Tamaqua's Shaylee Gormley looks up at the scoreboard after winning the 50-yard freestyle at Saturday's Schuylkill League Swimming Championships (Photo by Rebecca Donohue).

Tamaqua freshman wins 50, 100 in Schuylkill League meet debut

POTTSVILLE — Tamaqua’s Shaylee Gormley faced a tough decision entering her freshman year.

Play basketball … compete in swimming … or both.

Gormley weighed her options and chose swimming. She proved her decision was the correct one Saturday at the Schuylkill League Swimming Championships.

Gormley took first in both the 50-yard freestyle and 100 freestyle and swam on two winning relays during the annual league meet at Pottsville’s Ned Hampford Natatorium.

On a day that saw Tamaqua’s Savannah Wilson break her own meet record in the 100 breaststroke, Marian’s Lydia Strucko dominate her two events and returning state qualifiers Hope Stauffer of Schuylkill Haven and Lily Brown of Mahanoy Area score victories, Gormley was the only girls’ swimmer to take home four gold medals.

“It was really tough for me because over the summer I did not know what I was going to do,” Gormley said of her decision. “It was really heartbreaking for me because basketball has always been a game that I loved. I had played basketball since I was younger, about the same time I started swimming.

“They never really conflicted with each other. Going into my freshman year I knew that the schedules for basketball and swimming schedules would conflict. They would be at the exact same times. … It wouldn’t complement each other. I knew I had to choose.

“Honestly, swimming is something that I was trying to take a lot more serious over the last two years. I really want to be committed, I want to be serious, I want to be seen and make an impression.

“For my own best interest, I knew that committing to swimming would be best.”

She certainly made an impression Saturday.

Gormley swam a personal-best in the 50 freestyle, winning in 25.22 seconds. She also swam a season-best in the 100 free, winning in 55.90.

Her best performance came as Tamaqua’s anchor in the 200 freestyle relay, where she rallied past Blue Mountain’s Isabella Lafko over the final 25 yards to lift the Blue Raiders’ quartet of Janna Brown, Audrey Nattress, Ava Jones and Gormley to a victory in 1:47.27. The Eagles were second in 1:47.62.

Gormley’s 200 free relay split was 24.43 seconds. She went 55.97 as the anchor in the 400 freestyle relay as the Blue Raiders’ team of Brown, Kate Behun, Wilson and Gormley won in a season-best 3:53.12 … 7.28 seconds faster than its seed time.

“In the 50, I definitely tried to approach it with the mindset of that I’m here, do your best, make the impression and get a really good time … and that’s what I did,” Gormley said. “I PR’d … I swam two tenths faster than my PR time ever.

“For my 100 … I knew what it would mean to me to go back-to-back and win two gold medals as a freshman. I knew it could do it.

“I’m really proud of what I did here today. I have high expectations.”

Strucko captured the 100 butterfly in a race that also featured Stauffer and Wilson, taking gold in 59.78. She cruised to victory in the 100 backstroke in 57.49, with Brown taking second in 1:00.50.

“This meet … it’s been a tough week with the snow and I was away for a couple of days,” said Strucko, who was sixth in the 100 backstroke at states last year. “I wasn’t sure what the outcome would be. I went in with a really positive attitude.

“The 100 fly was a new race for me. The past two years I did the 200 IM, so I wanted to have some fun doing something new.

“I went out, did my best and really used the atmosphere and motivation from the other girls to swim fast.”

Stauffer won the 200 freestyle in 2:03.47, while Blue Mountain’s Alayna Hensel won the 200 IM in 2:22.33. Brown won the 500 freestyle in a season-best 5:30.95.

In her final individual event at leagues, Wilson broke her own meet record by winning the 100 breaststroke for the third straight year in 1:07.31. Wilson had set the previous meet record by winning in 1:07.34 last year.

A two-time District 11 champion in the event, Wilson was sixth at states in the 100 breaststroke last year. She plans to swim collegiately at East Stroudsburg University.

“I had no idea that last year I got the (meet) record until (it was posted on T102 Sports Now),” Wilson said. “I was hoping to go high 1:06, but my time was really good. I’m looking forward to districts even more now, especially in the breaststroke.

“I’m really proud of my progress and my records. I think it really paid off today. It feels really good, it does. I’m really happy.”

Schuylkill League Swimming Championships

At Ned Hampford Natatorium, Pottsville

Saturday’s girls’ results

Teams participating: Blue Mountain (BM), Mahanoy Area (Mah), Marian (Mar), North Schuylkill (NS), Pottsville (Potts), Schuylkill Haven (SH), Tamaqua (Tam)

200 medley relay — 1. Tamaqua A (Behun, Wilson, Nattress, Jones) 1:57.39, 2. Mahanoy Area A 2:03.24, 3. Schuylkill Haven A 2:09.16, 4. Blue Mountain A 2:09.80, 5. Marian A, 6. Blue Mountain B

200 freestyle — 1. Hope Stauffer (SH) 2:03.47, 2. Laselva (Potts) 2:04.50, 3. Wolfe (NS) 2:09.05, 4. Lafko (BM) 2:09.79, 5. Crossen (BM) 2:14.90, 6. Daynorovicz (BM) 2:16.89

200 IM — 1. Alayna Hensel (BM) 2:22.33, 2. Blozousky (NS) 2:33.73, 3. Stone (BM) 2:35.30, 4. L. Clemson (Tam) 2:36.83, 5. Kardisco (Mah) 2:50.71, 6. Bones (Mar) 2:53.85

50 freestyle — 1. Shaylee Gormley (Tam) 25.22, 2. C. Stauffer (SH) 26.55, 3. (tie) Kaplafka (BM) and Brown (Tam) 27.12, 5. Machamer (BM) 27.34, 6. Scheuer (BM) 27.89

100 butterfly — 1. Lydia Strucko (Mar) 59.78, 2. H. Stauffer (SH) 1:04.19, 3. Wilson (Tam) 1:05.72, 4. Nattress (Tam) 1:07.45, 5. Blozousky (NS) 1:09.55, 6. Seidel (BM) 1:13.87

200 freestyle relay — 1. Tamaqua A (Brown, Nattress, Jones, Gormley) 1:47.27, 2. Blue Mountain A 1:47.62, 3. Mahanoy Area A 1:50.83, 4. Schuylkill Haven A 1:51.83, 5. Pottsville A 1:53.54, 6. North Schuylkill A 1:54.46

100 freestyle — 1. Shaylee Gormley (Tam) 55.90, 2. Wolfe (NS) 58.67, 3. C. Stauffer (SH) 58.68, 4. Kaplafka (BM) 1:01.05, 5. Brown (Tam) 1:01.19, 6. Bellan-Huchery (BM) 1:03.98

500 freestyle — 1. Lily Brown (Mah) 5:30.95, 2. Laselva (Potts) 5:37.22, 3. Lafko (BM) 5:49.05, 4. Behun (Tam) 5:52.91, 5. Daynorovicz (BM) 5:59.19, 6. Crossen (BM) 6:02.09

100 backstroke — 1. Lydia Strucko (Mar) 57.49, 2. Brown (Mah) 1:00.50, 3. Behun (Tam) 1:07.08, 4. Machamer (BM) 1:09.03, 5. Nattress (Tam) 1:10.38, 6. Scully (Mah) 1:12.12

100 breaststroke — 1. Savannah Wilson (Tam) 1:07.31 (meet record), 2. Hensel (BM) 1:11.73, 3. Van Orden (Potts) 1:18.64, 4. Bones (BM) 1:22.33, 5. Kardisco (Mah) 1:22.59, 6. Jones (Tam) 1:27.56

400 freestyle relay — 1. Tamaqua A (Brown, Behun, Wilson, Gormley) 3:53.12, 2. Blue Mountain A 3:59.82, 3. North Schuylkill A 4:16.68, 4. Pottsville A 4:19.96, 5. Marian A 4:36.04, 6. Blue Mountain B 4:38.18