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Manheim Township’s Jeremiah Gocotano wins the boys 200-yard IM against Cedar Crest during an L-L League Section One swim meet in John W. Davis Natatorium at Cedar Crest High School on Monday, Jan. 16, 2023.

 ANDY BLACKBURN | Staff photographer

LEBANON — Not every challenge a swimmer faces comes from the athletes in the other lanes, nor from the desire to post a new best time.

Sometimes, the unexpected happens.

Grace Welsh of Manheim Township swam the first 50 yards of the 100 backstroke on Monday at Cedar Crest’s John W. Davis Natatorium and then had to pause. Because of an error with the starting horn, the officials stopped the race right away. Welsh, not hearing the officials and teammates telling her to stop, had already made it back and forth across the pool.

After a delay to give the horn a new energy charge, Welsh was able to win despite having already expended some of her energy, taking the race in 1:06.60.

And that was probably the biggest challenge any of the Blue Streaks faced, as Manheim Township swept the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section One meet 122-45 for the boys and 123-47 for the girls.

The Township boys won nine of the 11 events, and the girls swept all of them. But it wasn’t just about the winners.

“I thought Jack Derderian swam well tonight,” Manheim Township head coach Dan Graybill said. “He made the L-L finals even though he didn’t win.”

Manheim Township vs. Cedar Crest - L-L League swimming [photos]

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The only double winner for Manheim Township was Jeremiah Gocotano. Gocotano won the 200 IM in 2:06.94 and the 100 freestyle in 51.20. He beat teammate Adam Pasewicz by .11 seconds in the latter race.

Solo winners for the Blue Streaks were Ryan Maietta with a 22.40 in the 50 freestyle, Marshall Hemmerich with a 58.20 in the 100 butterfly, Cole Stevens with a 57.89 in the 100 backstroke and Brayden Pyott with a 1:05.29 in the 100 breaststroke.

Braden Hain had the two lone wins for the Falcons, taking the 200 freestyle in 1:49.82 and the 500 freestyle in 5:17.73.

“He had a very good day,” Cedar Crest head coach Dawn Smith said. “He showed he could swim in more than one or two events.”

Manheim posted a 1:46.50 in the 200 medley relay (Stevens, Pyott, Matthew Rey, Patrick Breslin), a 1:36.00 in the 200 freestyle relay (Maietta, Davin Urban, Hemmerich, Pasewicz) and a 3:27.27 in the 400 freestyle relay (Maietta, Gocotano, Kent Sarsuelo, Stevens).

“We’ve been able to put different people on different relays and different strokes, and they all did really well,” Graybill said.

Cami Schwartz and Anna Burrowes each won two events for the Township girls. Schwartz won the 200 freestyle in 2:03.66 and the 500 freestyle in 5:30.12, while Burrowes took the 200 IM in 2:24.25 and the 100 breaststroke in 1:15.31.

Other winners for the Blue Streaks were Emilie Mosner with a 25.88 in the 50 freestyle and Anna Sassaman with a 56.72 in the 100 freestyle.

The Streaks’ relay winners were the 200 medley relay (Emerson Mandrell, Mosner, Johana Paparo, Welsh) with a 1:56.95, the 200 freestyle relay (Mosner, Mandrell, Adrianna Anujin, Sassaman) with a 1:45.84 and the 400 freestyle relay team (Schwartz, Katherine Gaalswyk, Harper Yingst, Welsh) with a 4:02.17.

The team of Anujin, Sassaman, Paparo and Burrowes had the best 400 free relay time with a 4:02.05, but was swimming the event as an exhibition that did not count toward the team results.

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