Scranton Prep’s Rebecca Oakes celebrates after winning the 100 freestyle during the District 2 Class 2A swimming championships in Wilkes-Barre on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Tunkhannock Area’s Jaden Baltrusaitis holds up a finger in the air after winning the 100 freestyle during the District 2 Class 2A swimming championships in Wilkes-Barre on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Tunkhannock Area’s Jaden Baltrusaitis celebrates after winning the 100 freestyle during the District 2 Class 2A swimming championships in Wilkes-Barre on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Tunkhannock Area’s Jaden Baltrusaitis, left, and Kyle Kozloski celebrate after they get first and second place in the 100 freestyle during the District 2 Class 2A swimming championships in Wilkes-Barre on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Tunkhannock Area’s Kyle Kozloski competes in the 100 freestyle during the District 2 Class 2A swimming championships in Wilkes-Barre on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Tunkhannock Area’s Jaden Baltrusaitis enters the water for the 100 freestyle during the District 2 Class 2A swimming championships in Wilkes-Barre on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Tunkhannock Area’s Jaden Baltrusaitis competes in the 100 freestyle during the District 2 Class 2A swimming championships in Wilkes-Barre on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Scranton Prep’s Rebecca Oakes competes in the 100 freestyle during the District 2 Class 2A swimming championships in Wilkes-Barre on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Elk Lake’s Brynn Warriner competes in the 100 freestyle during the District 2 Class 2A swimming championships in Wilkes-Barre on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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Scranton Prep’s Rebecca Oakes celebrates after winning the 100 freestyle during the District 2 Class 2A swimming championships in Wilkes-Barre on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
WILKES-BARRE — This season when the Tunkhannock boys and Scranton Prep girls took to the pool, fans knew they were watching special athletes. Their eye-opening times and thrilling swims would leave spectators in awe, and Saturday evening at the Wyoming Valley CYC was no different.
The Tigers rolled to their second straight Class 2A boys championship with a whopping 358 team points, 128 points ahead of second place Dallas. Meanwhile, the Classics were in a battle with Dallas all throughout the weekend, but came out on top, 266.5-253.
Tunkhannock was once again paced by Jaden Baltrusaitis, who captured his second individual gold of the weekend in the 100 freestyle — where just like the 50 freestyle — he and teammate Kyle Kozloski occupied the top two spots on the podium.
“I just wanted to get one last win in my last district race,” Baltrusaitis said. “I got a personal best in the race which was the goal. I put in a lot of hard work so it’s great to see it pay off.”
Tunkhannock’s strength has been its depth and that was on display all weekend as the Tigers won all three relays, capped off by Baltrusaitis, Kozloski, Braydon Christopher and Logan Teaman in the 400 free relay.
“We’ve never won back-to-back titles before so it’s pretty awesome to make school history,” Baltrusaitis said. “These guys all wanted it just as much as I wanted it. We were all working toward the same goal and everyone did their jobs. Now it’s time to go get ready for states.”
Scranton Prep’s stars once again shined.
Eva Kaszuba took home gold in the 100 breaststroke for the second season in a row with a time of 1:04.60, edging teammate Ella Schofield.
“This title means everything to us. We’ve all worked so hard to get to this moment,” Kaszuba said. “I love all these girls to death, most of us have been swimming together since we were little kids sometimes even in this pool (CYC). It’s truly a full circle moment and we couldn’t be happier.”
Rebecca Oakes continued to be one of the Classics’ stalwarts and earned her second individual gold of the meet, taking the 100 freestyle for the second year in a row with a personal best time of 52.78 seconds.
“I was pretty happy with that race. I felt pretty good coming into today,” Oakes said. “One of my goals is to try and get under 52 seconds, so we’ll see if we could do it at states against some of the best competition.”
Other gold medals
Lukas Iannone looked up at the wall and couldn’t believe the time he saw. The time was 51.36 seconds — a new District 2 record in the 100 backstroke. The gold medal was Iannone’s second of the meet after winning the 200 IM on Friday, and broke the record of 51.50 set by Lakeland’s Peter Kawash in 2021.
“I just came into that race with full confidence. I went out really hard because I knew I could get it (the record),” Iannone said. “Peter Kawash was a great swimmer so it’s truly an honor being the holder of that record now.”
Although they didn’t come away with the team title, the weekend was still a great one for the Dallas girls as they added two more gold medals Saturday evening.
Locklynn Bienkowski won the 500 freestyle, lapping the field and winning by 31 seconds. It was her second gold after winning the 200 IM on Friday.
“The 500 is definitely a hard swim,” Bienkowski said. “This feels really good being a freshman coming into districts and being able to succeed at such a high level. I’ve worked really hard all year to try and perfect each stroke and it’s paying off.”
Although the freshmen have been the stars for the Mountaineers, the veteran of the group was able to get her gold medal. Maria Lucia-Priore won the 100 backstroke with a time of 58.34 seconds.
“I’ve trained enough, when I got onto the blocks, I took a deep breath and did my thing,” Lucia-Priore said. “I think I did really, really well this weekend and am excited for states to see what I could do.”
Bienkowski and Lucia-Priore also teamed up with Julia Gavlick and Macie Stauffer to close out the meet with a win the 400 freestyle relay.
Coming into the weekend, Holy Cross’s Leo Cholish didn’t think think he would be leaving with two gold medals around his neck, but he did just that. Cholish’s 1:02.27 was good enough to win the 100 breaststroke. He also won the 100 butterfly Friday evening.
“The 100 breast is one of my best events so I was looking to do really well in it,” Cholish said. “I can’t thank my coaches from both Holy Cross and Pacers Aquatics Club enough. They’ve prepared me all year for this, it’s been really great.”
The 500 freestyle has become a specialty for Lake-Lehman’s Connor Runquist. The Black Knights distance specialist won the event for the second consecutive season this year with a time of 5:00.72.
“You just got to tell yourself you’re going to win from the outset. A lot of distance swimming is mental and I’ve really trained to help myself with that,” Runquist said. “This means a lot to me and a lot to my school. It’s really exciting.”
Saturday’s results
Girls team scores: Scranton Prep 266.50; Dallas 253; Elk Lake 163; Wyoming Area 136; Lake-Lehman 133; Wallenpaupack 119; Holy Redeemer 75; Valley View 56.50; North Pocono 25; Dunmore 25; Wyoming Seminary 23; Holy Cross 17.
Girls 100 Free: Rebecca Oakes (SP) 52.78; Brynn Warriner (EL) 53.71; Macie Stauffer (DAL) 54.49; Ameriana Walker (WA) 59.85; Reilly Sprague (VV) 1:02.46; Katherine Kolosovskiy (SP) 1:02.46.
Girls 500 Free: Locklynn Bienkowski (DAL) 5:14.16; Hannah Kuhar (LL) 5:45.66; Julia Gavlick (DAL) 5:46.66; Anna Millett (SP) 5:54.53; Samira Feller (WAL) 6:03.18; Alayna Stang (EL) 6:14.08.
Girls 100 Back: Maria Lucia-Priore (DAL) 58.34; Sophia Galko (SP) 1:04.25; Chelsea Grosvenor (EL) 1:04.32; Bree Harry (WA) 1:07.12; Zoey Stuckey (WAL) 1:07.50; Katherine Kolosovskiy (SP) 1:09.68.
Girls 100 Breast: Eva Kaszuba (SP) 1:04.60; Ella Schofield (SP) 1:05.65; Alexandra Johnson (NP) 1:09.03; Carlee Monko (LL) 1:12.70; Ava Kochmer (HC) 1:14.25; Myla Kopa (SP) 1:15.20.
Girls 400 Free Relay: Dallas (Julia Gavlick, Locklynn Bienkowski, Maria Lucia-Priore, Macie Stauffer) 3:40.77; Elk Lake 3:53.89; Scranton Prep 4:03.71; Wyoming Area 4:12.52; Holy Redeemer 4:25.81; Valley View 4:34.53.
Boys team scores: Tunkhannock 358; Dallas 230; Lake-Lehman 225; Scranton Prep 141; Holy Cross 87; Elk Lake 75; Holy Redeemer 60; Wallenpaupack 55; Wyoming Seminary 53; Berwick 19; Dunmore 18; Valley View 14; Wyoming Area 9.
Boys 100 Free: Jaden Baltrusaitis (TUN) 46.57; Kyle Kozloski (TUN) 47.20; Chase Kresge (DAL) 49.86; Simon Madore (HC) 50.57; Aiden Gallagher (LL) 50.69; Isaiah Jones (EL) 50.78.
Boys 500 Free: 1. Connor Runquist (LL) 5:00.72; Sawyer Valkenburg (DAL) 5:02.97; Braydon Christopher (TUN) 5:15.64; Isaiah Jones (EL) 5:19.85; Jackson Sitkowski (DAL) 5:21.17; Liam Thomas (LL) 5:21.82.
Boys 100 Back: Lukas Iannone (SP) 51.36 (meet record, old record; Peter Kawash, Lakeland 51.50, 2021); Ben Kessler (SP) 54.25; Logan Teaman (TUN) 55.91; Aidan Mislevy (TUN) 56.18; Noah Fry (TUN) 1:04.55; Noah Belfino (DAL) 1:05.03.
Boys 100 Breast: Leo Cholish (HC) 1:02.27; Noah Salters (TUN) 1:03.83; Ryan McGurk (LL) 1:05.15; Jack Kashatus (LL) 1:06.28; Michael DeVitto (SP) 1:08.02; Callum Jerome (TUN) 1:08.41.
Boys 400 Free Relay: Tunkhannock (Kyle Kozloski, Braydon Christopher, Logan Teaman, Jaden Baltrusaitis) 3:14.94; Dallas 3:20.72; Lake-Lehman 3:22.66; Elk Lake 3:45.08; Holy Redeemer 3:45.87; Holy Cross 3:50.79.