Upper St. Clair finishes fifth in PIAA swimming
Ben Whiteford, Griffin Tomscheck, Liam Tomb and Nazar Zoukovski combined for third place in the 200-yard medley relay during the PIAA Class 3A swimming championships and helped Upper St. Clair to a fifth-place finish in the boys teams standings.
With a handful of swimmers and one diver, Upper St. Clair managed to meet expectations this season.
After tying rivals Bethel Park and Mt. Lebanon for the Section IV banner, the Panthers finished runner-up to North Allegheny for the eight time during the WPIAL Class 3A boys swimming championships held at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool. USC then finished fifth in the team standings during the PIAA championships held March 14-15 at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium.
North Allegheny won its seventh state title with a 215 score while LaSalle College took runner-up honors with 162 points. North Penn and Upper Dublin finished ahead of USC as well with 156 and 143 scores. The Panthers collected 137 points.
“NA is one of the best teams in the country,” said Dave Schraven, who completed his 13th season at the helm at USC. “We wanted that WPIAL runner-up trophy, but our goal at the start of the year was to be top five at states.”
Schraven noted the Panthers were positioned in second place until the breaststroke race and they did not have a team competing in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The breast and free relay are the final races in all swim meets. USC finished 25 points out of the running for the PIAA runner-up slot.
“We ran out of gas,” Schraven said, “but we had a great state meet.”
Indeed, 137 points was the most scored by a Panther squad since the 2015 club took the PIAA runner-up trophy.
“With such a small team, we did an amazing job,” Schraven said. “We were a swimmer or two away from the top.”
USC qualified swimmers in nine events during the state finals: two relays, six individual races and one in diving. Three swimmers reached the podium as did both relays.
Carter Wells secured sixth in diving. As a sophomore, the future is bright because out of the five who beat him, four were seniors.
“Carter dove awesome. He hit all his dives and didn’t make any mistakes,” Schraven said. “He’s improved a lot from last year and if he continues on this trajectory, he’s going to be at the top in the state. Carter is really set up well for next year.”
So are Nazur Zoukovski and Ben Whiteford. Both are juniors and both finished in the top five of their individual races.
Zoukovski grabbed the bronze in the 200 free. His time of 1:39.68 shattered the school record set in 2009 by Kyle Dudzinki, who swam at the University of Virginia. Because both swimmers ahead of him were seniors, Zoukovski has set being “a state champion” as the goal in 2026.
Zoukovski also finished fifth, behind four seniors, in the 100 free. His mark of 44.99 was three tenths of a second off the school record set by Ryan Dudzinki, who was an All-American at Stanford University.
“Nazur had a solid year in his free events but I still think there is more in the tank,” Schraven said.
Schraven added the 200 was a “challenge” for Zoukovski because it came immediately on the heels of anchoring the medley relay team of Whiteford, Griffin Tomsheck and Liam Tomb, to a third-place showing in 1:31.40. Zoukovski clocked a 19.8 on the final leg.
“The relay took a lot out of him. It impacted him but thankfully he was able to break that record, which has been within his reach three times.”
Meanwhile, Whiteford finished fifth in the 100 butterfly as well as the backstroke. He also swam a 20.2 on the final leg of the 200 free relay. The unit, which also included Zoukovski, Tomscheck and Hasan Alhajhusain, claimed fourth-place medals.
“It was good to see Ben get top eight in each of his events. He also had a great lead off in the medley and a great time as anchor in the free relay.”
Whiteford, like Zoukovski, is seeking gold in next year’s PIAA meet. Only one swimmer who finished ahead of him in the butterfly and two in the backstroke were underclassmen and thus returning in 2026.
“Ben told me on the ride home that he’s set a goal to win a gold medal at states,” Schraven said. “I am going to hold him to it. Preparation starts now.”
For Tomb, Alhajhusain and Tomsheck preparations are being made for the future.
Tomb will attend Auburn University and Alhajhusain is leaning towards the University of Pittsburgh and a possible medical career. Neither plans to swim in college.
Tomsheck is seeking an engineering career. Among his college choices is the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he would be able to continue his athletic endeavors. Among Tomsheck’s achievements was swimming the second-fastest breaststroke time in school history. He placed 13th overall in the event at states.
“The only other guy to swim faster was Josh (Matheny),” Schraven said of the 2024 U.S. Olympian. “That’s saying a lot.”
USC’s finale at states also speaks volumes and bodes well for the future.
“We are going to miss the guys that are graduating but hopefully with three state finalists to build around we’ll be continuing the tradition of swimming at USC,” said Schraven, who guided the Panthers to one WPIAL team title. “We had some freshmen that improved a lot this year and we have a strong group of eight graders coming up as well.
“I always have high expectations of my teams,” he continued. “When we meet them, then you know that we had a really good year.”
OTHER RESULTS
Several additional athletes picked up medals during the PIAA Class 3A swimming and diving championships.
Malcolm Thompson from Mt. Lebanon finished fourth in diving with 487.95 points.
Also from Lebo, Rinzen Sherpa secured seventh place in the 200 IM.
Bethel Park’s Jackson Edwards and Peters Township’s Wyatt Stetor reached the consolation finals in their respective races.
A sophomore, Edwards placed 10th in the back and 12th in the 50 free. He helped the medley relay team of Sam Hoppe, TJ Strock and Brady McKiernan to a 15th-place showing.
A freshman, Stetor was 13th in the 200 IM and 15th in the 500 free.
Among the 55 teams competing in the boys division, BP and Lebo finished in 25th and 28th place.