Countdown to WPIALs: Butler’s Laura Goettler has WPIAL record to defend in 200 IM

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, February 26, 2018 | 6:30 PM

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Tribune-Review sports reporter Michael Love and the TribLive High School Sports Network will be profiling 10 swimmers to watch leading up to the 2018 WPIAL championship meet, set for March 1-2 at the Pitt's Trees Pool.

TRIBHSSN is the exclusive audio and video home for the WPIAL Class AAA and AA championship meets, which will be broadcasted and video streamed live at TribHSSN.triblive.com.

Here is the ninth installment of a 10-part series featuring some of the area's top swimmers.

Laura Goettler

School: Butler

Class: Sophomore

Events: 200 individual medley, 100 breaststroke, 200 free relay, 200 medley relay.

2017 WPIAL AAA results: 200 IM, 1st (2:01.78, WPIAL record); 100 breast, 2nd (1:03.70); 200 medley relay, 14th (1:50.52); 200 free relay, 16th (1:42.69).

Laura Goettler didn't let last year's inexperience at the WPIAL swimming championships hold her back as she won the girls Class AAA 200-yard individual medley with a WPIAL-record time of 2 minutes, 1.78 seconds.

She then scored a silver medal in the 100 breaststroke.

Goettler went on to post a ninth-place finish in the 200 IM and a 14th in the 100 breast at states.

“Last year was a pleasant surprise, and it was a springboard for better swims,” Butler coach Dave Bocci said. “That gave her the confidence to go to the next level.”

Goettler also finished fifth in the country in the 200-meter breast at August's USA Swimming Junior Nationals in Long Island, N.Y.

That finish qualified her to represent her Lake Erie Silver Dolphins club team at the Senior National meet in Columbus, Ohio, in December.

Swimming against past and present U.S. Olympians and others at least three years older, the 15-year-old Goettler placed 15th in the 200 breast.

Bocci said Goettler understands she will have a number of swimmers gunning for her in both of her individual events Thursday at Friday at Pitt.

She is seeded first in the 100 breast with a qualifying time of 1:04.64.

Goettler is the No. 2 seed in the 200 IM to North Allegheny sophomore Torie Berger, the bronze medalist in the event at WPIALs last year.

“Laura is really excited for this meet,” Goettler said. “I think she has a great chance to go faster and break her own record. She understands what WPIALs is all about, and that with timed finals, there's no second shot.”

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

Tags: Butler