Mt. Pleasant girls capture 1st WPIAL swimming championship

By: Michael Love
Friday, March 4, 2022 | 7:16 PM

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The Mt. Pleasant girls swimming and diving team took home a runner-up trophy from the 2020 WPIAL Class 2A championships at Pitt’s Trees Pool.

Last year, it was third behind Northgate and Quaker Valley at Upper St. Clair.

But the Vikings, in the return to Trees Pool on Thursday and Friday, hoped to take that next step to the top of the podium.

Led by a total of five titles and nine other medal-winning performances, Mt. Pleasant distanced the field to claim the program’s first WPIAL crown.

“Our coaches definitely push us every day, and we push each other, for sure,” junior SaraJo Gardner said. “This is the best team Mt. Pleasant has ever had. We knew it was 100% doable to win overall. So we just wanted to go out there and swim our fastest in every event. And we’re only losing one girl to graduation (Ashlyn Hornick). It’s so exciting that we’re all returning.”

The Vikings entered the WPIAL championships already with points under their belts as junior Paige Richter placed 12th in diving Feb. 25 at North Allegheny.

Freshman Lily King kicked off Day 2 for Mt. Pleasant in record-breaking fashion. She swam the 100-yard freestyle to a time of 50.03 seconds. That surpassed the previous record of 50.08 set by Geibel’s Emily Zimcosky in 2016.

On Thursday, King won WPIAL gold in the 50 free with a WPIAL-record time of 22.74.

“I am happy with how I did,” King said. “I definitely wasn’t expecting two (records). I was hoping that I would get at least one. I won’t say I was expecting it. I was thinking more about the 50 because that’s the one I actually knew what (the record) was. I didn’t know what the 100 record was until this morning. I was just trying to come in here and do my best, and the records were kind of in the back of my mind.”

The Vikings girls 400 free relay capped the championship performance Friday with a WPIAL record. Gardner, King, and juniors Reegan Brown and Trinity Graft swam to a time of 3 minutes, 32.12 seconds, about a half-second better than the previous mark set by Oakland Catholic in 2002 (3:32.66).

“We knew what we needed to do going in to get the record,” Gardner said. “We were really hoping we would get it and also get first. We all came together and swam for each other. ”

Mt. Pleasant all but clinched the team title with the 100 backstroke as freshman Kiersten O’Connor and Gardner placed second and third, respectively. It extended Mt. Pleasant’s lead over Blackhawk from 36 to 69 points with two events remaining.

While the Mt. Pleasant girls were wrapping up their team title, Southmoreland’s only swimmer, junior Henry Miller, was winning a second straight WPIAL title in the boys Class 2A 100 breaststroke.

Miller clocked a winning time of 57.04. Runner-up Joseph Gardner checked in at 57.44, and Plum’s Sam Schohn swam to a time of 57.98. They were the only three in the event to break 1 minute.

The WPIAL title comes a day after Miller finished runner-up in the 100 fly to Will Retch, a senior from Hampton.

“Yesterday was a good race. Everyone I knew in it was awesome,” Miller said. “I still dropped time. It was a little disappointing in the placement, but it’s a good drive for states.

“Today, I came into it with a fresh mind, and I knew I just had to get at it. I am very happy with the time. It’s a personal improvement of .09 from last season (57.13).”

Joseph Gardner’s runner-up 100 breast finish earned the Mt. Pleasant boys 17 points as they went on to finished fifth with 147 team points.

Class 3A

The Franklin Regional boys relays faced a roller coaster of emotions in the two days of the WPIAL championships.

The Panthers 200 medley relay captured a WPIAL title Thursday, but the 200 free relay was disqualified a couple of hours later for what WPIAL officials said was a too-quick start off the block in one of the legs.

But the FR 400 free relay came back in strong fashion Friday. Swimming in Lane 2 as the fifth seed, the quartet of senior Owen Holm, sophomores Benjamin Holm and Holden Thomas and junior Aiden Bunker raced to a runner-up finish in a time of 3:09.63, more than four seconds better than its seed time.

It also is a school record.

Junior Jason Tosh swam both Thursday relays, and Ben Holm came in for Tosh on Friday as the only change to the lineup.

“It was a great feeling,” said Bunker, who anchored the 400 free relay, swam both of the relays on Day 1 and also placed third in the 200 individual medley. “We had our highs and lows, but to finish the way we did in the relay, swimming so well as a team, it was a great feeling. Today really turned things around from the way things ended yesterday. We can’t wait for states.”

Said Thomas, who added a fourth-place finish in the 100 back: “Since I was the one who got DQ’d, I felt I had to come back and make up for it. I had a good swim (in the 100 back), and I wanted to carry that positive feeling to the relay, which I am glad I did. We all swam really strong.”

The two scoring relays produced 74 points to help lead the FR boys to seventh in the team standings with 139 points.

“After what happened yesterday where they got shafted in the 200 free relay, for them to come back, step it up and perform the way they did, I couldn’t have been more proud of them.”

Hempfield, fronted Friday by a fourth-place finish from junior Liam Randolph, placed sixth (156.5).

Only the champions in each event at all of the PIAA district meets earn automatic berths to the state championships March 18-19 at Bucknell.

The remaining berths to states will be determined based on the remaining times recorded at the district meets. Each PIAA event will have the top 32 individuals and top 24 relays.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Mt. Pleasant