Teams hope to challenge NA’s dominance in the pool
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Jack Fitzpatrick is one of the area swimmers to watch during the WPIAL Class AAA championships. The Upper St. Clair junior returns is the defending champion in the 200-yard individual medley and last year’s runner-up in the 100-yard backstroke.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Sophia Donati is a freestyle specialist. The Mt. Lebanon senior and Bucknell recruit will compete in the 200- and 500-yard free races in the 2019 WPIAL championships.
North Allegheny is the team to beat in the WPIAL Class AAA swimming championships set for March 1-2 at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool. The Tigers have captured 11 of the past 12 titles in the boys’ competition and the girls’ have captured nine in a row, bringing their total to 21 overall.
So when asked what squads could do to snap NA’s stranglehold, Mike Meyers summed up in one word the sentiment of all area coaches.
“Nothing,” said the Peters Township skipper in reply to the query.
That being said, the Indians as well as Mt. Lebanon and Upper St. Clair are prepared to try. The three teams dominated after the Tigers swept last year’s boys’ and girls’ titles. Peters Township and USC finished second and third in the boys’ standings while Lebo took runner-up honors in the girls’ competition.
“NA is still the team to beat until they get beaten,” conceded Lebo pool boss Tom Donati. “In the meantime, we will give a great shot and so will USC.”
David Schraven agreed his Lady Panthers and Lebo are right on NA’s heals. Regarding the NA boys, Schraven added the Tigers are “historically great” and it will be a battle for runner-up.
“I like our chances as well as anyone’s,” he said.
Because the big three feature at least one marque swimmer, their odds, indeed, are as good as any. PT’s Stephen Hopta, USC’s Jack Fitzpatrick and Lebo’s Trinity Ward are returning champions. In fact, Ward is a reigning state champion.
Ward recently helped the Blue Devils capture the Section 8 title. Lebo finished the dual-meet season with an 11-1 slate, suffering its lone loss to NA. During Lebo’s section-clinching victory against USC, 105-79, Ward shattered the pool record in winning the 50-yard freestyle in 23.62.
Ward is the best in the state in the butterfly. The junior won the event at the WPIAL championships last year in record time and won the PIAA title as well. She is the favorite to defend her title. She will also compete in the 100 free as well as two relays.
If the past is any indication, then Hopta and Fitzpatrick should be equally amazing at the WPIAL championships. Class AA and AAA competition both are on March 2 and 3.
Peters Township secured second place in last year’s boys’ competition with a 238 score and USC finished third with a 210 mark in large part because of Hopta’s and Fitzpatrick’s performances.
This winter, Hopta helped guided the PT boys to an 11-2 overall dual-meet record and a 5-1 showing in Section 8.
Hopta leads the boys in their defense of their runner-up trophy. The All-America swimmer is the defending champion in the 100-yard backstroke. He won last year’s race with a 50.03 time, a scant .36 ahead of Upper St. Clair’s Jack Fitzpatrick, who returns as well.
“Stephen is a racer,” said Meyers. “He will do whatever it takes to get his hand on the wall first. He is our leader. He sets the positive tone for the whole team, boys and girls, and they get behind him. His ‘team before individual’ attitude is infectious.”
Hopta, who finished fifth in last year’s 200-yard freestyle, will also race in two relays along with Paul Luniewski, who is a decorated veteran from past WPIAL competitions. The pair helped last year’s 400-yard free relay team take the bronze.
Luniewski also returns as the bronze medalist in the 100-yard breaststroke event.
While Bert Wang, Ryan Rose, Alex Lepri, Aidan Dowdall, Justin Manhollan, Andrew Mikhaylovsky, Alec Haag and Mike Pazuchanics will compete in the swim finals, Garrett Buzzelli qualified for both the swimming and diving championships.
Ryan Saunders also competed in the WPIAL diving championships, which were held Feb. 24 at North Allegheny.
Of the prospects and pressure of bringing home a trophy in the boys’ swim competition, Meyers said his team is “excited” about the possibilities.
The Panthers and Fitzpatrick are expected to match Peters and Hopta stroke for stroke as they won the Section 8 title with an undefeated slate. USC posted a 9-1 overall mark with the lone loss coming against NA.
Fitzpatrick is the defending WPIAL champion in the 200-yard individual medley, which highlights all four strokes-freestyle, backstroke, butterfly and breaststroke. He also secured second place in the back. He medaled (seventh and fourth) in both events at states.
“Jack has always been a great all-around swimmer. He can swim virtually every event at a high level,” said Schraven. “This year he has taken his training to another level and I’m really looking forward to seeing how he does over the course of the next month.”
USC is also anxious to see how the sister-brother duo of Abby and Josh Matheny do at the WPIAL and the state championships.
Abby was a PIAA qualifier last year along with Ynyra Bohan (100 fly), Lauren Connors (100 back), Olivia Shaffer (200 and 500 free), Fitzpatrick (back and IM), Brandon Novak (100 and 200 free) and Nick Murdy (IM and breast).
“Abby has had a great high school career,” Schraven said. “She is a super hard worker and dedicated swimmer who richly deserves all the success she has had in the pool.”
Abby led the Lady Panthers to an 8-2 record this winter with the lone losses being to NA and Lebo. The senior will continue her career at Williams College.
Her brother’s scholastic career is just starting. A freshman, he is currently ranked No. 1 in the state in the 100-yard breaststroke.
“The sky is the limit in terms of what he can accomplish both this year and over the course of his four-year high school career,” Schraven said.
Shaffer, too, is another USC swimmer to watch. She placed third in the 500 free at last year’s WPIAL championships. She is also entered in the 200 free and will compete on two relays, like Matheny.
The Panthers have 27 individuals entered in this year’s competition.
Among the other qualifiers on the girls’ side are: Kirsten Benedict, Elinor Connors, Taylor Connors, Alexandra Hays, Claire Hsu, Kathleen McCurrie, Kate Petkov, Abby Rutkowski, Sophia Schlichting, Maddie Suter and Caroline Wright.
Among the other qualifiers on the boys’ side for USC are: Patrick Benedict, Ben Diffendal, David Frauen, Graham Kretschmar, Brendan Neal, Reese Samuel, Jacob Yakima and Jason Zhang.
PT girls qualify
Peters Township is sending one of its largest contingents to the WPIAL championships. Nineteen have met the qualifying standards, eight of them female. The girls posted a 4-2 mark in Section 8.
Though the Lady Indians finished 6-7 overall, Mike Meyers said the girls have made “huge strides” in the last few weeks and several more swimmers earned their individual cut times during that period.
The girls who expect to have fun at the WPIAL finals include: Carly Frizzell, Lindsey Glover, Cassidy Sweeney, Devon Milley, Rachel Raber, Kayla McClintock, Claire Mitchell and Issabella Manzari.
Lebo adds more
In addition to Trinity Ward, Mt. Lebanon will have a large group of swimmers competing in the championships. Despite their youth, the Blue Devils boys, who were 7-4 during the course of the regular season, have more swimmers qualified for this year’s meet than last year’s finals.
In addition to divers Owen Johns Lucas and Lucas Bumgarner (see related story), Andrew Klepchick, Caden Smith, Avery Filey, Gabe Towell, Jack Cusick, Charlie Rice, Aleks Smith, Aron Johansen, Petru Mihailsescu and Will Ganoe met the time standards to compete.
On the girls’ side the Lebo qualifiers include: Cameron Van Deusen and Sydney Donati for diving; Sophia Donati, Devon Scott-Davis, Hannah Morelli, Abbey Greene, Libby McDyer, Maddie Dorish, Marley Howell, Lauren Barnett, Meredity Reese and Olivia Yaremcho.
“Our team is so young,” Tom Donati emphasized. “I love the way they come to practice every day. They work, listen, make changes and work harder. Never has a team worked so hard day in and day out.”
Baker makes cut
Cullin Baker is the lone qualifier from Seton LaSalle. While he met the time standards to compete in every individual event, the senior will compete in his specialties-the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events.
Consistently swimming close to last year’s time, he will compete for one of the top spots in the sprint race. “We hope that his swims at WPIALs will qualify him for the state championships as he has been training hard all season,” said Rebels’ skipper Meloni DiPietro-Guthoerl.
Though small in numbers-four girls and four boys-the Rebels won four meets, finishing 2-5 and 2-4 for the respective squads.
“We were a small team this year, but it didn’t take away from the dedication, hard work, and best times for all of our swimmers this past season,” DiPietro-Guthoerl said. “All of our swimmers were extremely positive and supportive of each other and became a close group of friends.”
BP qualifiers
With only one senior diver and two senior swimmers, Bethel Park sends a young group to the championships but the young Hawks are ready to compete.
“We have worked really hard,” said Kelly Kutrufis. “We’re excited to see what we can do at WPIALs.”
While Samantha Coda already competed in the diving championships on Feb. 24 at North Allegheny and submitted a Top 12 showing and her sister, Sadie, a sophomore, took 10th place, the other Hawks will race Thursday and Friday.
Among the qualifiers are: seniors Constantine Kallaur (200 free) and Candice Chalus (200 IM, 100 breast and 200 medley relay); sophomores: Paul Kallaur (100 breat; Madison Becker (50 and 100 free and both free relays), Brooke Crhistian (200 IM and all three relays), Harley Vincler (200 free and medley relays); freshmen: Emily Guffey (medley relay), Sally Hathaway (200 and 500 free and both free relays) and Grace Myers (100 breast).
What: WPIAL swimming championships
Date: March 1-2
When: Class AAA timed finals begin at 10 a.m. Class AA start is 3 p.m.
Where: University of Pittsburgh Trees Pool
Tickets: $10 for adults; $5 per student
What’s at stake: Berths in the PIAA championships to be held March 14-17 at Bucknell University