Gateway’s Hunter Raymer ready to defend gold medal at WPIAL swimming championships

By: Michael Love
Sunday, February 26, 2023 | 11:01 AM

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Gateway sophomore Hunter Raymer is the defending WPIAL Class 3A champion in the boys 500-yard freestyle.

He raced to the top in a time of 4 minutes, 35.83 seconds last year at Pitt’s Trees Pool.

Raymer edged fellow first-year WPIAL competitor, Central Catholic’s Luke Hartman, for the title by two and a half seconds.

The WPIAL finals return to Trees Pool on Thursday and Friday, and Raymer is positioned for another run at WPIAL gold.

He is seeded third (4:39.88) behind Hartman (4:35.64), the second seed, and fellow Vikings sophomore McClelland Clark (4:33.87) at the top of the list.

“Hunter was second seed (in the 500) last year,” Gateway coach Glenn Raymer said. “He likes being the underdog. He is excited and motivated to be able to defend his title. The training is there for him. He is prepared. Now, he just has to go out and do it.”

Raymer also is the top seed for the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:43.83.

He makes a first-day move away from the 200 individual medley where he placed 11th last year.

The Gateway boys and girls teams will be well-represented with swims up and down the individual event lineup as well as in all six relays.

“We have a nice group going,” coach Raymer said. “It is a nice mix of swimmers who have been to WPIALs and know what it is like and a few others who get to experience it for the first time.”

The Class 3A timed finals will begin at 9:45 a.m. each day with the Class 2A finals set for 3 p.m. Day 1 will feature the 200 medley relay, 200 free, 200 IM, 50 free, 100 butterfly and 200 free relay.

Day 2 will have the 100 free, 500 free, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke and 400 free relay.

The Gateway girls will mix it up with some new competition in Class 2A after dropping down from Class 3A in the offseason.

The top eight finishers in each event at WPIALs will earn medals. Only the WPIAL champion earns an automatic bid to the PIAA meet at Bucknell, and other top finishers will hope that their times will be good enough to earn at-large selections to states to fill out the 32 entries for each individual and relay event.

Coach Raymer said senior Morgan Holmes, a Bloomsburg commit, is looking strong for WPIALs where she recorded automatic cuts in both the 50 free (third seed, 24.65) and 100 back (fourth, 59.13).

Holmes earned bronze in the 50 free (24.25) at last year’s WPIAL Class 3A meet, and she was 12th in the 100 back (59.26).

“She’s definitely going to be in contention and should do well,” coach Raymer said.

Also achieving automatic cuts for the girls in the Class 2A meet are junior Mallory Brown (ninth seed, 200 free; ninth seed, 100 breast); junior McKenna Brown (eighth, 50 free; seventh, 500 free), freshman Gianna Laurenti (13th 200 IM; 14th, 100 breast), the 200 medley relay (fifth), the 400 free relay (sixth) and the 200 free relay (12th).

Automatic cuts for the boys were recorded by freshman Gunner Raymer (ninth, 200 IM; 13th, 100 free), senior Primo Brodt-Jenkins (14th, 50 free; 14th, 100 breast), the 200 free relay (10th) and the 200 medley relay (13th).

Several on both the boys and girls side achieved secondary cuts in their events. They waited until the event entries were revealed by the WPIAL last Wednesday, with all the scratches removed, to confirm they had qualified.

One of those who waited for confirmation was sophomore Owen Echegaray in the 100 fly. He is seeded 22nd (55.59).

“Owen was up well enough, and I knew with scratches above him, he would get in,” coach Raymer said.

“(Junior) Mark DiPalma was only a tenth away from the 100 free automatic (20th seed, 49.64). For our last meet, against Plum (Feb. 16), he went after it but came up just short.”

DiPalma also was close to an automatic in the 200 free. He ended up with a secondary cut (1:49.12) and is seeded 15th.

The boys 400 free relay is the 12th seed after earning a secondary cut (3:25.06).

Senior Avya Harris found out on the day of the release of the psych sheets that she qualified 30th in the girls 100 breast (1:15.13).

“It’s great she gets to go and swim that in her senior year,” coach Raymer said.

Coach Raymer said the lineups for the three boys three girls relays had not been finalized as of the deadline for this edition.

Swimmers who are expected to compete at WPIALs in the relays only include junior Colton Park and sophomores Kaden Gibson and Ben Echegaray on the boys side, and senior Natalie Helman and sophomore Addi Helman for the girls.

Sophomore Bailey Steele combined the necessary point total (168.83) and degree of difficulty to qualify for the Class 2A diving meet that was last Friday at North Allegheny.

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: Gateway