Elk Lake’s Phillips grabs pair of state medals

Elk Lake junior Adam Phillips headed to Bucknell University on Tuesday with a modest goal to win one medal and reach the consolation finals in his individual events.

After earning a medal on the first day of competition he added a second trip to the medal stand.

Another strong performance on Day 2 of the PIAA Class AA Swimming and Diving Championships at Kinney Natatorium on Thursday led Phillips to his second medal, this time in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Qualifying eighth with a time of 1:00.94 after the morning preliminary heats, Phillips shaved time off and placed seventh in 1:00.61.

Bloomsburg senior Zach Stephens won the race in a state-record time of 55.64.

On Wednesday, Phillips won a seventh-place medal in the 200 individual medley after coming into the competition seeded 16th.

On Wednesday, after an outstanding swim in the morning, Phillips had jumped up from his 16th seed time of 2:03.4 to post a time of 1:59.40 that put him in the final.

Once there, and with a medal secure, he touched in 2:00.21 to place seventh. Bloomsburg senior Zach Stephens won in 1:51.12

“This means a lot to me,” Phillips said. “I didn’t swim my best in the final, but that gives me a goal for next year. In the morning, I was really happy because my goal was to reach the consolation final and focus on the breaststroke. There was a lot of excitement when I saw that time.”

Elk Lake, on the strength of Phillips’ performance, totaled 24 points to place 26th. Shady Side Academy won the team title with 190 points.

Also competing for Elk Lake was Chelsea Karabin, who took part in the 50 yard freestyle, where she placed 25th in the preliminaries on Wednesday.

Karabin was seeded at a time of 25.21, and finished with a time of 25.53 at states.