Times dropping for Penn Hills swimmers as WPIAL meet approaches

By: Josh Rizzo
Sunday, January 28, 2024 | 11:01 AM

Penn Hills swimming coach Morgan Bush doesn’t have to worry about checking if her swimmers have been keeping up with their workout regimens. The Indians’ performance against Woodland Hills shows that they are doing what they need to do.

“They are taking the time to improve,” Bush said. “Last (week), every single swimmer on the team had a personal best time.”

Lauren Sipple never thought she could qualify for the WPIAL Class 3A championships in the 100 breaststroke. But Sipple was able to learn a few tweaks to her approach and technique that allowed her to.

“Our second meet, I dropped three seconds somehow,” Sipple said. “Against Fox Chapel, one of the girls I was swimming against already had a WPIAL cut. I just tried to stay with her and get what I needed.”

Penn Hills only had one relay team qualify for WPIALs last season, but the Indians’ contingent of competitors going to Trees Pool is slowly growing. Penn Hills’ 200 medley relay team — Clarke Leonard, Anthony Collins, Luke Hoolahan and Anthony Sipple — hit a qualifying time of 1 minute, 49.6 seconds. That same group had already qualified in the 200 free relay.

Bush said the relay team wanted to hit the qualifying time again in Penn Hills’ first meet, but it took the Indians until the third meet to do it. Bush said Penn Hills’ swimmers have responded well to adversity.

“Qualifying for WPIALs gave them a boost of confidence,” Bush said. “Unfortunately, one of the relay swimmers was injured and was out for two or three weeks. The others were dedicated to picking up the slack. Either way, they wanted it. They were able to beat their time by three seconds. That proves how much work ethic they have in the pool.”

Anthony Sipple has qualified in the 50 free with a time of 23.07.

“I definitely think since we saw people go last year, it lit a fire that we could do this,” Lauren Sipple said. “That’s what pushed us to do better.”

Penn Hills is likely to have a few more competitors push closer to reaching qualifying times. Bush said that Hoolahan, who previously qualified for WPIALs in diving as a freshman, is only 0.19 seconds off hitting the qualifying time for the 50 freestyle.

“He came in with such a positive attitude,” Bush said. “He did much reflecting from last year and has seen his time drop in every event. If he really punches it, he should get to the next level.”

Tags: Penn Hills