BLOOMSBURG All Wellsboro senior Bobby Hill can do now is wait.
The Green Hornets swimmer placed second in the 50 freestyle at the District 4 Class AA Championships on Saturday night at Bloomsburg University with a time that he predicts will be close to receiving one of the 16 additional invites to the PIAA Championships.
Only the champions from last night's 11 events guaranteed themselves an invitation to the state championships at Bucknell University on March 13-14.
"It's killing me that I am going to have to wait a week or so," Hill said.
Hill came up just short of obtaining an automatic bid in the night's marquee sprinting event the 50 freestyle. He was one of five swimmers to reach the wall in under 23 seconds and placed second to Central Columbia's Nathan Hughes by 0.26 seconds. Hill's time of 22.67 seconds was 0.15 seconds faster than his seed time.
"I feel that my time will stack up pretty well and it will be really close to the state times," Hill said. "I'm just not sure if it's quite there. It's going to be right there and hopefully I make it in."
Now, the senior looking for his first trip to the PIAA Championships, will sit back the next several days and nervously wait if his high school swimming career will end or continue for another week.
"It would mean the world to me," said Hill, who has been swimming for Wellsboro for all four years of his high school career. "I always wanted to make it to states and it would be great to make it this year."
Hill, who along with one other Wellsboro boys swimmer practices at Mansfield University, also placed in the 100 free. He finished fourth in a personal-best time of 50.10 seconds. Bloomsburg's Sam Calhoun won the event in 48.85.
Hill's teammate Blair Carson placed fourth in the 100 breaststroke, shaving over a second off his seed time. Blair finished in 1:04.59. Bloomsburg swept the first three places led by Noah Crawford's 1:00.18.
Montoursville sophomore Alek Kraft placed in two events at the District 4 meet after placing in one as a freshman. Kraft finished fifth in the 100 back and sixth in the 200 IM. He was sixth in the backstroke last year. He took over a second off his seed time in the 100 back and 1 seconds off his seed time in the 200 IM.
"It feels good (to take that next step)," Kraft said. "You work hard in practice and then you come here and get your best times, so I feel pretty good.
"My goal was to make states this year, but now this will just make me work harder in practice this coming year and hopefully I'll get back."
The Warriors' Nevan Schulte was sixth in the 100 breaststroke, finishing in 1:07.39.
Jersey Shore's Derek McPherson was fifth in the 500 freestyle, taking over 8 seconds off his seed time and finishing in 5:23.69.
Lewisburg (202 points) placed third in the team race behind Bloomsburg (427) and Central Columbia (278). The Green Dragons were led Adon Shapiro, who placed second in the 500 free. He finished in 4:55.18, over 6 seconds behind Central Columbia's Hunter Krum, who pulled a full body length ahead of Shapiro around lap 13 of the 20-lap event.
Montoursville also cracked the Top 10 in the team standings. The Warriors accumulated 123 points and placed ninth. Wellsboro was 10th with 49.5 points and Jersey Shore 11th with 43.
At Bloomsburg University
Team scores: 1. Bloomsburg 427; 2. Central Columbia 278; 3. Lewisburg 202; 4. Danville 172; 5. Athens, 154; 6. Towanda, 140; 7. Shamokin, 132; 8. Sayre, 128; 9. Montoursville 123; 10. Wellsboro 49.5; 11. Jersey Shore, 43; 12. (tie) North Penn and Midd-West, 17; 14. Mansfield 11; 15. Canton, 8.5; 16. (tie) Warrior Run and Muncy 5; 18. Mount Carmel, 1.
200 medley relay 1. Bloomsburg, 1:41.18; 2. Central Columbia, 1:42.33; 3. Athens, 1:46.17; 4. Lewisburg (Adon Shapiro, Michael Sumfest, Thomas Brouse, Sean Walker), 1:47.09; 5. Shamokin, 1:53.11.
200 yard free 1. Sam Calhoun, Bloomsburg, 1:46.95; 2. Joe Malafronte, Danville, 1:48.22; 3. Michael Sumfest, Lewisburg, 1:49.03; 4. Adon Shapiro, Lewisburg, 1:49.34; 5. Forrest Bennett, Bloomsburg, 1:52.51; 6. Colin Warren, Bloomsburg, 1:53.70.
200 IM 1. Hunter Krum, Central Columbia, 2:01.16; 2. Noah Crawford, Bloomsburg, 2:01.42; 3. Ryan Farrell, Central Columbia, 2:02.53; 4. Altan Frantz, Sayre, 2:03.11; 5. Lyell Hintz, Bloomsburg, 2:05.75; 6. Alek Kraft, Montoursville, 2:12.55.
50 free 1. Nathan Hughes, Central Columbia, 22.41; 2. Bobby Hill, Wellsboro, 22.67; 3. Zach Smith, Danville, 22.68; 4. Blake Burlingame, Towanda, 22.71; 5. James Orzolek, Bloomsburg, 22.87; 6. Josh Wolcott, Sayre, 23.35.
100 butterfly 1. Frank Chen, Athens, 53.38; 2. Altan Frantz, Sayre, 55.36; 3. Jonah Chamberlain, Bloomsburg, 55.65; 4. Lyell Hintz, Bloomsburg, 55.72; 5. Michael Sumfest, Lewisburg, 56.33; 6. Evan Mott, Central Columbia, 57.34.
100 free 1. Sam Calhoun, Bloomsburg, 48.85; 2. Ryan Farrell, Central Columbia, 49.39; 3. Joe Malafronte, Danville, 49.58; 4. Bobby Hill, Wellsboro, 50.10; 5. James Orzolek, Bloomsburg, 50.26; 6. Zach Smith,, Danville, 50.36.
500 free 1. Hunter Krum, Central Columbia, 4:48.78; 2. Adon Shapiro, Lewisburg, 4:55.18; 3. Colin Warren, Bloomsburg, 5:17.75; 4. Josh Scheuren, Shamokin, 5:18.0; 5. Derek McPherson, Jersey Shore, 5:23.69; 6. Chris Malafronte, Danville, 5:26.42.
200 freestyle relay 1. Bloomsburg, 1:30.28; 2. Danville, 1:31.56; 3. Sayre, 1:35.25; 4. Towanda, 1:35.78; 5. Lewisburg (Michael Sumfest, Sean Walker, Kyle Shutt, Adon Shapiro), 1:36.91; 6. Shamokin, 1:39.56.
100 backstroke 1. Frank Chen, Athens, 54.27; 2. Jacob Ryan, Bloomsburg, 58.50; 3. Evan Mott, Central Columbia, 1:00.86; 4. Jonah Chamberlain, Bloomsburg, 1:01.05; 5. Alek Kraft, Montoursville, 1:01.60; 6. Colton Schrencengost, Central Columbia, 1:01.81.
100 breaststroke 1. Noah Crawford, Bloomsburg, 1:00.18; 2. Forrest Bennett, Bloomsburg, 1:02.19; 3. Mitch Fornwald, Bloomsburg, 1:03.70; 4. Blair Carson, Wellsboro, 1:04.59; 5. Chris Malafronte, Danville, 1:07.11; 6. Nevan Schulte, Montoursville, 1:07.39.
400 free relay: 1. Bloomsburg,3:19.63; 2. Central, 3:23.12; 3. Danville, 3:26.73; 4. Sayre, 3:30.58; 5. Athens, 3:35.31; 6. Lewisburg (Michael Sumfest, Sean Walker, Kyle Shutt, Adon Shapiro), 3:42.37.
