South Hills swimmers golden on first day of WPIAL championships
South Hills swimmers came up golden on the first day of the WPIAL Class AAA championships held at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool. And, the ripple effect of all that glitter revealed Mt. Lebanon and Upper St. Clair battling North Allegheny for the top three slots in the team standings.
Thanks to depth, the Tigers stood atop the leader board in both the girls’ and boys’ division with 219 and 248 points respectively. Lebo followed in second place with a 189.2 girls’ score and a 186 total for the boys. USC took third with 148 and 145 points respectively.
The Panthers started the meet by sweeping the 200-yard medley relay. The girls coasted to victory in 1:44.97 while the boys posted a 1:32.43 time. Maeve Lersch, Maddie Yoos, Ynyra Bohan and Lindsey Choate comprised the girls’ unit. Jack Fitzpatrick, Kevin Liu, Braedon Wong and Brandon Novak made up the boys’ foursome.
A senior, Wong also led a sweep of the 100-yard butterfly race. Mt. Lebanon freshman Trinity Ward captured the event on the ladies’ side. Wong won in 49.72.
“It went as I expected,” said Wong, who noted previously he had taken it out too fast to start the race but dialed it back a bit and that resulted in a great race and time. “I’m really excited because this is my first individual win,” added Wong, who has been on successful relays for USC. “It feels good. It’s a big pay off considering all the hard work I have put into this.”
Wong plans to go harder still. The senior, like many of the other top competitors, are now qualified for the PIAA championships set for March 15-19 at Bucknell University.
“I expect to swim as hard as I can and as best that I can,” he said. “I do want to win. I think I can go faster.”
Meanwhile, Ward went so fast, she shaved almost two seconds off her seed time and beat the competition by more than that margin. She won the female fly in 55.46.
A swimmer since third grade, she said that she loves the sport. “The thrill of racing is absolutely amazing. It brings out the best in you. I love just racing and going as fast as I can. But, I really did not expect that time. I have to thank all my coaches for all the hard work they put into helping us improve.”
Lebo improved on its showing by sweeping the 50-yard freestyle races. Angie Gyurina won in 23.79 while Jack Rice won in 21.21. Though both were seeded first in the event, neither started their careers as sprinters. In fact, Gyurina has only been swimming for two years. She started as a basketball player. She continues however, to run track.
“I’m a competitor,” she explained about her ability to win. Regarding her race, which allows for no margin of error, she said, “my breakout wasn’t the best but the biggest thing that worked for me was my turn.”
After her win, Gyurina knew it was Rice’s turn. “We said to each other before the meet begin, ‘we could both win the 50 free. Let’s do it,'” she said.
Rice switched to the shorter distance, only recently, and without much hesitation. The junior said that he was a 100- and 200-yard freestyler but he embraced the change. “”Yes, I love the 50 free. It’s a shorter event.”
Rice acknowledged, however, it is not that simple to win. “It all has to be perfect,” he said. “I felt (my race) was the most perfect it could have been. My start and my turn were the best I’ve done all year. I just went for it.”
Rice, too, hopes to go for it at states. He looks to shave his time down to 20.9 and hopes that maybe it will be good enough for a spot on the podium. But, he held back a bit in anchoring the team of Mason and Maxwell Gonzalez as well as Jack Wright to a silver medal in the 200 free relay. “I felt the relay went well but I tried to keep it safe. You don’t want to DQ,” he explained. “But, all in all, I felt like the day could not have gone better for us.”
The day went splendidly for several other swimmers. The Lebo ladies won the 200 free relay. Gyurina anchored the unit of Alison Shapiro, Hannah Bumgarner and Emma Buerger to victory in 1:34.79.
Lebo’s Brian Ramsey and Peters Township’s Abby Hay swept the 200-yard individual medley races.
Ramsey edged top-seeded Kevin Liu from USC. He won the race in 1:52.14. Liu secured second with a 1:53.30 time. Ramsey measured his race based on his friendly foe’s position. “I saw I was close to (Liu) in the back and there was no one else ahead of him so I just put my head down and fought through it,” Ramsey said. “I was happy (with my performance). That was a three-second drop from my time. The breaststroke was what sealed it for me,” he added of third leg of race. Ramsey is seeded first in the 100-yard breaststroke, which will be held on the second day of the competition.
Though a freshman, Hay swam as if a seasoned veteran. She won in 2:03.85, nearly a second ahead of Oakland Catholic’s Peyton Kondis, who took second.
“Until the turn, I could see (Kondis),” Hay said of her closest competitor, “but I kept going. This being my first WPIAL meet, I didn’t know what to expect but I have attended big meets before. I was pumped up for this one and I was comfortable. You just go hard until you hit the wall.”
Abby Matheny also adopted a go-hard attitude. The USC sophomore showed little signs of jitters as she edged her way to victory in the 200 free. Her time of 1:51.74 was a shade faster than Lebo’s Bumgarner’s mark of 1:51.97.
“I didn’t plan on winning,” said Matheny. “I just wanted to race and have fun. I was nervous but as soon as I dove in that went away. The race didn’t really go as planned. I really, really went out fast but it worked out. I was pleased with my time.”
Matheny noted that USC’s 200 free relays set the tone for her victory. “The relays really got me psyched because I really didn’t thing I was going to win. It’s been a really great start for us. We’re really doing awesome. We’ll just have to see how it goes.”
For many area swimmers the first day of competition, indeed, was amazing. On March 4, they’ll just have to wait and see how the rest of the meet plays out. The events for the second day of competition include the: 100 and 500-yard freestyle races, 100 backstroke and breaststroke as well as the 400 free relay, which caps the meet.
Canon-Mac sets records
Canon-McMillan shattered three school records during the first day of competition and found itself in 10th place overall in the boys’ standings and in the Top 20 for the girls.
“It was a great first day,” said coach Lee Burnsworth.
The team of Brittany Byer, Emily Georgetti, Ryann Stewart and Maria Montuoro smashed the school record with a 1:53.26 time in the 200 medley relay. The unit placed 14th. Turner Gill, Ross Barber, Cody Stewart and Liam Sulc shattered the long-standing mark from 1975 in finishing 12th in the boys’ medley relay.
Individually, Byer broke her own school record in the 200 free. She finished fourth with a time of 1:54.74
Other top showings for the Big Macs included:
• Emily Georgetti – 200 IM – 34th – 2:20.61
• Maria Montuoro – 50 free – 17th – 25.19
• Turner Gill – 50 free – 7th – 21.88
• Cody Stewart – 100 fly – 6th – 51.84
• Liam Sulc – 100 fly – 32nd – 56.15
• Jacob Viviano – 100 fly – 37th – 57.08
• Girls 200 Free Relay – 14th – 1:42.19
(Brittany Byer, Emily Georgetti, Ryann Stewart, Maria Montuoro)
• Boys 200 Free Relay – 10th – 1:30.81
(Turner Gill, Liam Sulc, Nicholas Pirollo, Cody Stewart)
Complete first-day results can be found at www.wpial.org.