Belle Vernon swimmer Ian Shahan improves performance with Team Pittsburgh

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, December 26, 2018 | 4:24 PM

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Coming from a smaller club, Belle Vernon sophomore Ian Shahan was nervous at first about joining Team Pittsburgh Elite Aquatics.

But he stepped up and ended the fall as one of the club’s best swimmers.

Shahan, 16, anchored the boys 200-yard medley relay (1 minute, 30.93 seconds) and 400 medley relay (3:19.35) teams that placed sixth and eighth at the East Speedo Winter Junior Championships on Dec. 5-8 in Greensboro, N.C. He competed in two events individually.

At the Pitt Christmas Meet on Dec. 13-16 at Trees Pool, he was part of the boys 15-16 200 medley relay team that set a meet record(1:31.93). He also was on the 200 freestyle relay team (1:27.42) that won.

Individually, he earned gold medals in four events: 100 butterfly (49.23), 100 backstroke (50.55), 50 freestyle (21.30) and 100 freestyle (45.57).

Dave Schraven, the coach at the Team Pittsburgh Elite Aquatics’ Upper St. Clair site, said Shahan was behind in conditioning early, but held his own.

“He’s very dedicated,” Schraven said.

Schraven said Shahan turned the corner at the Mark J. Braun Fall Classic meet Nov. 16-18 at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio, where he had solid performances in the 200 individual medley and 200 freestyle and placed sixth in the boys open 100 freestyle (47.59) as an “A” finalist.

Team Pittsburgh Elite Aquatics was formed earlier this year after the USA Swimming club at Pitt merged with Pittsburgh Elite Aquatics, a 2016 merger of the Chartiers Valley and Upper St. Clair clubs.

The club uses pools at Pitt, Chartiers Valley and Upper St. Clair, plus Canon-McMillan, a program it also absorbed. It includes a program for national-level swimmers.

Among members is Upper St. Clair sophomore Joshua Matheny, who came in first in the 100 and 200 breaststroke at East Speedo Winter Juniors and is a member of the 2018-19 USA Swimming National Junior Team.

Shahan said Schraven, a former Stanford swimmer and the Upper St. Clair coach, has been helpful.

“I learned a lot about my strokes (and) things (like) the right kick,” Shahan said.

Schraven said the focus is to make Shahan, the defending WPIAL Class AA champion in the 100 backstroke, a more complete swimmer. He said his butterfly and freestyle are coming along, but his breaststroke is weak, which poses a problem in the individual medley.

Shahan, who has rejoined his high school team, looks forward to competing in more national meets. He gave credit to his parents, Christopher and Lisa Shahan, for driving him almost an hour a day to practice.

“They’re the (real) MVPs,” he said.

Belle Vernon coach Rob Reda said Shahan is a great kid who works hard in the pool and the classroom.

Karen Kadilak is a freelance writer.

Tags: Belle Vernon