Upper St. Clair boys put on strong show against NA
Eleanor Bailey/The Amanac
Jack Fitzpatrick raced to victory in the 100-yard backstroke, breaking the WPIAL record in the process.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Josh Matheny churns through the water on his way to a record-breaking win in the 100-yard breaststroke event at the WPIAL championships.
It was the second straight title for the Upper St. Clair sophomore. He won in 54.70 shattering the record of 54.82 set by Mt. Lebanon’s Jack Lanphear in 2016.
By Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Samuel Reese, Josh Matheny and Jack Fitzpatrick anxiously await Ryan Senchyshak’s finish in the 200-yard medley relay. The Upper St. Clair foursome was touched out at the wall by North Allegheny. The Tigers won the race by .18 over the Panthers, finishing in 1:31 flat.
By Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Jack Fitzpatrick pulls out on his breaststroke during the 200-yard medley relay. Even though he broke the WPIAL record in the event, the Upper St. Clair senior finished second to North Allegheny’s Richard Mihm.
When it comes to swimming, Jack Fitzpatrick and Josh Matheny ask each other the same question. Can you top this?
Well, at the WPIAL Class AAA championships held Feb. 28 and March 1 at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool, the Upper St. Clair teammates did just that. Winning didn’t seem to be enough, they outdid each other and the competition by setting meet records.
Fitzpatrick shattered the 100-yard backstroke mark of 48.35 set by USC graduate Ryan Dudzinki in 2014. The Notre Dame recruit touched the wall in 48.20.
Matheny smashed the 100 breaststroke record of 54.82 set by Mt. Lebanon product Jack Lamphear in 2016. The sophomore clocked a 54.70.
“Two WPIAL records,” Fitzpatrick said. “That’s insane.”
Regarding his time he added, “I’m speechless. I had no idea I was going to get it because I wasn’t really rested for this meet. So I was kind of nervous but I just went out and treated the race like it was a 50 and kept on going for another 50.”
Attacking the event keyed Fitzpatrick’s success. He said the race was his most “aggressive” swim. He noted, however, he was nervous until he pushed off the starting block. He had gone past the point allowable during warmups and did not want to risk getting disqualified.
“Once I got past that I felt great because I knew what to do because I swim the 100 back all of the time,” he said.
USC coach Dave Schraven agreed. He said that he knew Fitzpatrick was swimming well, particularly after he broke the 200-yard individual medley record in finishing runner-up to North Allegheny’s Richard Mihm on Day 1 of the competition.
“I think that carried over,” Schraven noted. “When a swimmer has momentum in a meet and has had a couple of really good races then it gives them confidence to know that they can do it. And that is how he swam. We looked at how Jack did in the IM and we put it out there as something that was doable and Jack went in and did it.”
Schraven was also delighted to keep the record among friends. He said after Fitzpatrick won the race, he texted Chet Dudzinski and his son, Ryan, who is an NCAA All-American at Stanford.
“I said I had some bad news. Ryan’s record was broken but the good news is that it was Jack. So we’ve kept it in the St. Clair family. Obviously, for Jack to come in and be able to break his record is special.”
What Matheny did was equally special. After following Fitzpatrick in third place in the IM, he breezed to victory in his premier stroke. Matheny has already set national records in the breaststroke and his 54.70 time is two seconds slower than his best marks for the race.
Schraven expected Matheny to repeat as champion but he felt Fitzpatrick’s swim gave him the impetus to take down the record.
“Josh isn’t rested but 54 is a fast time,” Schraven noted. “We knew with where he is right now, he had to go in there and swim with a lot of heart. For him to see Jack get the record and it be flashed on the record board, pumped him up. He only broke the record by a tenth, so watching Jack may have been enough to push him over the top.”
Matheny said a record was not his focus. He was just seeing how fast he could go that day.
“The race was a blur but I was in the zone,” he said. “All I remember was probably the third turn. I’m not sure it’s my greatest moment because I sort of look forward to our relays. I love them at WPIALs. They are really fun and I love my team and being a teammate with Jack. We train as hard as we can day in and day out and we race a lot, especially since we both swim the IM. It’s all fun, practice as well as racing.”
All of USC’s record-breaking swims, however, did not help them in the race for the team title.
North Allegheny captured its 13th championship in the past 14 years. The Tigers racked up 450 points to the Panthers’ second-place totals of 262. Additionally, the Lady Tigers won their 11th title in a row, finishing ahead of Mt. Lebanon by 58.5 points, 313-254.5. The USC girls scored 195 points for fourth place.
“We finished where we expected to,” Schraven said. “There were no surprises.”
He added that he was pleased with his female swimmers.
“I was happy with how they swam. We had a couple things not go our way but overall they swam well. They rallied in the free relays. Our 500 swimmers did awesome. We were fourth and fell just short of our goal but they battled hard.”
USC’s 400 free relays finished second in the boys’ competition with Fitzpatrick, Graham Kretschmar, Jason Zhang and Matheny and third in the girls’ division with Abby Rutkowski, Sophia Schlichting, Taylor Connors, Ynyra Bohan.
The USC boys also were runners-up in the medley relay with Fitzpatrick, Matheny, Reese Samuel and Ryan Senchyshak. Their 200 free relay was eighth with Samuel, Senchyshak, Kretschmar and Nick Murdy.
The team of Abby Rutkowski, Lauren Connors, Elinor Connor, Taylor Connors finished as runners-up in the 200 free relay. Lauren Connors, Claire Hsu, Bohan and Connor were seventh in the medley.
Top eight individual performances included: Nick Murdy, fourth in the IM and sixth in the 500 free; Reese, fifth, 100 and 200 free; Senchyshak, sixth, 50 free; Sophia Schlichting, third and Bohan, seventh in the 500 free; Rutkowski, sixth, 100 and 200 free.
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