Franklin Regional swimmers prepare for annual WCCA meet

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, January 18, 2019 | 7:45 PM

Abbie Ramey made an impact as a freshman at the 2016 Westmoreland County Coaches Association meet at Derry High School.

She achieved what was, at that point in her first campaign with Franklin Regional, a season-best time in the 200-yard individual medley, and she won the event.

Now, as a senior, Ramey hopes for more fast times and titles at the WCCA meet, set again for Derry on Friday (diving) and Saturday (swimming).

“The WCCA meet is just a taste of what WPIALs is going to be like,” said Ramey, who has qualified for WPIALs in every individual event except for the 100 butterfly. Included in that are her signature 200 IM and 100 breaststroke races.

“That is where you start to see all the hard work and progress pay off. When you see that you’re dropping time at that meet, it’s pretty special because you know you can drop even more time at WPIALs.”

Some of the top-ranked swimmers on the WPIAL performance lists will compete at the WCCA meet this weekend. Several FR competitors return to the meet after winning titles last year.

Those includes Ramey (200 IM) and fellow seniors Patrick Cavanaugh (200 IM), Laura DiNunzio (500 free), Mason Fishell (diving) and Baylee Horvath (200 medley relay) and junior Evelyn Siler (200 medley relay).

Cavanaugh has qualified for WPIALs in every individual event. He and Ramey fared well at WPIALs last year in the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke and competed at states.

“Patrick and Abbie could probably make states in several other events in addition to their signature ones,” Franklin Regional coach Vic Santoro said. “When it’s all said and done, they will probably go with the IM and the breaststroke, but they don’t necessarily have to go in that direction.”

Freshman Owen Holm also has qualified in all individual events.

“To qualify in every event as a freshman, that doesn’t happen often,” Santoro said. “He’s pretty versatile. His best events are probably the freestyle sprints, but it’s a good position to be in across the board to see what he will swim at WPIALs.”

Santoro said the swimmers and divers have had a productive season so far and are gearing up for the stretch run in and out of competition.

“Overall, the kids are doing well. They trained hard over the holiday break,” he said. “This is the time, these next couple of weeks, to see if we can get more qualified to WPIALs. We have a number of kids who are very close.”

Fourteen swimmers and divers have recorded WPIAL qualifying times or point totals.

“They made the cut times faster, some by a couple of seconds,” Santoro said concerning the swimming requirements. “They do that every year. This year, it’s seems like it’s a little tougher to get as many kids to qualify as we’ve had in the past. A lot of the teams we’ve gone up against have said the same thing.”

Also set to swim at WPIALs in an individual event are Dinunzio, Horvath, Siler, senior Axel Schon; juniors Eli Holm, Marshall Mao and Andrew Harris; and freshman Annika Albright.

Joining Fishell at the WPIAL diving championships will be senior Elissa Novelli and freshman Carson Yohe. Santoro said senior Julia Perry, who is battling back from an injured ankle, is expected to qualify for a return to WPIALs.

The relay lineups, Santoro said, will be set at a later date. Franklin Regional normally qualifies all six relays to WPIALs.

The WPIAL Class AAA diving championships will be Feb. 23 at North Allegheny. The WPIAL swimming championships are Feb. 28-March 1 at Pitt’s Trees Pool.

The PIAA meet at Bucknell University is set for March 13 to 16.

“Practices and meets have gone really well, and we’re all excited to see what we can do the rest of the season,” Cavanaugh said. “We really motivate each other to do our best. We push each other, and that produces faster times.”

Michael Love is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Michael at mlove@tribweb.com or via Twitter @MLove_Trib.

Tags: Franklin Regional