Plum swimmers seeking success at WPIAL championship meet

By: Michael Love
Saturday, February 27, 2021 | 9:01 AM

The Plum boys and girls swim teams are making final preparations for this weekend’s WPIAL Class AAA and AA championships at Upper St. Clair High School.

After a month and a half of meets and numerous qualifying attempts, the Mustangs swimmers found out last week where they would be situated for individual and relay events.

A number of automatic qualifying times were posted based on standards released Jan. 12, and those times guaranteed a swimmer or a relay a place at WPIALs.

The swimming committee then filled the remaining available spots to reach the 12-entry limit for relays and the 16-entry threshold for individuals.

The WPIAL fixed the number of entries based on steps that needed to be taken in the wake of the state government’s covid rulings on capacity limitations.

The same guidelines led the WPIAL to move the swimming championships away from Pitt’s Trees Pool.

The Plum boys, who dropped down to Class AA this season, take the stage first at 4:15 p.m. Saturday and are well represented in eight events.

Junior Sam Schohn enters the 100-yard breaststroke seeded fourth. He produced a cut of 1 minute, 2.56 seconds at a Feb. 11 meet against Penn Hills. He also will swim the 500 free and is seeded 10th (5:06.63).

Also looking for big things at WPIALs is senior Logan Minick, who is seeded fifth in the 500 free with a 5:02.67 set against Penn Hills. Minick will be gunning for a medal in the 200 free as the ninth seed (1:52.06).

Senior Jordan Rogers will swim a pair of individual events. He is seeded eighth in the 50 free (23:39) and 15th in the 100 butterfly (56.86).

Senior Aaron Frederick will test his mettle in the 100 free as the 10th seed (51.32) and in the 50 free as the 12th seed (23.64).

The Plum boys also will be represented by Minick, Schohn, Rogers and Frederick in two relays. The 200 medley relay is seeded seventh (1:45.96), and the 400 free relay is eighth (3:31.07).

The Plum girls hope to make a splash at Upper St. Clair at 9:45 a.m. Sunday in a pair of individual events and one relay.

Junior Elizabeth Glasspool recorded a cut of 59.47 in the 100 fly against Fox Chapel on Feb. 1. That places her as the 12th seed in the event.

She is chasing her own school record of 59.00 set in taking 10th overall at WPIALs last year.

Senior Charlotte Jones will swim her final WPIAL meet before continuing to compete at Division I Long Island. She is seeded 14th overall in the 100 backstroke (1:00.12).

The 200 free relay of Glasspool, Jones, sophomore Nina Ricciuti and freshman Therese Schollaert checks in as the 11th seed (1:42.97).

The top eight finishers in each individual and relay event will receive medals. Only the WPIAL champion automatically advances to the PIAA championships, which are set for March 19-20 at Cumberland Valley High School.

The remaining few spots in the field of 16 for each event will be filled based on times recorded at the district meets throughout the state.

Capacity limitations forced the PIAA to move the state championships from Bucknell and reduce the number of entries in each event to 16 from the normal 32.

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: Plum