Upper St. Clair swimmer golden at WPIAL meet
Jack Fitzpatrick of Upper St. Clair celebrates after winning the 200-yard individual medley race during the WPIAL Class AAA swimming championships.
Jack Fitzpatrick said that the backstroke leg keyed his victory in the 200-yard individual medley.
Jack Fitzpatrick has more than one thing in common with Michael Jordan. Just like the NBA great, Fitzpatrick was cut from his basketball team. And, he is a champion, too. Just not in basketball.
Once the Upper St. Clair sophomore accepted his hoop fate, he dove into another sport. Turns out, he’s a natural at swimming.
“When I got cut from the (basketball) team, I got the message that maybe swimming is the right sport for me even though nobody I knew was a swimmer.”
Fitzpatrick’s parents, Casey and Tom, were not swimmers. His friends were not swimmers. Yet, five years ago, at the age of 11, Fitzpatrick took the plunge and today, he’s in the winner’s circle, having claimed a gold-medal in the 200-yard individual medley during the WPIAL swimming championships held March 2-3 at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool.
The IM features all four strokes–the butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle. Fitzpatrick, who was finished second in the backstroke, noted that leg of the race won the competition for him. Fitzpatrick edged out his teammate, Nick Mudry (1:54.00), and Hempfield’s Cole Stinehiser (1:54.02) for the victory.
“Backstroke,” Fitzpatrick said. “That’s my stroke. I am best at it. Breaststroke is the one stroke that I am not best at. Ironically,” he added, “that’s Nick’s best stroke.”
Because Fitzpatrick had Mudry pushing him, he succeeded in improving from 10th place in last year’s finals straight to the top of the podium.
“He pushes me every day in the pool at practice,” Fitzpatrick noted of Mudry. “He pushed me even more in the race.”
Fitzpatrick was also aware of Stinehiser, who was in the other lane opposite him, in lane six.
“Before I swam, I knew him and he was coming on strong so I couldn’t let him get ahead of me. I felt in the end that I could hold my own during the 50 free. I’m not the best 50 freestyler out there but I can hold my own.
“But truthfully, if I put that all behind me, and focused on myself, I knew I could do it.”
Fitzpatrick has support behind him and that helped push him to victory. He noted the shear “momentum” of the meet carries the competitors. “The parents are in the stands cheering. Your teammates are screaming. It’s crazy and you don’t want to let the team down. It made it easier for me to get psyched up.”
After last year’s performance, Fitzpatrick was more than eager to put the past behind him. He was mentally stoked for the finals.
“Last year, I was 10th. I just didn’t feel last year was my best swim. I still had more in me.”
After finishing second in the backstroke and anchoring the 400-yard freestyle relay of team of Brandon Novak, Ben Diffendal and David Frauen to a sixth-place showing, Fitzpatrick, indeed, has more to give his teammates. He is qualified for the PIAA championships to be held March 15-18 at Bucknell University. Because he is “really pushing” for states, Fitzpatrick was not fully tapered for the WPIAL meet. Yet, he shaved 2.5 seconds off his seed time.
“The goal is to do as well as I can in states,” said Fitzpatrick, who ironically was 10th in the 2016 PIAA finals. He admitted that he didn’t know about winning that event at states but determined making the A finals as a realistic goal.
And as far as giving up on basketball, Fitzpatrick noted, “I have no regrets.”
Other top five performances submitted by USC swimmers during the meet included:
• Abby Matheny and Olivia Shaffer, third and fifth, 200 free; second and third, 500 free.
• Maeve Lersch, second; Lauren Connors, fourth, 100 back. Lersch, fourth, 50 free;
• Maeve Lersch, Maddie Yoos, Ynyra Bohan and Neele Minuth, third, medley relay. Lersch, Ninuth, Shaffer and Matheny, second, 200 free relay. Minuth, Shaffer, Connors, Matheny, fourth, 400 free relay.
• Jack Fitzpatrick, Nick Mudry, Jacob Jaime, Amatheon Bohan, fourth, medley relay.
• Brandon Movak, Jaime, Ben Diffendal, Bohan, fifth, 200 free relay.