Mt. Lebanon swimmer dominates WPIAL championships
Roy, Zoukovski, Komoroski win gold medals
Sylvia Roy capped her WPIAL swimming career in record fashion. The Mt. Lebanon senior not only claimed her fourth straight individual titles in both the 50-yard freestyle as well as 100-yard freestyle events to become only the third female swimmer in Class 3A to complete the feat, she also smashed three district records.
“Just amazing,” said Lebo swim coach Tom Donati. “Sylvia is just special.”
Alex Hardwick agreed. He swam on Upper St. Clair’s WPIAL championship club in 2011 and excelled at Emory University before returning to coach at Peters Township High School. His swimmers, Ava Komoroski and Lauren Orpitz, finished runner-up to Roy in the 50 free and 100 back respectively during the championships held Feb. 28 and March 1 at Trees Pool on the University of Pittsburgh campus.
“Sylvia’s impressive,” said Hardwick. “I have been coaching for six years and have swum here (at WPIALs) for four, and what she has done doesn’t happen very often.”
Only three female swimmers at the Class 3A level have won eight individual titles. The others were Olivia Livingston from Gateway (50 and 100 free) in 2020 and Melanie Buddemeyer from Penn Hills (200 IM and 100 butterfly) in 1994.
And, Roy shattered two records held by Livingston, who swam for Louisville.
In winning the 50 free, Roy smashed the seven-year WPIAL mark with a time of 22.57. She also broke the 100-yard free record on the lead-off leg in the 400 freestyle relay. In that last event of the two-day competition, Roy clocked a 49.13 to eclipse the Livingston’ time of 49.53 set in 2017.
“That’s crazy because that’s not something I was expecting up until about two weeks ago,” Roy said. “Four years ago, when I was here for my first WPIALs, I didn’t think this was possible.”
The 50 free was always within Roy’s grasp. She had equaled the mark previously but only broke it her senior year when she edged Komoroski in the race held on Day 1 of the competition.
“It’s so exciting. Ever since my freshman year when I was one one-hundredth off of it and then not getting it last year, I knew this was my last chance,” Roy said. “Everything just came together really well. It’s a great feeling.”
Roy was equally elated to set the WPIAL mark in her signature swim. In the 100 back, she shattered the 10-year mark of 53.59 set by North Allegheny’s Jacquelyn Du with a gold-medal swim of 52.53, well ahead of Orpitz, the silver medalist who clocked a 56.60.
“The last two years, I definitely didn’t have that great of swims,” Roy said. “I was so happy to finally get that one out of the way.”
Regarding the championship club in which she now belongs Roy said she is thrilled. “Getting to be one of those few people in the WPIAL history books; putting my name in there, well, it’s really something special.”
MORE WINS
Two other area Almanac swimmers did special things at the WPIAL championships.
While Nazar Zoukovski from Upper St. Clair won his second straight title in the 100 free, Ava Komoroski from Peters Township won her first title in that event. Zoukovski won in 45.38 while Komoroski clocked a 51.68 for her gold medal.
Zoukovski, who finished runner-up in the 200 free, said there were a lot of similarities in his win as he trained in much the same fashion. He hadn’t tapered nor shaved as he is geared up for the PIAA championships set for March 14-15 at Bucknell University.
“I was thinking about the same things, how you train hard and work, but there were quite a bit of differences in this win, especially with the seeding times for me and the other people. I was still worried but I think because of last year my experience helped me.
“Basically it was the same thing all around but it’s obviously still exciting,” Zoukovski continued. “The race, I felt, was good, but I’m hoping to do better at states. At USC, we train for the bigger picture. I’m hopeful that something big is coming up.”
Komoroski was equally thrilled with her triumph and the fact that she, too, will compete at the state championships. She swam a strategic race, focused on her strengths, to capture the gold in the 100 free.
“I started off not going too hard because I knew I wasn’t going to be able to bring it back if I did,” she said.
“I made sure my starts and turns were good and I kicked as hard as I could on the last leg,” Komoroski said.
“It’s crazy. Unbelievable,” she added of the victory. “I was hoping for a while that this would happen but I honestly didn’t think it would because there are just so many great swimmers, especially freestylers in the WPIAL.
“I’m only a sophomore,” she stressed. “I’m just over the moon.”
Harwick was equally ecstatic. He noted that Komoroski did a “nice” job especially in the last 25 yards when she had to “fight off” the competition to put her hand on the wall first.
“That kind of confidence building bodes well for her,” he said. “She knows she can win events like this and she’ll build off it. It’s exciting to see what lies ahead in the next two years and in states.”
While WPIAL champions automatically qualified for the state meet, the other top finishers had to wait to learn if they made the qualifying cuts.
Among the other top individual finishers in the WPIAL Class AAA meet that earned a spot on the podium included:
From USC – Ben Whiteford, third 100 back and butterfly; Griffin Tomscheck, fourth 100 breast and seventh, 50 free.
From Mt. Lebanon – Rinzen Sherpa, fifth, 100 breast; Helen Albu, fifth, 100 free; Lillyan Evan, fifth, 100 back; William Thomas, sixth, 200 free; Noah Loboda, eighth, 50 free
From Peters Township – Isaac Lee, seventh 100 free and fly; Wyatt Stetor, fifth, 200 IM and eighth, 500 free; Orpitz, third, 100 fly.
From Bethel Park – Jackson Edwards, second, 50 free and fourth, 100 back; Cally Edner, eighth, 200 free; Trent Powel, fourth, 100 fly.
Several local relay teams also earned WPIAL medals. Visit www.wpial.org for full results.