Penn-Trafford’s Graziano, Alexander to swim at PIAA meet

By: Tribune-Review
Sunday, March 13, 2022 | 12:01 PM

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Penn-Trafford sophomore Patton Graziano earned a pair of medals at the WPIAL Class 3A swimming championships March 3-4 at Pitt’s Trees Pool.

Graziano finished seventh in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 47.25 seconds and also took fifth in the 100-yard backstroke in 51.60.

Graziano qualified for this week’s PIAA championships at Bucknell University in both events.

He’ll be joined by sophomore teammate Conner Alexander, who finished 10th in the 100 freestyle (47.55) at WPIALs and qualified for the PIAA meet as the first alternate.

Some individuals and relays were relaxed knowing they had either automatically secured a spot by winning their event at their respective district meets or swum a time that was surely among the top performances in the state.

Others had a more stressful couple of days waiting to find out if their times fell within the top 32 for each individual or relay event.

On the initial WPIAL lists, alternates were set for each event to prepare for the possibility that an already-qualified individual or relay above them would scratch out of that event, allowing them to have new life.

Alexander found himself an alternate for the 100 free and 100 backstroke.

On March 9, he found out he bumped up into the top 32 in the 100 free and will swim individually at WPIALs for the first time. He is seeded 30th.

“I was really hoping that would happen for Conner, but you never know,” Penn-Trafford coach Dave Babik said.

“When I got the news, I was really excited. I ran down from my room to the lunch room to find him and tell him the good news. (Fellow sophomore) Patton (Graziano) is thrilled also because these two have been training together the whole season. They can continue to train together and swim in a same event at states.”

The Warriors placed 14th in the team standings at WPIALs with 59 points.

Tags: Penn-Trafford