Peters Township weathers swim season
Sally Hathaway soars through the water during the 100-yard butterfly race during the WPIAL Class AAA swimming championships. The Bethel Park senior finished 12th.
Peters Township's Allen Liu surfaces for air during the breaststroke leg of the 200-yard medley relay.
Peters Township junior Scott Zhu soars through the water during the butterfly leg in the 200-yard medley relay.
South Fayette's Maddie Berg finished sixth in the 500-yard freestyle with a 5:10.25 mark during the WPIAL Class AAA championships.
Mt. Lebanon's Adrienne Hagins rises up from the water to take a breath of air during the 100-yard butterfly race.
If they handed out medals for resiliency at the WPIAL Class AAA boys championships, then Peters Township would have received one hands down.
The Indians battled many obstacles just to qualify its seven swimmers for the finals held Sunday at Upper St. Clair High School.
“It was a rough season,” said first-year head coach Jamie Stache. “It was hard.”
According to Stache, the Indians were without a home pool for half the season. The pool in the former high school closed and the one at the new school is not scheduled to open until June. In the interim, the Indians traveled to Keystone Oaks High School to train.
Additionally, during the 90-day season, the Indians were only able to practice 39 days.
“Peters Township pretty much got shut down more than anybody else because of COVID-19,” Stache said.
During a normal season, the Indians would have qualified as many as 25 swimmers, 12 girls and 13 boys, for the WPIAL championships. No girls earned the cut times, which Stache defined as “major” and the boys only earned their qualifying marks during the last two meets of the season.
So the Indians’ showing in the meet was impressive. Peters Township finished 16th in the team standings and placed two relays in the top 8, which garnered them medals.
The 200-yard medley relay grouping of Justin Manhollan, Allan Liu, Scott Zhu and Ryan Rose secured seventh place with a 1:37.87 time. The 200 freestyle relay unit of Manhollan, Alec Haag, Michael Pazuchanics and Rose scored eighth place with a 1:28.79 mark.
“My relays, all four guys in both relays, did real well,” Stache said. “When we put them together, they responded real well.
“The meet went better than I expected,” Stache continued. “The guys responded really well, especially seeing how the season was for all of us.”
Individually, Rose tied for 10th place in the 50-yard free. He posted a 21.82 time. Additionally, Liu placed 15th in the 100 breaststroke to add to the Indians’ scoring.
With a waiting list waiting list for youth wanting to join the swim club, Stache is optimistic about the future of Peters Township swimming.
“We are stagnant because we need our pool but we should grow,” he said.
Mt. Lebanon
Mt. Lebanon also face struggles of their own this season because of the pandemic. The Blue Devils finished fifth in the girls team standing with a 167.5 score and 10th in the boys team standings with 106 points.
“It’s been a tough year with COVID and the shutdowns,” said coach Tom Donati. “Kids had to work extremely hard just to get here and we had some good swims. At the end of the day, we are just glad we are swimming. I didn’t think this meet would happen.”
WPIAL medal winners for the Blue Devils included:
- Andrei Tudorascu, seventh in the 100 fly. He also helped the 400 free relay team of Andrew Klepchick, Chase Dustevich and Andrew Chiappetta reach the podium with a seventh-place finish.
- Hannah Morelli, fourth, 100 back;
- Adrienne Hagins, sixth, 100 fly;
- Zoe Rebol, eighth, 500 free;
- 200-yard medley relay team of Morelli, Marley Reese, Hagins and Vivian Roy, fifth place;
- 200 free relay of Rebol, Mary Hoffman, Morelli and Meredith Reese, eighth.
South Fayette
The Lions had a top 10 showing in the girls competition.
The Lions picked up 42 of their 83 points by finishing seventh and ninth, respectively, in the 400- and 200-yard freestyle relays. Zoe Poe, Morgan T. Young, Gabi Baiano and Maddie Berg comprised the 400 unit. Abigail Girman subbed in for Baiano in the 200.
Individually, Poe and Berg earned WPIAL medals with fourth- and seventh-place finishes in the 500-yard freestyle. The pair are freshmen.
The Lions also scored points with Berg in the 200 free, who finished 13th, and Annabelle MacAdams in the IM, who came in 11th place and 13th place in the breaststroke.
For the SF boys, Michael Grimenstein finished 14th in the 200 and 16th in the 500 free. Grimenstein helped the 400 free relay team to a 13th place finish. Derek Freidet, Ryan Miller and Garrett Fincke also participated in the relay.
Cortopassi third
Dom Cortopassi guided Bethel Park to a ninth-place showing in the boys competition. The Hawks racked up a 107 score in the meet.
A junior, Cortopassi captured bronze medals in the 100 fly with a 50.89 time and backstroke with a mark of 50.52.
Cortopassi anchored the 400 free relay team of Lenny DeMartino, Eammon Anderson and Nathan Stutzman to a fourth place finish with a time of 3:12.6. Cortopassi swam the opening leg on BP’s eighth-place medley relay. DeMartino, Anderson and Luke Myers also were on the relay team.
Top finishers for the girls included: Sally Hathaway, 12th, 100 fly; Emma Burke, 16th, 100 back and the medley relay team of Burke, Grace Myers, Hallathaway and Sydney Edwards, 11th.