USC Dethrones NA Boys while North Allegheny Girls Still Queens of the WPIAL AAA Pool

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, March 4, 2011 | 12:00 AM

While there will be swimming gold heading back to North Allegheny High School, the Tigers could not double their pleasure. The North Allegheny girls won their third straight WPIAL Class AAA team swimming title, but the boys string of five straight was snapped Friday afternoon at Trees Pool. Upper St. Clair won boys swimming gold for the first time since Richard Nixon was in the White House in 1972.

The North Allegheny Tigers won the Girls Team championship by a whopping score of over 100 points. They finished strong with a total of 393 points easily outdistancing Oakland Catholic who had 292.5. Franklin Regional finished 3rd with 239.5, Bethel Park ended up 4th with 165, and Upper St Clair was 5th with 153.5. The Tigers entered day two with a 70 point lead over Franklin Regional and finished first and second in the first event, the Girls 100 yard freestyle. From there they never looked back. NA had seven top five finishes and eleven in the top ten of the five girls events held today. They capped off their performance with a win in the Girls 400 yard freestyle relay. In that win they set a new WPIAL record of 3:29:60 bettering the previous record of 3:31:40 set by Bethel Park in 2008. This is North Alleghenys 10th WPIAL Girls team championship and 3rd in a row.

In other big news of the day in Girls action Oakland Catholic Sophomore Leah Smith set a new WPIAL record in the Girls 500 yard freestyle.The old record set in 1995 was 4:55:19, Smith put up a 4:41:37 crushing the old mark by 13.82 in a remarkable performance. While two new WPIAL records were set in the girls portion of the meet the Boys action saw a lot more drama and 2 new records as the teams from North Allegheny and Upper St Clair put on an epic performance all afternoon.

Entering the second day of Boys action the North Allegheny Tigers and Upper St Clair Panthers were tied at 181 for the team championship. After the first 2 events the Tigers held a 21.5 point lead. Into the 3rd event the 100 yard backstroke the three time defending champion of the Panthers, Kyle Dudzinski won his 4th consecutive gold medal in the event breaking his own WPIAL record set just last year with a 48.75. That would spur USC to the the lead by just 3.5 points. The lead shrunk to just .5 just 1/2 a point going into the final event the Boys 400 Yard Freestyle Relay. The teams would have a show down for the gold medal not only for the event but the team champonship as well. In a race that had the fans on their feet the whole race both the Panthers four man team of Alex Hardwick, James Frauen, Nathan Novak and Dudzinski, and the Tigers team of Matthew Buerger, Zachary Buerger, Daniel Becker, and Johnny Songer would change leads numerous times. They were in lanes four and five as the top two seeds, and neither team had more than a lead of a yard. It came down to Dudsinski in the last 25 yards as he passed Matt Buerger to win the gold medal in the event, and the team championship for USC. This ends North Alleghenys five year run of AAA Boys champonships and is the first for the USC boys since 1972.

In other Boys action in the 100 yard backstroke, the previous record of 57.83 was broken by not one but two swimmers. Luke Nobisch from Gateway set a new WPIAL record of 56.37 and won the gold, while Gabriel Larson of Penn Hills finished second with a 57.82.

DAY TWO on Friday, March 4th:

Here are the results from both the boys and girls meets, plus the FINAL team standings:

Boys AAA Final Standings
1. Upper St. Clair 295.5
2. North Allegheny 289
3. Peters Township 212.5
4. Penn Trafford 208
5. Gateway 171

Boys 100 yd. Freestyle
1. Lucas Bureau – Latrobe 46.87
2. Alex Hardwick – Upper St. Clair 47.02
3. Erik Brinkhoff – Bethel Park 47.08
4. Andrew Rich – Peters Township 47.26
5. Miles Molinaro – Franklin Regional 47.44

Boys 500 yd. Freestyle
1. John Nappi – Mt. Lebanon 4:33.74
2. Christian McCurdy – Penn Trafford 4:33.93
3. Zachary Berger – North Allegheny 4:40.74
4. Theo Hubbard – Mt. Lebanon 4:53.73
5. James Frauen – Upper St. Clair 4.44.79

Boys 100 yd. Backstroke
1. Kyle Dudzinski – Upper St. Clair 48.75 (WPIAL Record)
2. Eric Forrester – Canon-McMillan 49.92
3. Matthew Buerger – North Allegheny 50.19
4. Martin Kendig – Gateway 53.25
5. Andrew Tomiczek – Upper St. Clair 53.26

Boys 100 yd. Breaststroke
1. Luke Nosbisch – Gateway 56.37 (WPIAL Record)
2. Gabriel Larson – Penn Hills 57.82
3. Joe Hufnagel – Penn Trafford 58.35
4. Matthew Baurle – Penn Trafford 58.93
5. Alex Cook – Pittsburgh Central Catholic

Boys 400 yd. Freestyle Relay
1. Upper St. Clair (Alex Hardwick, James Frauen, Nathan Novak, Kyle Dudzinski)
3:10.85
2. North Allegheny 3:10.97
3. Gateway 3:11.17
4. Peters Township 3:12.25
5. Franklin Regional 3:13.36

————————————————————

Girls AAA Final Standings
1. North Allegheny 393
2. Oakland Catholic 292.5
3. Franklin Regional 239.5
4. Bethel Park 165
5. Upper St. Clair 153.5

Girls 100 yd. Freestyle
1. Allie Pennetti – North Allegheny 52.13
2. Katerina Borisov – North Allegheny 52.27
3. Makena Lynch – Seneca Valley 52.82
4. Lauren Cassano – Peters Township 53.18
5. Haley Dascenzo – Laurel Highlands 53.29

Girls 500 yd. Freestyle
1. Leah Smith – Oakland Catholic 4:41.37 (WPIAL Record)
2. Shannon Haberman – Oakland Catholic 5:13.62
3. Allison Viverette – Oakland Catholic 5:05.88
4. Allison Murslack – Pine Richland 5:06.43
5. Kally Vanderbilt – North Allegheny 5:08.79

Girls 100 yd. Backstroke
1. Brooke Waugaman – Hempfield 56.43
2. Brittany Dudzinski – Upper St. Clair 56.71
3. Meghan Mendez – Franklin Regional 57.49
4. Corinne Talhouk – North Allegheny 57.52
5. Allie Brinkhoff – Bethel Park 57.84

Girls 100 yd. Breaststroke
1. Kristen Murslack – Pine Richland 1:03.77
2. Gabriella Borza – North Allegheny 1:05.44
3. Kayla Owens – Latrobe 1:05.97
4. Madeline Marcelle – Woodland Hills 1:07.27
5. Breanna Molinaro – Franklin Regional 1:07.74

Girls 400 yd. Freestyle Relay
1. North Allegheny (Katerina Borisov, Allie Pennetti, Marina Rozick, Kally
Vanderbilt) 3:29.60 (WPIAL Record)
2. Oakland Catholic 3:30.72
3. Franklin Regional 3:34.02
4. Mt. Lebanon 3:35.03
5. Peters Township 3:35.72

____________________________________________________________

DAY ONE on Thursday, March 3rd:

Day 1 of the Class AAA Swimming Championships at Trees Pool saw a tie atop the leader board on the boys side with Upper St. Clair and North Allegheny each with 181 points.

The girls team race is not as close but still tight as North Allegheny has a 27 point lead over Franklin Regional with 11 time Class AA champion Oakland Catholic looming in third.

Matthew Buerger won double gold, the North Allegheny junior won the 200 yard IM and was part of the 200 medley relay team. Upper St. Clair senior Kyle Dudzinski won the 100 butterfly for the second straight year.

The relay teams of Franklin Regional claimed victory in both the 200 medley and 200 freestyle, setting WPIAL records in both performances. Sophomore Leah Smith added a AAA title to her AA gold from last season in the 200 freestyle, smashing the WPIAL meet record by over four seconds.

Here are the results from both the boys and girls meets, plus the FINAL team standings:

Team Standings:
1. Upper St. Clair Panthers – 181
1. North Allegheny Tigers – 181
3. Penn-Trafford Warriors – 134
4. Peters Township Indians – 123
5. Franklin Regional Panthers – 110

Boys 200 Medley Relay:
1. North Allegheny Tigers (Matthew Buerger, Evan Staresenic, Zach Buerger and Kostya Borisov) – 1:35.40
2. Peters Township Indians – 1:35.84
3. Upper St. Clair Panthers – 1:35.89
4. Penn-Trafford Warriors – 1:36.29
5. Bethel Park Black Hawks – 1:38.66

Boys 200 Freestyle:
1. John Nappi – Mount Lebanon 1:40.82
2. Alex Hardwick – Upper St. Clair 1:43.21
3. James Frauen – Upper St. Clair 1:45.33
4. Alex Corolla – Franklin Regional 1:45.99
5. Anthony Geyer – Seneca Valley 1:46.54

Boys 200 IM:
1. Matthew Buerger – North Allegheny 1:52.57
2. Zach Buerger – North Allegheny 1:52.76
3. Luke Nosbisch – Gateway 1:53.28
4. Gabriel Larson – Penn Hills 1:53.82
5. Miles Molinaro – Franklin Regional 1:55.50

Boys 50 Freestyle:
1. Erik Brinkhoff – Bethel Park 21.15
2. David Starr – Plum 21.56
3. Andrew Tomiczek – Upper St. Clair 21.64
4. Kostya Borisov – North Allegheny 21.67
5. Justin Pritchard – Seneca Valley 21.96

Boys 100 Butterfly:
1. Kyle Dudzinski – Upper St. Clair 49.40
2. Andrew Rich – Peters Township 49.95
3. Christian McCurdy – Penn Trafford 50.02
4. Eric Forrester – Canon-McMillan 50.48
5. Lucas Bureau – Latrobe 50.77

Boys 200 Freestyle Relay:
1. Upper St. Clair Panthers (Alex Hardwick, James Frauen, Patrick Davis and Andrew Tomiczek) – 1:26.54
2. Peters Township Indians – 1:26.64
3. Penn-Trafford Warriors – 1:26.65
4. Gateway Gators – 1:27.20
5. North Allegheny Tigers – 1:27.55

————————————————————

Team Standings:
1. North Allegheny Tigers – 200.5
2. Franklin Regional Panthers – 173.5
3. Oakland Catholic Eagles – 154.5
4. Bethel Park Black Hawks – 107
5. Upper St. Clair Panthers – 106.5

Girls 200 Medley Relay:
1. Franklin Regional Panthers (Meghan Mendez, Breanna Molinaro, Mackenzie Meixner and Alyssa Ruffing) – 1:45.91 WPIAL Record
2. North Allegheny Tigers – 1:45.94
3. Upper St. Clair Panthers – 1:48.30
4. Hempfield Spartans – 1:49.14
5. Oakland Catholic Eagles – 1:49.97

Girls 200 Freestyle:
1. Leah Smith – Oakland Catholic 1:47.68 WPIAL record
2. Shannon Haberman – Oakland Catholic 1:52.95
3. Kally Vanderbilt – North Allegheny 1:53.82
4. Allison Murslack – Pine-Richland 1:53.83
5. Allison Viverette – Oakland Catholic 1:53.84

Girls 200 IM:
1. Kristen Merslack – Pine-Richland 2:04.69
2. Brooke Waugaman – Hempfield 2:05.83
3. Kayla Owens – Latrobe 2:06.47
4. Hailey Farrell – Oakland Catholic 2:06.61
5. Allie Brinkhoff – Bethel Park 2:08.67

Girls 50 Freestyle:
1. Katie Ford – Mount Lebanon 23.63
2. Alyssa Ruffing – Franklin Regional 23.79
3. Allie Pennetti – North Allegheny 23.82
4. Kaitlyn Ruffing – Franklin Regional 24.07
5. Katerina Borisov – North Allegheny 24.08

Girls 100 Butterfly:
1. tie Natalie Johnson – Upper St. Clair
1. tie Brittney Dudzinski – Upper St. Clair 57.22
3. Sia Beasley – Fox Chapel 58.02
4. Emily Friedline – Latrobe 58.03
5. Megan Douds – Bethel Park 58.90

Girls 200 Freestyle Relay:
1. Franklin Regional Panthers (Kaitlyn Ruffing, Aryn Zimmerman, Alyssa Ruffing and Mackenzie Meixner) – 1:35.83 WPIAL Record
2. North Allegheny Tigers – 1:36.35
3. Oakland Catholic Eagles – 1:37.33
4. Mount Lebanon Blue Devils – 1:37.50
5. Hempfield Spartans – 1:38.86

Tags: Bethel Park, Franklin Regional, Gateway