Upper St. Clair swimmer golden at PIAA Meet
Ryan Dudzinski of Upper St. Clair lowered his state record in winning the 100-yard butterfly during the PIAA championships. Dudzinski won with a record-time of 47.26.
Ryan Dudzinski celebrates after Upper St. Clair won the 200-yard medley relay during the WPIAL championships. He helped the Panthers win the gold in that event during the state finals last weekend.
Ryan Dudzinski arrived home at 3 a.m. on March 15 after successfully competing in the PIAA swimming championships at Bucknell University. At 1 p.m. the Upper St. Clair senior was back in the water competing at the University of Pittsburgh.
He was on a mission. He needed to see how fast he could swim the 100-yard backstroke.
While he is the WPIAL record holder in the race, Dudzinski was disqualified in this year’s race and thus, he could not compete in his premier event against his rival Michael Thomas from Hatboro-Horsham. The senior, who will swim at Cal in college, defended his PIAA title. Named Swimmer of the Meet, Thomas won the race in 46.19, more than three seconds faster than Kevin Liu, also from USC.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, Dudzinski won his race at Pitt. However, his time was 46.72.
“The disqualification is something I have to live with but more for personal reasons I wanted to swim and see where I would have been at the state level. It was hard to watch (the 100 back) and I know my time would not have been gold but it would have been fun to try.”
Dudzinski did, however, have his share of fun at the PIAA meet. He collected four medals, two gold and two silvers. In winning the 100-yard butterfly, he lowered his own state record by .18, finishing with a 47.26 time.
“Ryan’s butterfly was a solid swim,” said coach David Schraven. “How can you say otherwise about a state record performance? I believe he could have gone faster but he didn’t need to in order to win.”
Dudzinski said that he was really happy with his swim. He added, however, that this year’s victory was more special than last year because “I got to watch a teammate in my heat win a medal and another race before me,” he noted of Braedon Wong, who finished fourth, and Jake Johnsen, who won the consolation final and placed ninth overall. “That was so uplifting and I used that as motivation.”
In the medley relay, the motivation was the national public school record. While Dudzinski’s unit of Liu, Fynn Minuty and Wong missed that mark by one-tenth of a second, they garnered the gold with record performance of 1:29.74. The mark is both a school record and a new PIAA mark.
“It’s the second fastest time in the country but unfortunately they don’t make note of that. But, we are the proud holders of that (distinction),” Dudzinski said. “I’m happy with what we did. I know it’s the fastest I have gone,” he added of his 21.34 backstroke leg.
Dudzinski also had a hand in USC’s second-place freestyle relays. The 400 free unit of Dudzinski, Minuth, Wong and Patrick Lersch set a school record with a 3:03.04 finish. The 200 free team of Dudzinski, Tomos Williams, Lersch and Liu also gained a school record with their 1:22.99 time.
“It not the silver medals but the memories we have that are more special to me because I was able to swim with a great group of guys and great competition has made us better,” Dudzinski said, acknowledging La Salle College’s phenomenal performances of 1:22.70 and 3:00.93 in the relays.
The PIAA championships marked the end of a phenomenal career for Dudzinski. In addition to the relays, his name is in the USC High School record books for the 50 free, 100 fly and free.
“It feels weird that it’s over and all of this stops, the dual meets, the representing USC, but I hope that we’ve left a legacy for a while,” Dudzinski said.
Soon, Dudzinski will represent Stanford University. He will swim the back and fly as well as the sprint freestyle races while pursuing a degree in business.
“I have four more years to improve and try to take my swimming to the next level. I’m excited about my Stanford commit. I’m hoping this is just the end of one era and the beginning of another.”
Schraven believes it is indeed the onset of a new era for Dudzinski. “I know he will improve considerably next year when he’s representing Stanford at the NCAA championships,” he said.