Swimmers Qualify for State Competition

Homeschooled students Aidan and Annika Wanner, independent swimmers who represent the Pequea Valley School District, competed in the PIAA District 3 swimming championship held at Cumberland Valley High School on Feb. 27 and 28. By earning medals in their events, the brother and sister will now compete at states.

According to their father, Matt Wanner, who is also their coach, both swimmers could choose two events to compete in as individuals at districts. Aidan and Annika both chose the 200-yard individual medley (IM) and the 100-yard breaststroke.

"On the first day, Aidan finished in second place in the 200 IM in District 3 and made a personal best time under two minutes. On day two, he finished in third place overall in District 3 for breaststroke," Matt reported. "For the first day, Annika earned the fifth overall in the 200 IM, and on day two, she finished fourth overall in the 100 breaststroke. This means that Aidan qualified for states in both events and Annika qualified for states in the 100 breaststroke event."

As a freshman, Annika competed at districts for the first time this year. Aidan, a senior, competed in districts for the past two years, and this is his second year making states. Aidan and Annika will now compete on Thursday and Friday, March 13 and 14, at the PIAA Swimming and Diving State Championships at Bucknell University.

"There are 12 districts within Pennsylvania. In each of these districts, the first-place finisher is an automatic entry at states," explained Matt. "After those 12, the remaining 20 kids with the fastest and best time throughout the state are invited to swim at states."

States will mark the end of the 2025-26 swim season. "I am proud of the kids," said Matt. "Pequea Valley is not known as a swim school. Back around 2009 or 2010, they had Zach Wilt, and he medaled at states. My oldest son, Ethan, went to states two years in a row; Aidan went, and now Annika is going. Pequea doesn't sponsor a team, but they have had some independent swimmers that have done quite well."

Aidan explained that school districts without a swim team may choose to have independent swimmers representing them instead. "It's not all that uncommon. There are not many schools who have organized swim teams," Aidan said. "There are quite a few schools that have independent swimmers. Swimming is not a super common popular sport."

"Four years ago, my brother approached the athletic director at Pequea Valley and had a meeting with him, and basically, he asked if we could swim for Pequea Valley," Aidan continued. "They didn't provide a coach or a team but set up a meet schedule for us and allowed us to swim affiliated with the school. They were very helpful."

Since Pequea Valley does not have a pool, Annika and Aidan train with the Ephrata Recreation Center club team. "Aidan goes in the morning and again in the afternoon, and I practice every day in afternoon," Annika noted.

Aidan started swimming at age 3, taking lessons at the New Holland Community Pool. "I started when I was 4 years old," Annika added.

In addition to swim lessons, the siblings joined the New Holland Dolphins swim team. "That's where I started swimming in competition at age 5 and Annika stated swimming competitively as well," said Aidan. "I have always loved the water. I loved it so much that I started looking for the next thing, and that was the swim team."

Both Annika and Aidan swim all four strokes, butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle, noting the breaststroke is their strongest event. They have also mastered the art of the flip turn, which is when the swimmer pushes off the wall to complete the next lap. "It's pretty easy. It's like doing a somersault in the water," said Aidan. "You go 180 degrees."

Both Aidan and Annika hope to swim at the college level. In the meantime, they are enjoying the competition, as well as the camaraderie. "At this level, a lot of the kids that are competitors are the same from meet to meet and year to year," said Aidan. "It's a friendly sport. People are really nice."