Kiski Area girls capture WPIAL team swimming title

By: Michael Love
Friday, March 1, 2024 | 7:52 PM

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Last year, the Kiski Area boys swim team captured the WPIAL Class 2A team title at Pitt’s Trees Pool.

On Friday, it was the Lady Cavaliers’ turn to lift high the first-place trophy.

Leading Quaker Valley by two points and two-time defending champion Mt. Pleasant by 10 heading into the last event, the Kiski Area girls 400-yard freestyle relay of senior Abby King, junior Amara Sterlitz, freshman Leah Kunkle and senior Eliza Miller punctuated the title by winning in a time of 3 minutes, 35.29 seconds.

“Honestly, it all was an adrenaline rush at first, coming in with an open mind, hoping that we would be able to win with two seniors, an incoming freshman and a junior from last year,” King said about the relay that gave them enough points for the team triumph.

“It was an amazing feeling that we were able to get first place and help clinch the team win. When Eliza came in and touched the wall, we knew we had it.”

The 400 relay, which bested Northgate, Mt. Pleasant and Gateway in the top four, finished with 218 team points. Mt. Pleasant was second with 200, followed by Indiana (183) and Northgate (179).

Throughout Friday’s Class 2A afternoon session, Cavaliers coach Ryan Berberich was tallying team points and keeping track of how each team was faring.

The Cavaliers took the lead over Quaker Valley — 178 to 176 — after King placed third in the 100 breaststroke (1:05.72), and Leah Kunkle added six points to the total with an 11th-place finish in the event.

Junior Paige Kunkle’s sixth-place finish in the 100 back also contributed 13 crucial points to the team total.

“As a coaching staff, we told the kids that it is a long season and a long grind,” Berberich said as he climbed out of the pool after taking the championship plunge with his swimmers and fellow coaches.

“There’s going to be ups and downs. We just had to stay the course in everything we did, trust the process, believe in one another and let everything fall into place. I couldn’t be more proud of these girls.”

Miller came close to two personal goals in Friday’s girls Class 2A 500 free.

The Kiski Area senior, a Duquesne triathlon commit, hoped to defend her 500 title won last year and also go sub-five minutes in a high school meet for the first time.

Miller finished with a time of 5:00.47. She also fell just short of repeating, taking second to Shady Side Academy freshman Ava Jochims.

“I think at states I will be able to go under five minutes because I felt good when I swam,” said Miller, who broke her own school record in the event. “I know I have a lot left.”

Knoch junior Giona Lavorini won the girls Class 2A 100 breast. She trimmed nearly four seconds off her seed time for a personal-best 1:01.90.

The time also approached the WPIAL record of 1:01.61 recorded by former Highlands and Kentucky standout Bailey Bonnett in 2017.

Lavorini’s dramatic swim denied Indiana junior Peyton Scott a second straight WPIAL 100 breast title. Scott also won last year’s PIAA 100 breast championship.

Freeport freshman Kasey Schrecongost took third in the girls 100 back with a personal-best 58.44.

On the boys side, Cavaliers junior Justin Tucker earned his second individual silver with a second in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:39.46. He came in as the No. 1 seed (4:41.81).

Shady Side Academy junior Soren Cooper won in 4:35.98.

“I felt pretty good,” Tucker said. “Soren is a great competitor. I love racing him. I know I still have another chance to better my time at states.”

Class 3A

The Fox Chapel girls 400 free relay took home a WPIAL title last year (3:28.06) with three of the four in the quartet being seniors.

Only junior Sarah Pasquella was back from the relay. She led off last year’s title-winning race. On Friday, she was the anchor, finishing a race started by junior Grace Kovach and continued by freshmen Josephine Stanczak and Charlotte Rusche.

But the relay still was able to rule the pool.

Pasquella brought home the title in a time of 3:29.42.

“It was really nerve-wracking watching the rest of the race, but it also was so exciting,” said Kovach, who earlier in the day placed third in the 100 free (52.93).

“I am so proud of the other girls. The girls that have been in that relay in the past were really fast, and it is an honor to be on that relay this year.”

Pasquella swam her part of the relay shortly after completing the 100 breast where she was the top seed.

She won the 200 free Thursday, and North Allegheny senior Natalie Sens won the 100 butterfly.

Both wanted to add a second individual title, but it was Sens who captured gold in the 100 breast with a time of 1:02.53. Pasquella settled for second (1:03.65), and defending champ Sarah Shaffer, a junior from Pine-Richland, took third (1:03.72).

“I don’t think I was disappointed with my 100 breast,” Pasquella said. “I used it to point out some things I can fix, and that will help me at states. It was the first time I was seeded that high in the event. I was a little nervous going into it. It was a really good learning experience for me.”

The Lady Foxes finished with 295 team points for second overall. Juggernaut North Allegheny won its 16th straight Class 3A team title with 477.5 points.

“What keeps us coming back each year and working hard is that possibility,” Fox Chapel coach Matt Mauclair said. “You’ve gotta believe. That is what these kids from both teams did. They fought for every stroke, every turn at the wall and every lap. I am really proud of them.”

Rusche finished a breakout first WPIAL meet with four medals. She scored two individual bronzes: the 200 free Thursday and the 500 free Friday

Rusche swam the 500 in a time of 5:05.13, two seconds slower than her seed time of 5:03.57. But she was able to secure third behind winner Claire Bacu, a sophomore from North Allegheny (4:57.82), and last year’s champ, South Fayette senior Zoe Poe (5:00.17).

The Fox Chapel boys, who claimed three medals Friday, finished the two-day competition in fifth with 166 points behind North Allegheny, Upper St. Clair, Mt. Lebanon and Central Catholic.

Junior Christian Dantey followed up his silver medal in the 200 free from the first day with a team-best third-place finish in the 100 breast (57.43).

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: Fox Chapel, Freeport, Kiski Area, Knoch