Mt. Pleasant girls put on clinic at WPIAL swim championships

By: Michael Love
Thursday, March 2, 2023 | 9:22 PM

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The Mt. Pleasant girls swim team is halfway to back-to-back WPIAL Class 2A titles.

Fronted by four WPIAL Day 1 titles — two individual and two relay— with four WPIAL records, the Vikings sit atop the standings by 50 points over Quaker Valley.

“It was a great first day for the girls,” Mt. Pleasant coach Sandy Felice said

“I was pleasantly surprised that the two relays got their records. Everyone feeding off each other and supporting each other; that is typical of this team. All of our meets this year, they are raising the roof.”

The girls 200-yard medley relay of sophomore Kiersten O’Connor and seniors SaraJo Gardner, McKenna Mizikar and Reegan Brown kicked off the Class 2A meet with a bang by setting a WPIAL record with a time of 1 minutes, 45.86 seconds.

“Going into the race, we didn’t even know what the (WPIAL record) was,” Gardner said. “We didn’t know we got it until it flashed up on the board. That was very exciting. We looked back at what we swam last year at states, and that time that we just got would’ve won states last year. So, that is a lot of great momentum for us heading to states this year.”

The record gives the Mt. Pleasant girls all three Class 2A relay records.

Sophomore Lily King followed the relay with a WPIAL-record swim in the 200 free (1:47.36). It is her first WPIAL title in the 200 after winning the 50 free last year in record time.

The previous 200 record — 1:49.38 — had stood for 14 years.

King will swim the 100 free Friday in hopes of bringing home another title while lowering her own WPIAL record in the event.

“I did have to talk (Lily) into (switching from the 50 to the 200),” Felice said.

“Of course, she did it for the team. Her favorite is the 50 free, and that’s what she qualified for with the Olympic trials. She took it and said, ‘I’ll do it for the team.’ The record was a pleasant surprise. I knew she was close.”

King’s move from the 50 free to the 200 free opened the door for O’Connor, who swam to the win in the 50 with a time of 23.76.

The Mt. Pleasant girls 400 free relay ended the first day the way the 200 medley relay began it: by winning the title in record fashion.

King, senior Trinity Graf, Gardner and O’Connor lowered their own WPIAL record set last year (1:37.53) and won gold with a new top mark of 1:35.90.

King felt under the weather after her winning swim in the 200 free, but she was able to recover well enough to swim the relay’s lead leg.

Her 50 lead of 22.58 is a WPIAL record, surpassing her 22.74 recorded last year.

“I went outside and took a breather for a minute,” King said. “That is probably what I needed. Everyone was really helpful, and it didn’t take long to get back into it. (Getting the record) was the whole plan of me going out first.”

Southmoreland senior Henry Miller unseated Riverside’s Joseph Roth as the WPIAL champion in the Class 2A boys 50 free, and he did it in record time.

Miller swam to the win in 20.18 seconds. Roth, last year’s champ, took second in a time of 21.29.

“(Joseph) is intimidating. He’s 6-5. He’s a beast,” Miller said. “He’s a super nice guy and super respectable. I respect him so much. It was just a fun race. That’s the best way to describe it.

“I am so thankful to everyone here because I don’t have a team. I look up into the stands, and everyone is cheering. The whole WPIAL has adopted me. So many people were smiling. It’s just an amazing feeling.”

Not satisfied with one WPIAL record, Miller came back in the next event and swam to a WPIAL-record time of 48.87 in the 100 fly.

Hempfield is back on top in the Class 3A boys 50 free as senior Dom Falcon claimed the title in a time of 20.87. It is his first WPIAL crown.

He is the first Spartans WPIAL champ in the 50 free since Gavin Mayo in 2019. Before that, Judson Shiffler won it for Hempfield in 2014.

“This is so exciting and totally surreal,” Falcon said. “Coming in, you don’t really know what to expect. Anything can happen in a race at WPIALs. Having such a great race, it feels awesome. I can’t thank my coaches enough. They have given me so much and provided me with so much help.”

The Mt. Pleasant boys 200 medley relay of junior Logan Snively, sophomores Joseph Gardner and David Mutter and senior Brendan Korpiel earned silver with a time of 1:36.48. North Catholic set a WPIAL record with a winning time of 1:35.80.

Mutter returned in the 100 fly and placed second to Miller with a time of 49.57.

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

Swimming will continue Friday with timed finals heats in the 100 free, 500 free, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke and 400 free relay.

Class 3A swims begin at 9:45, and Class 2A will start at 3 p.m.

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: Franklin Regional, Hempfield, Mt. Pleasant, Penn-Trafford, Southmoreland