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Ten boys and 10 girls will represent Titusville today at the D-10 championships By Ed Topoleski Titusville�s boys and girls swimming teams experienced a tremendous amount of success this season. Finishing with a record of 13-1, the Lady Rockets were co-champions of Region 1 with Franklin. The boys were in the hunt for the Region 1 title most of the season, too, but fell short at the end. But that was the regular season. The second season begins today at 10 a.m. with the District 10 Class AA championships at Penn State Behrend�s Junker Pool. And Titusville will certainly be well represented. Ten Rockets and 10 Lady Rockets will make the trip to Penn State Behrend hoping to earn a free ticket to the PIAA state meet on March 16-17 at Bucknell University. Only the top two finishers in each event will advance to the state meet. Representing the Lady Rockets today are: Christina Graham, DeAnn Pertz, Jayla Pertz, Laura Bromley, Kari Amboyer, Lara Johnson, Kara Hopwood, Katie VanEpps, Melissa Bromley and Aimee Pepple. Lady Rockets Nalisha Kellogg and Becca Wilkens also qualified, but were forced to pull out of today�s competition due to injuries. Those representing the Rockets are: Hunter Amsler, Eric Anderson, Robert Atteberry, David Funk, Cody Hunter, Eric Kelley, Alex Kuberry, Jesse Pattison, Tyson Robbins and Ben Vroman. For all those swimming in today�s championships, the past means nothing. The only thing that matters is how today�s events turn out. �They know that they have to place in the top two to go to states,� said Titusville coach Rhonda Wagonseller. �In some events it depends who enters from other teams and who doesn�t enter. Some events are tougher one year and easier the next year, so it all depends on where other teams put their kids.� But no matter who they�re swimming against, coaches Wagonseller and Kevin Dawson would like nothing more than to take a group of swimmers to the next level. �Nobody went to states last year,� Dawson said before the season started. �That�s one of our goals this year, to get somebody to states.� The following is a brief look at each swimming event and which Titusville swimmers will be competing: Girls 200 Medley Relay � Melissa Bromley, Christina Graham, Laura Bromley and Jayla Pertz will swim for the Lady Rockets in the first of two heats. Titusville qualified for the event with a time of 2:07.69, the best time in the No. 1 heat. In heat No. 2, however, all eight teams have better times. With a time of 1:56.92, Franklin has the best. 200 Freestyle � Four Lady Rockets will compete in this event � Aimee Pepple, Katie VanEpps, DeAnn Pertz and Kara Hopwood. Of the four, Pertz (2:05.61) and Hopwood (2:07.99) have the best times. Oil City�s Taylor Swiedom enters the event with the No. 1 time of 2:02.12. 200 Individual Medley � Jayla Pertz is the lone Lady Rocket in this event. Competing in heat No. 1, Pertz has the third best time of her group. First, second and third in the first heat, however, is decided by just over one second. With a time of 2:18.83, Fairview�s Natalie Rambish has the best time of all swimmers going into the district level. 50 Freestyle � Kari Amboyer is the Lady Rockets� only entrant. She has a time of 27.49, the second best in the first heat. Three swimmers in the second heat have times under 26 seconds. 100 Butterfly � Of the 26 contestants in this event, Katie VanEpps (1:10) and Kara Hopwood (1:07.5) have two of the better times. Corry�s Olivia Zaleski is the automatic favorite to win, however. Zaleski owns the all-time district record with a time of 59.55. 100 Freestyle � Titusville has three competing in this three-heat event � Laura Bromley, Christina Graham and Kari Amboyer. Bromley and Graham will compete in the first heat while Amboyer will be in the second. Of Titusville�s three competitors, Amboyer has the best time (1:00.87). In the third heat, two girls have times under 55 seconds. 500 Freestyle � Aimee Pepple, Jayla Pertz and DeAnn Pertz are set for this one. DeAnn Pertz, who will swim in the third heat, has the sixth best time in District 10 going into the competition (5:48.98). 200 Freestyle Relay � This should be a close one. Kara Hopwood, Christina Graham, Katie VanEpps and DeAnn Pertz will combine here. Together, the group has the sixth best time of the 17 teams competing (1:48.90). Fairview enters as the No. 1 relay with a mark of 1:45.49. 100 Backstroke � Look for Titusville�s Lara Johnson and Melissa Bromley here. Bromley is in the second of two heats with a time of 1:07.99. Franklin�s Carley Spieker was the No. 1 qualifier with a time of just over 1:03. 100 Breaststroke � Laura Bromley and Christina Graham will both swim in the second of three heats with times of 1:18.21 and 1:18.81, respectively. The best qualifying time belongs to North East�s Whitney Henry (1:10.14). 400 Freestyle Relay � The Lady Rockets � Kari Amboyer, Katie VanEpps, Kara Hopwood and DeAnn Pertz � come into this event with the third best qualifying time in District 10 (3:59.08). A strong group from Fairview has the best time (3:50.66). Boys 200 Medley Relay � Titusville is the eight ranked team going into the event with a time of 1:53.12. Eric Kelley, David Funk, Jesse Pattison and Alex Kuberry will team up for the Rockets. With a time of 1:46.87, Franklin enters Saturday�s competition with the best time. 200 Freestyle � Bobby Atteberry and Cody Hunter will represent Titusville here. Hunter�s qualifying mark of 2:01.15 is the fifth best in the district. 200 Individual Medley � Eric Anderson will represent Titusville here. Competing in the second heat, Anderson has the best time with a mark of 2:19.06. There are three swimmers, however, in the third heat with times under 2:10. 50 Freestyle � Sprinting for Titusville will be Alex Kuberry and Ben Vroman. Kuberry is in the second heat while Vroman is in the third. Kuberry enters with a time of 25.65. Vroman�s time of 24.58 is the best in the third heat. In the fourth heat, two Fairview swimmers have times under 24 seconds. 100 Butterfly � Cody Hunter enters this event with the fifth best time in the district (1:00.96). Grove City�s Gregg Tucker (58.14) owns the best time. 100 Freestyle � Ben Vroman, Eric Kelley and Tyson Robbins are penciled to swim in this three-heat event. Robbins, who will swim in the second heat, has Titusville�s best time (54.74). Three swimmers have times under 52 seconds in the third heat. 500 Freestyle � Bobby Atteberry will swim represent Titusville in the second heat. In his heat, Atteberry has the third best time (5:39.49). With a mark of 5:05.11, Corry�s Jared Heine is the swimmer to beat. 200 Freestyle Relay � The Rockets are among the best in this relay. Eric Anderson, Tyson Robbins, Ben Vroman and Cody Hunter join forces for the fifth best time in District 10 (1:39.55). With a time of under 1:35, Fairview could be a handful. 100 Backstroke � Eric Kelley will swim in the first of two heats for the Rockets. He enters with a qualifying time of 1:05.21. In the second heat, Oil City�s Zak Clifford and Franklin�s Jordan Shouey each have qualifying times under one minute. 100 Breaststroke � Four Rockets will battle in this 22-man event. Those competing are Hunter Amsler (1:15.59), Tyson Robbins (1:13.86), David Funk (1:09.83) and Eric Anderson (1:09.71). Wilmington�s Chris Lehberger, who will swim in the third and final heat, has a time of 1:04.93. 400 Freestyle Relay � Only three teams will come into this event with a better time than Titusville�s team of Eric Kelley, Ben Vroman, Tyson Robbins and Cody Hunter). The group enters with a time of 3:41.47. Fairview is the favorite to win the event with a time of 3:29.71. Add a comment |
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