Penn Hills swimmers go to great lengths to lower times

By: Josh Rizzo
Sunday, February 26, 2023 | 11:01 AM

Clark Leonard, Anthony Sipple, Anthony Collins and Luke Hoolahan were all disappointed they didn’t shave any time off their WPIAL Class 3A 200 freestyle relay qualifying time during a last-chance meet Feb. 18 at Chartiers Valley.

But Penn Hills swimming coach Morgan Bush knew there were other opportunities. The meet at Chartiers Valley was in the morning, and Bush called Beaver High School to see whether the Indians could make a trek up there. When Bush found out that meet had already concluded, she called North Alle­gheny.

There was plenty of time for Penn Hills to make the trip from the South Hills to North Alle­gheny for another opportunity. While the Indians didn’t get any individual qualifiers through, Penn Hills strengthened its 200 free relay qualifying time to 1 minute, 36.61 seconds.

“When we didn’t get the time we wanted and she said we could go to another meet, I was shocked,” said Collins, who is a sophomore. “It was fun, but hard.”

Penn Hills was on a tight but not super-nervy schedule once arriving at North Allegheny. The Indians had some time to settle in before they had to compete.

“They were kind of swimming cold turkey that day,” Bush said. “We left Chartiers Valley at 11 a.m. and got there at 11:30 a.m. Warmup started at noon.”

Qualifying for WPIALs was the ultimate goal for the relay team, which has shaved over 10 seconds off of its time since the season started. Kendal Herbert and Ed Bowser are the alternates for the relay team.

Penn Hills hit the qualifying time during a meet at Plum in early February. Collins was the third leg of the relay that night.

“When I got out of the pool, I was tired,” Collins said. “After we finished the race, we were all dead silent looking at the scoreboard. When the time flashed, it was like a movie. We were all jumping up and down and hugging each other.”

Leonard, a sophomore who swims for the Woodland Hills Aquatic Team, said he had a feeling from early on in the season that Penn Hills had a chance to compete at the WPIAL championships, which will be held March 2-3 at Pitt’s Trees Pool.

“I was hoping,” Leonard said. “We were pretty close at the first meet of the season. Every meet we kept dropping time until we finally did.”

Penn Hills also had Sipple and Hoolahon attempt to qualify in the 50 freestyle. Sipple missed by two-hundredths of a second, while Hoolahan was four-tenths of a second off the pace.

Leonard and Sydney Smith, who swims the 100 breaststroke for the girls team, are two of Penn Hills’ swimmers who compete year-round.

“I like doing club and high school because it pushes me,” Leonard said. “I’m able to get a lot more tips on how to drop time.”

Bush was pleased with the performances of her relay team.

“They all swim in the summer,” Bush said. “Most of them are tri-athletes. They’ve worked hard and put in as much time as they can to work on swimming.”

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