USC leads All-America list
Upper St. Clair placed six individuals and three relays on the National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association/Speedo All-America list. All are members of the high school team as well as the Upper St. Clair Swim Club.
Ryan Dudzinski spearheaded the list. The rising senior ranked third in the nation in the 100-yard backstroke with a 46.88 time and fifth in the 100 butterfly with a 47.44 mark. He had a Top 20 time of 20.52 and ranked 95th in the 200 IM with a 1:51.85.
Dudzinski also combined with Alex Hardwick, Patrick Lersch and Flynn Minuth for a Top 12 time in the nation for the 400 free relay. The All-America foursome covered the course in 3:03.04.
Individually, Hardwick gained All-America acclaim in the 100 free. The Emory University rising freshman clocked a 45.40 to rank him 69th in the country. Minuth gained honors in the 500 free. His 4:32 time is the 73rd best in the nation.
Dudzinski, Hardwick, Minuth, Lersch, Tomos Williams and Nathan Novak also gained distinction for the 200 medley relay with a Top 8 time of 1:31.02.
Minuth, Lersch and Williams all return for their final season of scholastic swimming this fall. Along with Dudzinski, they look to better last year’s WPIAL runner-up showing. The Panthers finished third in the PIAA championships.
In addition to the All-America awards, USC captured the “Virtual National Championship” for boys’ teams with total enrollment between 901-1400. The girls finished fourth.
Times were awarded “power points” and teams submitted their best meet lineup with their best times from the season. Each swimmer had the same event limitation as they do in an actual meet. The Virtual National Championship featured four classifications: fewer than 900 total enrollment, 901-1400, 1401-1900 and over 1900.
Not only did USC win its classification, the squad also beat out all the teams in the 1400-1900 classification. Overall, the boys finished fifth in the country among all public high schools. The entire program, boys and girls, ranked among the top 10 in the country for all school sizes.
“These accolades are appreciated and indicate the high level our team achieved in the 2013-14 season,” said USC head coach Dave Schraven. “We are pleased to be rewarded for all our hard work but we are not satisfied. Our goals are to perform even better next season and we would like to finish the year with a top 5 combined ranking among all public schools in the country.”
MT. Lebanon Aqua Club
Several members of the Mt. Lebanon Aqua Club garnered All-America honors this past scholastic swim season.
Katie Ford led the list, compiled by National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association along with Speedo. Bound for North Carolina this fall, the Mt. Lebanon graduate garnered the recognition four times in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events as well as the 200 and 400 freestyle relays.
Kathryn Nicholson, Meghan Schilken and Veronica Bodganski comprised the 200 free relay while Hannah Bumbarner joined Nicholson, Ford and Schilken in the 400.
While Schilken matriculates to William and Mary this month, Nichols enters her sophomore year at Mt. Lebanon this fall. Bumgarner will be a junior and Bogdanski, a senior, for the Blue Devils.
Drew Damich gained All-America acclaim in the 200 and 500 free races. A WPIAL champion in both events as a sophomore, he starts his senior year at Chartiers Valley in the fall.
Andrei Mihailescu, Brian Ramsey, Noah Wechter and Alex Rice combined for the distinction in the 200 medley relay. All but Rice, a graduate, return to high school at Mt. Lebanon.
Among all states in the country, Pennsylvania finished second behind California in ranking with the most All-America awards. The Golden State had 868 honorees, 510 of them male and 358 of them female. Pennsylvania had 330 total swimmers recognized, 180 men and 150 women.