Trib HSSN Boys Swimmer of the Week: Seneca Valley’s Owen Blazer

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, January 17, 2019 | 9:45 PM

Owen Blazer kicked off the high school swimming season early last month with a school-record swim in the 200-yard individual medley.

It was his fifth school record, as the Seneca Valley junior already owned the 100 backstroke and 100 butterfly records and the top marks as a member of two relays.

As January moves along, Blazer continues to establish himself as a key factor in boys Class AAA.

“Owen’s set his goals way high this year with where he wants to go,” Seneca Valley coach Brian Blackwell said.

“He’s upped his level of training and is working on a lot of the little things in his swims like turns and his under waters and also being more mentally focused before his races. He’s constantly working to get to where he’s one of the top swimmers in the WPIAL and the state.”

Blazer owns several top swims on the latest WPIAL performance lists released Tuesday. He is first in the 100 fly (50.75 seconds), second in the 100 back (50.96) and third in the 200 IM (1:54.17).

“When he set the 200 IM (school) record, it kind of took that event from the background to the foreground as far as consideration for him to swim it (at WPIALs) this year,” Blackwell said.

Blazer capped his sophomore season first at the WPIAL AAA championships where he scored a runner-up finish in the 100 backstroke and added a fourth in the 100 butterfly.

He also helped the 200 medley (fourth) and 200 free (eighth) relays earn WPIAL medals.

Blazer moved on to states at Bucknell University and secured seventh in the 100 back and an 11th in the 100 fly.

“He really used last year’s performances at WPIALs and states as motivation for the offseason,” Blackwell said. “He learned a lot and built off them.”

As the high school season was beginning last month, Blazer tested his mettle at the USA Swimming Junior Winter Nationals East in Greensboro, N.C.

“That got him to see the big stage and put him in a different mindset of how he should prepare for things such as WPIALs and states,” Blackwell said.

Blazer also faced the area’s best at the annual Pitt Christmas meet at Pitt’s Trees Pool, and Blackwell said it gave him an idea of where he stood in the early stages of the season.

Michael Love is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Michael at 412-388-5825, mlove@tribweb.com or via Twitter @MLove_Trib.

Tags: Seneca Valley