it out as fast as I can and see what happens. We didn’t taper going into this meet, so I was definitely feeling a little stiff in warm-ups and didn’t know how well I would do.”

While Brown and Strucko were claiming individual gold, the Tamaqua and Blue Mountain relay squads were taking their season-long battle to the district level.

In the 200 medley relay, the Blue Raiders’ quartet of Kate Behun, Wilson, Audrey Nattress and Ava Jones won the event for the second straight year, taking first in a school-record 1:54.68.

“It was really exciting for all of us,” Behun said. “We really came together as a team this season and pushed each other towards it. We’re really excited to go back to states.”

Saucon Valley’s Julia Cort put the Panthers ahead after one leg with a 26.34 split in the backstroke, with freshman sensation Charlotte Hummel putting the Vikings in second.

Wilson answered for Tamaqua, posting a 29.49 split in the breaststroke to move Tamaqua into the lead. Nattress followed with a split of 28.58 in the butterfly to help the Raiders pull away.

The Blue Raiders return to the state meet, where they were 26th in 1:58.26.

“From the block I knew I had the lead, but I knew I had to make that gap a little bigger because we know the freestylers are strong,” Nattress said. “This year, to finally achieve that record, that feels great.”

Tamaqua entered districts seeded No. 1 in all three relays. Blue Mountain spoiled the Blue Raiders’ hopes of a sweep as the foursome of Anna Kaplafka, Hensel, Lola Machamer and Isabella Lafko raced to victory in the 200 freestyle relay.

Salisbury opened the race in the lead as Olivia Amorim was clocked in 25.66. Hensel, Blue Mountain’s second swimmer, used a 25.98 split to put the Eagles into the lead and Machamer pulled away in the third leg. Lafko brought Blue Mountain home in 1:44.59.

The Tamaqua quartet of Janna Brown, Nattress, Jones and Shaylee Gormley was second in 1:46.12.

“The four of us, we’ve worked really hard for that,” Machamer said. “Every day at practice, we knew that this was the most important race for us at districts. We just knew it was very important to win.

“All of us put in our best effort and it went really, really well.”

The relay gold was a big boost to Blue Mountain’s quest to win an eighth straight Class AA team title. The Eagles have scored 222 points through Day 1, with ACC in second at 149 and Tamaqua third in 135.

Other Schuylkill League girls’ medalists Friday:

** Pottsville’s Gianna Laselva was fourth in the 200 freestyle in 2:03.47.

** Gormley was second (24.82) and Schuylkill Haven’s Hope Stauffer was third (25.09) in the 50 freestyle. Cort, the defending two-time Outstanding Swimmer, won gold in 24.10.

Action continues Saturday morning at 10 a.m. with competition in the 100 freestyle, 500 freestyle, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke and 400 freestyle relay.