North Allegheny boys set national record in 400 freestyle relay; team claims PIAA title

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, March 15, 2018 | 8:33 PM

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LEWISBURG — It was a year in the making.

The North Allegheny boys 400-yard freestyle relay touched the wall first at the 2017 PIAA Class AAA state championships at Bucknell University.

However, a bad start caused the Tigers quartet to be disqualified.

“We were disappointed with the disqualification, but we had the mindset we would work hard and come back even better,” said North Allegheny senior Mason Gonzalez, who, along with fellow senior Andrew Zhang and junior Jack Wright, were members of that relay last year.

“We really showed that (Thursday).”

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The relay, which now includes sophomore Rick Mihm, certainly showed a lot.

The team set a new National Federation of High Schools record with a time of 2 minutes, 53.81 seconds. It surpassed the previous national record of 2:54.43 set by Jacksonville Bolles (Fla.) High School in 2012.

It also smashed the state record by more than six seconds. Upper Dublin had the previous top mark of 2:59.58 since 2016.

“This was a year-long quest,” North Allegheny coach Patrick Wenzel said. “The guys were on a mission to have the fastest time in the history of high school swimming. They’ve worked so hard. They deserved every bit of it. We were really safe on our starts, and they still went 2:53.81. I couldn’t be prouder of them.”

The team crossed the bulkhead after the win, and all eyes in the natatorium at Bucknell were fixed on them. They took selfies with swimmers from other schools and talked about their performance with the Pennsylvania Cable Network.

The 400 free relay put a capper on the team’s second straight PIAA championship.

The Tigers took first in eight events over the two days of action and added three gold medals Thursday. In addition to the 400 free relay, Gonzalez won the 100 freestyle (43.03) while Mihm took gold in the 500 free.

North Allegheny finished with 301 team points, 111 more than runner-up North Penn. Each event was scored up to 16th place, and several other Tigers swimmers brought home top-eight and top-16 finishes.

On Thursday, Wright finished runner-up to Gonzalez in the 100 free, Zhang was second in the 100 backstroke, and junior Jerry Chen was third in the 100 breaststroke.

“In order to maintain the excellence we expect, it has to be next man up every year,” Wenzel said. “We had guys in the second tier score points who we hope to see on the podium next year. We’re still returning a bunch of guys. It was awesome to win the state title with this group.”

Also scoring points for the Tigers over the two days were juniors Tolik Borisov, John Ehling and Joel Songer and freshman Jacob McCarran.

The second day also saw another WPIAL swimmer take home state gold, as Josh Matheny, a freshman from Upper St. Clair, crashed the party and topped the field in the boys 100 breaststroke. He finished with a time of 54.55 seconds.

“This experience was everything I expected,” Matheny said. “I have an older sister (Abby Matheny) who is a senior, and she really hyped it up and got me pumped up. Walking out to the block was like nothing I’ve ever done. There was such a rush of adrenaline.”

After his 100 breast race, Matheny quickly turned his attention to the 400 free relay and helped the Panthers quartet place ninth overall. On Day 1, he scored an eighth-place medal in the 200 individual medley.

Conestoga junior Brendan Burns, who won the 100 backstroke Thursday evening, was named the Outstanding Swimmer for the Class AAA boys meet.

He set a meet record in winning the 100 butterfly on Wednesday and helped the Pioneers’ 200 medley relay and 400 free relay to third-place finishes.

Gateway’s Olivia Livingston (49.63) finished runner-up to Pennridge senior Morgan Scott in the girls 100 freestyle, while Butler’s Laura Goettler (1:01.80) placed second in the 100 breast.

The North Allegheny girls led the way for the WPIAL in the team standings. They finished ninth with 78 points. North Penn (District 1) captured the state title with 258 points.

The Class AA individuals and relays take center stage Friday morning with the preliminary swims in the 200 medley relay, 200 free, 200 IM, 50 free, 100 fly and 200 free relay.

Michael Love is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at mlove@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Mlove_Trib.

Tags: Gateway, North Allegheny