North Allegheny boys, girls in control after Day 1 of WPIAL Class AAA swimming championships
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Thursday, February 28, 2019 | 5:05 PM
North Allegheny junior Richard Mihm competes in the boys 200 individual medley during the AAA WPIAL Swimming/Diving Championship on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool.
Gateway junior Olivia Livingston (right) hugs Connellsville senior Tatum Detwiler after Livingston won the girls 50 freestyle during the AAA WPIAL Swimming/Diving Championship on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool.
Penn Hills senior Kimani Gregory competes in the boys 100 butterfly during the AAA WPIAL Swimming/Diving Championship on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool.
Gateway freshman Andrew Holmes competes in the boys 200 freestyle during the AAA WPIAL Swimming/Diving Championship on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool.
Penn Hills’ Irene Bowser competes in the girls 200 medley relay during the AAA WPIAL Swimming/Diving Championship on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool.
North Allegheny sophomore Haley Miller hits a patch of light as she warms up prior to the start of the AAA WPIAL Swimming/Diving Championship on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool.
The North Allegheny boys and girls swim teams didn’t waste any time showing WPIAL opponents why there are the favorites to continue their domination of Class AAA.
To be more exact, it only took the boys’ 200-yard medley relay team 1 minute, 31 seconds and the girls’ medley relay team 1:44.26 to prove once again both teams were poised to defend their championships on the first day of the 2019 WPIAL Class AAA swimming championships Thursday afternoon at Pitt’s Trees Pool.
“Everyone was in such a good mood this whole week, and we were looking forward to it,” North Allegheny swimmer Jack Wright said. “It was really great to start it off with the (200-yard) medley relay because we were really going for that. That just felt really good to do.”
The North Allegheny boys look to continue their grip on Class AAA, finishing the first day atop the leaderboard with a team score of 234 points. Upper St. Clair (144), Hempfield (93.5), Central Catholic (90) and Seneca Valley (87) finished in the top five of the day’s events.
Wright swam the backstroke leg for the Tigers gold-medal winning 200 medley relay.
The North Allegheny girls finished second behind Mt. Lebanon (1:43.87).
Wright wasn’t finished collecting gold. The Virginia commit broke his own WPIAL record (1:37.82) set last year in the 200 freestyle turning in a time of 1:37.48.
“My goal going in was to get the meet record that I set last year,” Wright said.
Wright wrapped up the first day of competition swimming the first leg of the Tigers’ gold-medal winning 200-freestyle relay with a time of 1:22.92. The time fell short of the the WPIAL record (1:21.15) set by North Allegheny last season.
North Allegheny’s Richard Mihm broke former Tiger Zachary Buerger’s WPIAL record of 1:49.13 in the 200 IM set back in 2014. Mihm hits the record books with a time of 1:48.15.
Hempfield senior All-American Gavin Mayo, a North Carolina commit, took first (20.60) in the 50 freestyle. Penn Hills’ senior Kimani Gregory, a North Carolina State commit, split hairs and fell just .01 short of Upper St. Clair’s Ryan Dudzinski’s WPIAL record (47.93) set back in 2015 in the 100 butterfly. Gregory finished with a first-place time of 47.94.
“I felt really strong,” Gregory said. “The last 25 (yards) I just brought it home.”
The North Allegheny girls’ team looks to be in line to claim its 23rd overall WPIAL title and 11th consecutive. After the first day, the Tigers lead with a team score of 198. Mt. Lebanon (151.5), Moon (125), Seneca Valley (122) and Upper St. Clair (111) round out the top five teams on the leaderboard.
Mt. Lebanon opened up the competition by taking first place (1:43.87) in the 200 medley relay. North Allegheny finished second (144.26).
North Allegheny sophomore Molly Smyers touched the wall first (151.42) in the 200 freestyle. Smyers swam anchor in the Tigers bronze-medal winning 200 freestyle relay team. Mt. Lebanon grabbed gold with a time of 1:36.83.
“I was right on my time,” Smyers said. “I wasn’t rested for this meet. I’m resting going into states. I’m just going as fast as I can.”
Butler junior Laura Goettler crushed her own two-year old WPIAL record of 2:01.78 in the 200 IM by finishing with a new WPIAL record of 1:58.68.
“It was in the back of my mind, but I didn’t really focus on it too much,” Goettler said. “I just try to focus on what I do best in my race.”
Fox Chapel freshman Zoe Skirboll was impressive in her first WPIAL championships turning in a time of 2:00.25 to finish second in the 200 IM.
Gateway junior Olivia Livingston continued her dominance in the 50 freestyle with a first-place finish of 22.78. Livingston has both the WPIAL (22.71) and PIAA (22.73) records in the event.
For the second year in a row, Mt. Lebanon senior Trinity Ward took gold in the 100 butterfly, touching the wall with a time of 54.44.
The WPIAL championships continue Friday at Trees Pool. The timed finals for Class AAA will begin at 10 a.m. with the start of Class AA set for 3 p.m.
The events for Day 2 are the 100 free, 500 free, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke and 400 free relay.
Both sessions will be broadcast live on Trib HSSN.
William Whalen is a freelance writer.
Tags: North Allegheny
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