WPIAL championships electric experience for swimmers
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Josh Matheny is pictured here starting off the medley relay for Upper St. Clair. The sophomore is the defending champion in the 100-yard breaststroke and will be one of 27 swimmers from USC competing in the WPIAL championships set for Feb. 28-March 1 at Trees Pool.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Bert Wang churns through the water during the butterfly leg of the 200-yard individual medley. The Peters Township senior is entered in the 100-yard breaststroke and the IM events in the upcoming WPIAL championships set for Feb. 28 and March 1 at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool. Wang is one 16 swimmers entered in the competition.
As always area swimmers are charged up for the WPIAL championships being held Feb. 28 and March 1 at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool in Oakland.
“WPIALs is a great meet because of the atmosphere,” said Upper St. Clair coach Dave Schraven. “The stands are packed, the deck is packed and there is a lot of noise and energy. And Pitt is a really fast pool. So the WPIAL meet is always exciting and fast.”
John Nemeth concurs. The Chartiers Valley coach has fond memories of being a competitor at WPIALs and he is now “pumped” that his dozen charges will be able to experience the drama because he says says the meet is one of the most “exciting environments” in which he has been a part.
“It’s just a high energy meet that leads to some really awesome swims. We will fine tune the little things and then be ready to rumble for WPIALs,” he said.
Equally enthused is Michael Meyers. Electric is how the Peters Township coach describes the WPIAL meet.
“The human electricity on the deck is amazing. Kids swimming way faster than they ever thought they could, and the smiles of their faces,” he added.
As far as the Mt. Lebanon girls and the USC boys are concerned the best thing would be to topple the juggernaut that is North Allegheny swimming when racing commences at 10 a.m. each day in the Class AAA category. The Tigers have captured 10 girls titles in a row and 12 of the last 13 boys’ championships.
Lebo coach Tom Donati agreed that “until the champion is defeated” the Tigers are always the team to beat.
“This year is no different,” he said. “NA has the superstars at the top and they always fill in behind it with other stars. This is why they are always so good. They continue to produce swimmers to fill the gaps and they believe in their coach and team.”
Donati and Schraven, however, believe they have teams to contend with the Tigers.
The WPIAL swimming championships will be held Feb. 28 and March 1 at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool. Class AAA timed finals begin at 10 a.m. each day while Class AA time finals commence at 3 p.m.
Here is a list of the are area qualifiers by their school district supplied to The Almanac by their coaches.
• Mt. Lebanon-Ashley Barnett, Geneveive Chiappetta, Sophia Donati, Maddie Dorish, Abigail Greene, Mary Hoffman, Elizabeth McDyer, Hannah Morelli, Zoe Rebol, Meredith Reese, Sydney Saba, Devon Scott-Davis, Madeline Snyder, Trinity Ward, Olivia Yaremcho, Andrew Chiappetta, Avery Filey, Connor Frank, William Ganoe, Owen Johns, Andrew Klepchick, Leonid Matros, Petru Mihailescu, Andrew Murray, Aleksander Smith, Caden Smith, Gabe Towell, Gabriel White
• Upper St. Clair-Lilly Bernard, Ynyra Bohan, Elinor Connor, Lauren Connors, Taylor Connors, Rachel Fibbi, Alexandra Hays, Claire Hsu, Kathleen McCurrie, Abby Rutkowski, Sophia Schlichting, Maddie Suter, Caroline Wright, Patrick Benedict, Jack Billetdeaux, Jack Fitzpatrick, Graham Krestschmar, Sam Levy, Josh Matheny, Luka Misic, Nick Mudry, Brendan Neal, Ethan Neal, Will Perham, Reese Samuel, Ryan Senchyshak, Ganesh Sivaramakrishnan, Andrew White, Jacob Yakima, Jason Zhang
• Peters Township-Carly Frizzell, Katalina Wang, Cassidy Sweeney, Devon Milley, Lindsey Glover, Celia Ruth, Justin Manhollan, Bert Wang, Aidan Dowdall, Garrett Buzzelli, Larry Lu, Michael Pazuchanics, Megan Kwiakowski, Alec Haag, Alexander Lepri, Ryan Rose, Lilly Markowski, Isabella Manzari
• Chartiers Valley-Josh Gardner, Erik Tagg, Grace Janas, Sydney Jacobs, Natalia Santilli, Christina Butler, Chris Santilli, Chris Sherman, Brendan Nangle, Jason Rickens, Morgan Bittner, Mia Welsh.
• Seton LaSalle-Taylor Weyrich and Mason Beauregard
Visit www.wpial.org for a complete list of all the qualifiers.
On the girls’ side, Schraven expects the team battle to come down to Lebo and NA while the Lady Panthers are in a group with Moon, Fox Chapel and Seneca Valley nipping at the Lady Tigers’ heel. The USC girls finished runner-up to Lebo in the section but the Panthers snagged the boys’ banner from the Blue Devils.
Despite having lost six seniors (each of whom qualified in two individual events) to graduation, USC sends 30 athletes into the competition-three divers and 27 swimmers. They have one more swimmer than last year and four more entered in individual events. That pleases Schraven because this year’s qualifying standards have been bolstered.
While the Lady Panthers feature three returning state qualifiers, they anticipate advancing as many as seven female swimmers to the PIAA championships set for March 13-16 at Bucknell University, the men, even though they have two of the premier swimmers in the state, do not have the firepower to beat NA.
“For the boys team this year, we will not beat North Allegheny, which is once again the top high school team in the country, as they were last year. They have an impressive combination of top talent as well as a lot of depth. In many races their fourth swimmer will score points at WPIALs and in some instances make states. That’s hard to compete with,” Schraven said.
“At the same time, I do not anticipate anyone else competing with us for the runner-up spot at WPIALs this year.”
The District 7 meet, however, is never USC’s primary focus. With defending breaststroke champion Josh Matheny and Notre Dame recruit Jack Fitzpatrick, the Panthers are striving for a Top 5 finish in the state.
Noting it was “nice” to win a boys’ section championship Schraven stressed, “We make sure that our top swimmers keep their eyes on what’s most important, which for them is states.”
“For the rest of our team, they need to perform at WPIALs to qualify for states,” he added. “Then our job as coaches is to get them to successfully refocus for states so they can be their best when it matters most. And states matters more than WPIALs.”
Nevertheless with big guns like Trinity Ward, a two-time WPIAL and one-time PIAA fly champion, and Bucknell recruit Sophia Donati as well as a returning record-breaking relay units that also include: Maddie Dorish, Hannah Morelli, Elizabeth McDyer, Devon Scott-Davis and Abbey Greene; the Lebo ladies as well as their male counterparts are poised for a “fun-focused” meet. The Blue Devils have 28 athletes, including one diver (Owen Johns was last year’s WPIAL runner-up), entered in 40 individual events as well as a full complement of relay squads.
“We have a big team heading to WPIALS and we’re going to focus on our job and have fun doing it,” Donati predicted.
“I expect our kids to swim lights out,” he continued. “We have worked extremely hard and I like my teams because of that fact. I really enjoy these kids. They come to the pool and just work and have fun.”
During the dual meet season, Garrett Buzzelli was at his best as he set the Peters Township High School record in diving with a 264 score. Buzzelli along with Adian Dowdall qualified for the WPIAL diving championships set for Feb. 23 at North Allegheny. They will also compete in swimming events at the WPIAL championships
The Indians advanced sixteen athletes to the swim finals. The Indians will also field six relays. Among the qualifiers are four freshmen (Larry Lu, Lily Markowski, Megan Kwiakowski and Kat Wang), which bodes well for the future.
“We expect to swim our fastest,” said Meyers, “and try to place as many as possible on the PIAA team.”
AA features CV
Chartiers Valley is expected to flex its muscles during the AA competition, which runs from 3-5:30 p.m. each day. The Colts previously swam at the AAA level is minimal success.
The winter both the boys’ and girls’ teams compiled 6-1 records in section action. Plus, the Colts are sending 12 swimmers to the championships after having no representatives last year.
“With the shift from AA to AAA, it has been a total change,” said Nemeth. “We had great competition all year long. It’s been a much more exciting season for us and I’ve really been impressed with how our swimmers and divers competed throughout the season.”
Josh Gardner, Erik Tagg, Grace Janas and Sydney Jacobs will compete in the maximum amount of events (two individual races and two relays).
While Natalia Santilli, Christina Butler, Chris Santilli and Chris Sherman will race on all three relays, Brendan Nangle, Jason Rickens, Morgan Bittner and Mia Welsh swims legs on either the medley or 200 free relays.
According to Nemeth, the Colts look to place Top 8 in their events. PIAA state berths are “obviously the end goal,” he adds.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how our kids compete,” he said. “Our swimmers have worked hard. They are excited to drop time and compete against the best in the WPIAL.”
SLS qualifies 2
At the Class AA level, Seton LaSalle also advanced two competitors.
Mason Beauregard is the lone swimmer in the WPIAL championship meet, which will be held 3-5:30 p.m. Feb. 28 and March 1. The sophomore finished 12th in the 100-yard backstroke last year. Beauregard set the school record in that race this winter with a 1:00.48 time.
“We are hopeful that Mason will make the trip to Bucknell,” said SLS coach Meloni DiPietro-Guthoerl.
Taylor Weyrich qualified for the diving championships held Feb. 22 at South Park. The junior broke the school record this winter with a 225.75 score then shattered that mark with an even more impressive 238.67 score this winter.
“Taylor is new to the sport but she is a decorated gymnast,” pointed out DiPietro-Guthoerl. “With the help of our diving coach Dave Watterson, she has really improved. We are hopeful she will qualify for states.”
Building on the impending drama regarding the swimming championships DiPietro-Guthoerl added that she is excited about the competition.
“As always, watching the swimmers shave seconds from their best times goes unmatched for Pitt’s fast-made pool. We hope to see these new records get shattered again,” she said.