Sherpa has Mt. Lebanon swimming off to fast start
Mt. Lebanon is off to a fast start this swimming season and Rinzen Sherpa is leading the way.
“Rinzen has been putting the work in for months,” said Lebo coach Tom Donati. “He and the other guys are locked in. They want to win the section and have a great championship season.”
Sherpa shattered the Mt. Lebanon High School pool record in the 200-yard individual medley on Dec. 18 during a dual meet with North Allegheny. The junior posted a time of 1:52 in winning the event by more than two seconds over NA’s Danny Lesinski, who finished in 1:54.24.
Lesinki, however, would recover from the loss with vengeance. He shattered the pool record in winning the 100 backstroke in 49.76.
NA’s 200 free relay team of Odin His, Zachary Totin, Alex Harebaugh and Mason Shantz also took down another Lebo pool record as the Tigers went on to sweep the meet, winning 109-71 against the boys and 105-70 against the girls.
Sherpa continued his winning ways as the Lebo boys dominated the competition at the Jim Stacy Memorial Winter Championships held over the holidays at the Spire Institute Academy’s aquatic center in Geneva, Ohio.
The Blue Devils won the boys team title, rolling up 522 points.
Peters Township and Bethel Park followed in second and third place with respective 369 and 294 scores.
Sherpa won the 100 breaststroke in 56.48, a split .27 seconds ahead of his teammate Michale Zhu.
Sherpa also finished first in the 200 IM in 1:51.09.
The Blue Devils also captured first places in the 400 free and 200 medley relays.
On the girls’ side, Mt. Lebanon finished in fifth place with a 260 score. Franklin Regional edged Hudson, 361-360, for first while Brunswick and Mentor tied for third with 292 scores.
“We had an outstanding weekend of swimming at Spire Academy,” said Donati. “Records fell and there were so many fast swims. Plus, our WPIAL team grew.”
The Blue Devils have qualified boys and girls teams in the 200 medley, 200 free and 400 free relays for the WPIAL championships set for Feb. 26-27 at Trees Pool on the University of Pittsburgh’s campus.
In addition to Sherpa and Zhu, several other swimmers have qualified individually for specific races in the championships.
Among the other males so far to meet the qualifying times are: Thomas Vilardaga, Noah Loboda, Lee Campbell, William Thomas, Anton Skorski, Matthew Burton, William Coleman, Rafael Labriola, Benjamin Watterson, and Peter Goslin.
Among the individual Lebo females are: Sarah Albu, Lillyan Evan, Gwyn Davis, Clara Shellenberger and Leah Werzyn.
The Blue Devils, who swept Thomas Jefferson in a dual meet and split decisions against Franklin Regional with a boys victory, 100-85, and a girls loss, 94-84, are back in action this week visiting Fox Chapel on Jan. 5 and entertaining Montour on Jan. 8.
South Hills rivalry meets are set at Upper St. Clair on Jan. 29 and Peters Township on Feb. 12, but the Blue Devils host Bethel Park on Jan. 22.
The Black Hawks feature Jackson Edwards, who won the 100 freestyle (45.44) and backstroke (49.60) races at the Jim Stacy Winter Championships while the Indians boast Wyatt Stetor and Isaac Lee, who are coming off respective wins in the 500 free (4:39.67) and butterfly (51.82) during that meet. Peters Township also won the 200 free relay (1:27.97) in the Jim Stacy championships.