Salisbury will send two swimmers to the PIAA championships at Bucknell University to compete in individual events. Sophomores Olivia Amorim and Phoebe Ballek earned automatic bids to states by winning gold medals at the District 11 championships held last weekend at Parkland High School.

All eyes were on the pair in the 200-yard freestyle on Friday as they battled for the top spot in the event. Ballek finished with the top time of 1:57.67 with Amorim finishing just :01.44 later, well ahead of the third-place finisher. Senior teammate Allison Beckage finished 16th in the 200-freestyle and 14th in the 100-yard freestyle.

“There was good competition in this race,” said Ballek. “Olivia and I are kind of used to battling with each other in the 200 and sometimes I win and sometimes she wins. I guess today it was my turn. It was a good race and I’m proud of how I did and how she did.”

Ballek shaved over :02 off her of her district time from a year ago.

Amorim’s turn came in the 100-yard butterfly where she finished with a time of 1:00.50 to win gold over Pottsville’s Adalia Laselva, who finished with a time of 1:01.87. Amorim swam the event from the front of the pack and pulled ahead over the final 50 yards with an impressive time of 32.41, the fastest time in the heat as she pulled ahead of Laselva and other competitors to take gold.

“I came in not focusing on this and the 200-free because I knew that wouldn’t work,” said Amorim. “I focused on each race individually because they are so different and when the freestyle was over I turned my attention to doing well in this race.”

Ballek came back on day two and added another piece of gold jewelry when she easily won the 500-yard freestyle, finishing almost :07 ahead of Blue Mountain’s Mollie Sarnes.

“For me this was an easier event than the 200,” said Amorim. “I just felt like I had more competition in the 200 than I did in this race, but I knew it still wouldn’t be easy.”

Last season, both swimmers competed in the 500-yard freestyle at states with Amorim finishing 11th and Ballek finishing just 00.45 behind her in 13th position.

Ballek and Amorim teamed with Beckage and Sally Wiggins for a second-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay and a sixth-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The waiting game begins to see if their time of 3:59.04 will be fast enough to qualify them for a spot in states.

Wiggins, a junior, competed in the packed 50-yard freestyle event and finished 21st.

On the boys’ side of the competition, Cameron Kubinsky finished eighth in the 200-yard IM and Sophomore Emerson Juhasz finished ninth in the 500-yard freestyle and 18th in the 50-yard freestyle. Rafael Carpo 14th in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Kubinsky, Juhasz, Carpo and Charlie Morton swam together to finish in eighth place in both the 200 and 400-yard freestyle relays.

In the team competition, Salisbury’s girls’ team finished in sixth place with 155 points, while the boys’ team placed 10th with 71 points. Blue Mountain High School won both the girls’ and boys’ team competitions.