NEW KINGSTOWN — Chambersburg’s boys swim team performed better than expected, and finished just behind home-standing Cumberland Valley in the final day of the Mid Penn Swimming Championships.

The Trojans racked up 333.5 points to trail only CV (346), with Hershey in third place (302).

Cristian Pong

Chambersburg coach Chad White said, “The boys outscored their seeds  by 30 points plus, won multiple events, got multiple program top 10s and came really close to taking the title. That’s the closest we have come to a Mid Penn championship tournament title.

“This will give us confidence and motivation for districts and states. In an already amazing season, they found a way to keep surpassing expectations.”

Chambersburg picked up two wins Saturday — Christian Pong touched the wall first in the 100 backstroke in 52.85, leading a contingent of Trojans in the event — Luke Ritchie was 6th (54.18), Griffin Adamek was 8th (56.22) and Xavier Covington was 10th (57.30).

And Cullen McGraw took first place in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:39.91, followed by teammate Ethan White in 4:43.67.

Coach White said, “Cullen swam a controlled race and Ethan stayed tough to pull away for second. Our backstroke group just went off — we outscored our seeds by so much.”

Also for Chambersburg, the 400 freestyle relay team of Alex Kaczmark, McGraw, White and Amir Tasker placed 2nd in 3:08.79 (CV won, just .30 ahead). Kaczmark also placed 3rd in the 100 free.

White said, “Ritchie got best times in everything and is coming on strong as a freshman. Xavier swam well in his last Mid Penn meet. Alex, Amir, Cristian, Cullen and Ethan all put up great times that will be seeded high at districts.”

Audrey Keller

On the girls side, Chambersburg finished 7th in the team race with 121 points, just ahead of Waynesboro (117). State College won with 436 points.

Trojan coach Abbie Reichelderfer said, “We had a huge team effort at this meet. It’s always awesome to see these girls showing up not only for the their team, but for themselves. Everyone had fast swims today.”

Calla Hoffman earned a runner-up finish in the 100 backstroke with a time of 58.76, while teammate Audrey Keller took 9th in 1:01.52. In the 100 breaststroke, Ava Grove placed 11th in 1:12.65.

In the 400 freestyle relay, the Trojans placed 8th in 3:51.28. That team included Keller, Grove, Addie Zimmerman and Hoffman.

Reichelderfer said, “Jade Uglow had a huge drop in time in the 100 breaststroke, Audrey Keller had a great backstroke race. Addie Zimmerman had her fastest times in her leadoff for the 200 free relay and her 100 free. The relays were all fantastic, and everyone’s splits were on point.”