Beatriz Santos earned Upper Perkiomen's only gold medal during last weekend's District One Class AA championships. The ninth grader won the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:07.13 on Friday, Feb. 24 at the York County YMCA.

            The following day, she added a silver medal in the 100 backstroke in the

Beatriz Santos and Charlotte Forte display their medals from last week's District One Class 2A  Swimming championships.

Graham Aquatic Center. Her time of 1:00.71 was fractions of a second behind event winner Gracie Toland, a ninth grader from Springfield (Montco.).

            Upper Perkiomen's boys earned 10 medals. Head coach Brien Kalnoski described the performance as the first time in his coaching career that an entire team posted 100 percent best times in a single session at districts.

            Santos earned the school's only automatic berth in the PIAA Championships, which is scheduled for March 14-15 at Bucknell University. Kalnoski said he expects her to qualify for states in the 100 butterfly when the berths are announced around noon on Monday, March 6.

            Kalnoski said he wasn't surprised by Santos' performance, describing her as a competitor.  "I'd like to think Beatriz has a champion's mindset," he said.

            Seeded second in both events, Santos opened her meet with a personal best in the 100 fly. She edged Keriann Collison, a sophomore from Villa Maria Academy, for the gold medal.

            The following day, she finished second in the 100 backstroke. Despite struggling with the turns, Santos posted a season-best time.  "They were terrible," Kalnoski said of the turns. "She cracked her heels on the first turn. There should be significant room for improvement."

            Charlotte Forte earned the girls only other medal. She finished sixth in the 500 free with a time of 5:548.03.

            Eric Harter paced the Tribe boys with a second-place finish in the 50 free with a time of 22.38 seconds. He added a third-place finish in the 100 breaststroke (1:02.21).

            Nolan McCloskey finished second in the 100 backstroke (55.91 seconds) and third in the 200 free (1:49.15). Hunter Francisco added a third-place finish in the 500 free (5:06.41).

            Evan Harter earned two individual medals. The ninth grader finished fifth in the 200 IM (2:10.89) and sixth in the 100 backstroke (59.2 seconds).

            All three of the boys relays reached the medal stand. Eric Harter, Francisco, Andrew Kelly and McCloskey combined to finish second in the 400 free relay. A 3:22.48 finish trimmed nearly 10 seconds off their seed time.

            In the Tribe's 200 free relay the same quartet took fourth place with a time of 1:33.45.

            The 200 medley relay – which included Brayden Favre, Spencer Hartzell, Evan Harter and Parker Elliott – finished sixth (1:50.28).

            The coach expressed pride in the boys overall performance, a fourth-place finish out of nine teams. With 153 points, the Indians finished nine points behind Upper Moreland – which featured six additional swimmers and also earned diving points – for third place. 

            According to the coach, several of the boys – including McCloskey, Eric Harter and Francisco – have a shot to qualify for states. He also suggested that the 200 and 400 free relay teams could advance.