Like most in her sport, Alexandra Johnson started swimming at a young age with lessons at the YMCA.

Each year, her instructors encouraged her to try competing. However, she ran into a challenge. As a student at North Pocono, which does not sponsor swimming, Johnson needed to find a way to race and give herself opportunities to develop her skills.

She trains with the Pacers Aquatic Club team, and she competes as an exhibition athlete when Dunmore faces its opponents in the Lackawanna League schedule. The freshman isn’t the first to take this path; she’s just the latest and is having an impact with high goals as the postseason approaches.

“I do wish North Pocono had swimming, but I really enjoy swimming with the Dunmore team,” Johnson said. “It is really fun. I have met a lot of people from all the schools.”

Several swimmers have gone through the regular season as nonscoring athletes. The most recognized is Lakeland graduate Peter Kawash, who won two PIAA Class 2A gold medals in his senior season while racing without a team. North Pocono’s Hope Gilgallon was an All-Region swimmer who won several medals at the District 2 Class 2A Championships and qualified for the PIAA Class 2A Championships.

Johnson has had a strong season. In her first races in a dual meet, she posted the fastest times in the 200-yard freestyle (2:07.97) and the 100 butterfly (1:04.63). Those times would have placed her among the top six finishers in both races at the 2025 District 2 Class 2A Championships.

In her most recent races at Scranton High School, Johnson won the 50 free in a time of 26.58 and the 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:13.45.

At the Ernie Shartle Invitational, Johnson finished second to Scranton Prep’s Ella Schofield, a returning All-Region standout, in the 200 individual medley (2:21.94). She was third in the 100 butterfly (1:01.88) and fourth in the 100 breaststroke (1:11.32). All three times were personal bests according to swimcloud.com.

During the winter season, Johnson balances her races in the Lackawanna League while also competing for Pacers Aquatics Club. Last Saturday, she finished in third place in the 14-year-old standings with 2,712 at the 2026 LAC IMX Extreme Meet at Franklin & Marshall College’s Kunkel Natatorium. At that meet, athletes swim a series of races of varying distances during the one-day meet.

“I am doing well,” Johnson said. “I am excited to compete in more meets. I want to get faster. I want all of my times to get better. I am in a good position right now. Most of all, I want to have fun. It gets hard sometimes to swim every day. The people and athletes are really fun.”

North Pocono also has Haylee Cross, Abigail Krape, and Alaina Kelly competing with athletes from Dunmore.

Krape raced in the 100 breaststroke and the 100 freestyle in the meet at Scranton High School last week. Kelly had strong swims in a recent meet at Elk Lake, where she had a 1:03.75 in the 100 free and a 1:21.65 to finish first in the 100 breaststroke. Cross, a former Scranton Prep swimmer, has season-best times of 1:11.84 in the 100 backstroke and 2:45.28 in the 200 IM against Valley View.

Top finishers

In addition to Johnson, several members of Pacers Aquatic Club had outstanding performances at the LAC IMX Extreme Meet.

The meet has two event sequences. IMX (Extreme), which requires swimmers to compete in six distance events (500 free, 200 back, 200 breaststroke, 200 fly, 200 IM, and the 400 IM). IMP (Ready) consists of five races (200 free, 100 back, 100 breaststroke, 100 fly, and 200 IM).

USA Swimming’s PowerPoint Index determines the point standings.

In IMX, Abington Heights senior Jason Casper finished first in the 18-year-old category with 3,604 points. West Scranton senior Roy Ayala won the 17-year-old division with 3,284 points. Holy Cross sophomore Leo Cholish won the 15-year-old division with 3,201 points in the boys competition.

West Scranton’s Jordan Ayala finished third in the 15-year-old division with 2,134 points.

Holy Cross’ Ava Kochmer won the 17-year-old division with 1,647 points, Scranton Prep’s Ella Schofield won the 16-year-old division with 2,980 points, and Maddie Swarts, an eighth-grader at LaSalle Academy, won the 13-year-old division with 2,442 points.

Abington Heights’ Kacey Johnson (1,891 points) finished third in the 16-year-old division. Abington Heights’ Hadley Pallman (2,942 points) was third in the 15-year-old division. North Pocono’s Johnson (2,712 points) was third in the 14-year-old division.

In IMR, Abington Heights senior Derek Williams won the 17-year-old division with 2,137 points. Jeffrey Gabriel, an eighth-grader at Abington Heights, won the 13-year-old division with 2,788 points.

Look ahead

Arguably, the most intense swimming rivalry is Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the University of Scranton.

Abington Heights faces Scranton Prep, and all four teams will be undefeated heading into the showdown. The dual meet will feature some of the top athletes in District 2 and the state.

Casper was last season’s Times-Tribune Male Swimmer of the Year. Williams and Geoff Stanton are past All-Region performers for the Comets.

Lukas Iannone, who was the Times-Tribune Male Swimmer of the Year as a sophomore, leads Scranton Prep. Ben Kessler was an All-Region swimmer and District 2 Class 2A champion last season for the Cavaliers.

In the girls’ meet, Rebecca Oakes was last season’s Times-Tribune Female Swimmer of the Year. Schofield, Eva Kaszuba, a returning state-medal winner, and Sophia Galko are All-Region swimmers for the Classics.

Gianna Vachino, Katie Giermanski, and Pallman were All-Region swimmers last season.