WILKES-BARRE — Peyton McNulty put herself in state medal contention and helped her relay team to state title contention with a pair of gold-medal performances for Scranton Prep March 3-4 in the District 2 Swimming and Diving Championships at the Wyoming Valley Catholic Youth Center in Wilkes-Barre.
When the seeds for the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Championships came out the day after the district meet concluded, the Scranton Prep sophomore found out she is on the verge of each accomplishment.
McNulty is the ninth seed in the 100-yard backstroke for the March 15-16 Class 2A portion of the state meet at Bucknell University. The top eight swimmers make the finals and earn medals while the next eight go to the consolation finals and score points for their teams.
The Scranton Prep relay team, which McNulty anchored to a district-winning time of 1:37.98, is tied for the top seed with Villa Maria Academy, which posted the exact same time while winning the District 10 title.
“I like to look at my standings, see where I am and then focus on doing the right things to do the best I can for myself and the relays at states,” said McNulty, a Pittston resident, who attended Holy Rosary in Duryea prior to enrolling at Scranton Prep for high school. “ … It’s both exciting and nervous.
“I like to just rely on my team, talk to them, keep the nerves to a minimum and really just focus on having fun with the team in general.”
The Classics won a Lackawanna League title this season and finished second in the district championships with 245 points, 15 behind Dallas.
McNulty won her second straight district title in the backstroke, an event that developed into her best around seventh grade as an age group swimmer. She finished 11th in the state high school meet last season and has qualified for YMCA Nationals as a member of the Pocono Family YMCA.
Along with winning two district gold medals this season to boost her career total to five, McNulty finished third in the 100 breaststroke and was part of a fifth-place 400 freestyle relay team.
Now, concentration is on being ready to try to add to the two state relay medals she won a year ago as a freshman.
“I’ll just focus on technique, make sure I get all the little things right and get every aspect of the race the best it can be,” McNulty said.
Lauren Lanzendoerfer from Jenkins Twp. was the anchor at districts on Scranton Prep’s 200 medley relay team that is the fifth seed in the state meet with a district-winning time of 1:49.02.
McNulty is an alternate for that team and was part of it at times during the season, handling either the backstroke or freestyle legs.
Emily Easton from Exeter Twp. finished fourth in the 500 freestyle and fifth in the 200 freestyle to help Holy Redeemer finish fourth in the team standings.
Wyoming Area finished 15th out of 18 teams with six points.
The Lady Warriors scored their only points of the second day by placing 11th out of 14 in the closing 400 freestyle relay.
CLASS 3A GIRLS
Pittston Area finished last out of eight teams in the District 2-4 Class 3A Subregional girls standings with 84 ½ points.
Juliet Lawler led the Lady Patriots March 4, the second day of the two-day event, with a sixth-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke in 1:08.54. Mackenzie Connors was 10th out of 15 competitors in the same event.
Pittston Area was seventh in the closing 400 freestyle relay.
Katrina Dillon, in the 500 freestyle, and Jordan Zbegner, in the 100 breaststroke, each finished 11th.
Erin Senese was 12th in the 100 freestyle. She had the team’s best finish of the meet, taking fifth in the 100 butterfly on the first day.
Delaware Valley beat out Williamsport, 247 ½-226, for the title.
CLASS 2A BOYS
Wyoming Area finished 12th out of 16 teams in District 2 Class 2A boys with 25 points.
Austin Alder finished 11th in the 100-yard freestyle in 54.37 seconds March 4 after also scoring points the previous day when he was eighth out of 20 in the 50 freestyle.
