Peters Township’s Hay dominates WPIAL
Abby Hay reaches backward during the first leg of the 200-yard individual medley race. The Peters Township freshman won the event as well as the 500-yard freestyle.
Abby Hay captured her second gold medal during the WPIAL Class AAA swimming championships by winning the 500-yard freestyle event. The Peters Township freshman also led off the 400-yard free relay, which took 10th overall. The Lady Indians finished seventh in the team standings while North Allegheny took the title with 348.
Abby Hay takes a breath during the breaststroke leg of the 200-yard IM. The Peters Township freshman won the event as well as the 500-yard freestyle race during the WPIAL championships.
Abby Hay is certainly daddy’s little girl. In fact, she is almost halfway toward eclipsing his achievements in the swimming pool.
During his career, Tom Hay won five WPIAL titles. He also pocketed five state championships and eight All-America awards before excelling at the University of Michigan and participating in the 1992 U.S. Olympic Trials. Only recently did his state record in the 100-yard butterfly fall. He still holds school records and pool records around the region.
Meanwhile, Abby’s career is just taking off. The Peters Township freshman dominated the WPIAL Class AAA championships, held March 3-4 at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool. In fact, she was the only female to earn two individual gold medals. She won the 200-yard individual medley, which features a 50-yard swim in each of the disciplines: backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle. Hay also won the 500-yard freestyle race.
Of her first WPIAL final, Hay said that she didn’t know what to expect, but being a competitor since age 7, like her father, she had attended big meets before. “I was pumped up for this, but I was comfortable.”
Hay was relaxed because she knew her father, as well as her mother, Kathy, a standout runner at Peters Township, too, were pulling for her. “Dad doesn’t put pressure on me,” she said. “He usually wishes my good luck. He says ‘do my best.’ That’s his usual advice.”
Hay did better than her best. In the 500 free, she shaved more than nine seconds off her seed time, winning in five minutes flat. A surge in the final 150 yards enabled her to outlast Abby Matheny. The Upper St. Clair sophomore had won the 200 free race before securing second in the 500 with a 5:01.37 time.
In the IM, Hay touched in 2:03.85. That was nearly a second faster than runner-up Peyton Kondis of Oakland Catholic and almost six seconds faster than her seed time.
“I felt the race went the way I expected,” Hay said. “Until the turn, I could see (Kondis) but I kept going. You just go hard until you hit the wall.”
Hay is now going to her first PIAA championships. The state finals are set for March 16-19 at Bucknell University. While Hay said she was just focused on the district meet, opposing coaches predict great things from Hay next week and long into the future.
“Abby is awesome,” said Mt. Lebanon head coach Tom Donati, who swam against Hay’s father. “She has great underwaters like her dad had 30 years ago. Plus, she has great walls and great technique.”
Several other Peters Township swimmers had good technique, too, to gain PIAA berths and set personal as well as school records. Among the other top performers to reach the podium for the Indians included:
• 200 medley relay-Olivia Yocca, Loeva Palu-Benson, Hay and Abbi Strennen, fifth; Stephen Hopta, John Martin, Mitchell Golias and Jake Rose, sixth.
• 200 free relay-Golias, Rose, Paul Luniewski, Benon Brewer, seventh
• 500 free-Stephen Hopta, fifth.
•100 back-Stephen Hpota, fifth.
• 100 breast-Louva Palu-Benson, fifth.
• 400 free-Golias, Rose, Brewer, Hopta, seventh
Canon-Mac sets records
Canon-McMillan shattered several school records during the WPIAL championships and finished 10th in the boys’ standings and in the Top 20 for girls.
“We had an amazing meet,” 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 records in the 100 and 200 freestyle races. She finished seventh in the 100 with a 52.83 time and fourth in the 200 with a time of 1:54.74. Cody Stewart also smashed his own school record by 12 seconds in finishing 10th in the 500 free with a 4:48.74 time. He also finished sixth in the 100 fly ( 51.84).
Other top showings for the Big Macs included:
• Turner Gill – 50 free – seventh (21.88) and eighth, 100 free (47.66)
• Emily Georgetti, 100 breast and 200 IM.
• Maria Montuoro, 50 and 100 free.
• Liam Sulc, 100 fly
• Jacob Viviano, 100 fly and back.
• Emily Sulc, 100 breast.
• 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)
• Girls 400 free relay – 3:58.99
(Courtney Bayne, Courtney Buchanan, Harley Steele, Ryann Stewart)
• Boys 400 free relay – 3:33.25
(Austin Harrity, Liam Sulc, Jake Viviano, NIcholas Pirollo)
Complete results can be found at www.wpial.org.