Mt. Lebanon’s Sylvia Roy, North Allegheny’s Natalie Sens earn top times at PIAA swimming Day 2 prelims

By: Michael Love
Thursday, March 14, 2024 | 1:19 PM

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LEWISBURG — WPIAL swimmers will go after titles and additional medals Thursday evening on Day 2 of the PIAA Class 3A championships at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium.

Preliminary swims Thursday morning will give way to the consolation and championship finals this evening.

Boys

Upper St. Clair sophomore Nazar Zoukovski is the fourth seed for the finals of the boys 100-yard freestyle (45.63). North Allegheny sophomore Zachary Totin is seeded eighth (46.17).

McClellan Clark, a junior from Central Catholic, is seeded third in the 500 free (4:29.84), while teammate Luke Hartman, a junior, is seeded fifth (4:34.25), and Gateway junior Hunter Raymer is fifth (4:34.34).

In the 100 backstroke, Penn-Trafford senior Patton Graziano leads the WPIAL as the fourth seed (49.49), while rival Holden Thomas, a senior from Franklin Regional, checks in as the No. 7 seed (49.86).

Mt. Lebanon senior Ryan Frank (55.64) and Fox Chapel junior Christian Dantey (56.59) are the fourth and fifth seeds, respectively, in the 100 breaststroke.

North Allegheny’s 400 free relay of Totin, Gus Miller, William Gao and Danny Lesinski is the fifth seed for the championship heat (3:07.60), while Upper St. Clair is seeded sixth (3:08.27).

Girls

Upper St. Clair senior Kaitlyn Connors will go for gold as the sixth seed in the 100 free (51.27), while North Allegheny sophomore Claire Bacu (4:59.94) and South Fayette senior Zoe Poe (5:00.30) are the seventh and eighth seeds, respectively, in the 500 free.

For the second time in as many days, Mt. Lebanon junior Sylvia Roy is a No. 1 seed. She dropped almost a half second from her seed time in the 100 backstroke, and she is a favorite for the title this evening.

North Allegheny senior Natalie Sens joins Roy as a No. 1 seed after a 100 breaststroke prelim swim of 1:02.25.

Fox Chapel junior Sarah Pasquella dropped 1.32 seconds from her seed time and is seeded second in the 100 breast (1:02.33).

North Allegheny’s Bacu, Eva Ogden, Dani Hinkson and Greta Mott lead the way for the WPIAL in the 400 free relay. The quartet is seeded fourth (3:31.69).

The Fox Chapel team of Grace Kovach, Josephine Stanczak, Charlotte Rusche and Pasquella added four seconds to their seed time, but their 3:33.51 was good enough to put them in the finals as the fifth seed.

Schedule

The boys consolation and championship finals involving the top 16 from each preliminary event will begin at 6:20 p.m. and will be broadcast live on the Pennsylvania Cable Network.

PCN then will have live coverage of the girls consolation and championships heats starting at 8:40.

Before swimming awards and medals are handed out, the Class 3A girls divers will hold their championship meet at 2:10 p.m. on PCN.

The North Allegheny trio of sophomore Maggie Lapina, junior Lola Malarky and Juliet Hood will be in action, along with Mars senior Emily Mueller.

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.