There are New Sheriffs in the WPIAL AA Pool as Indiana Boys and West Allegheny Girls Swim to Gold

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, March 4, 2011 | 12:00 AM

The Indiana boys swim team held a slim 9 point advantage over perennial power Shady Side Academy heading into the final event – the Boys 400 yd. Freestyle Relay. They needed at least a 3rd place finish to guarantee their first-ever swimming title and that's exactly where they finished, winning the title by one point over Shady Side Academy Friday afternoon at the University of Pittsburgh's Trees Pool.

Leading by nine points coming into day 2, Indiana got strong performances by Matt Rochna who got Silver in the Boys 100 yd. Backstroke. They also benefitted from 4th and 5th place finishes in the Boys 100 yd. Breaststroke by Jon Haycock and Daniel Peng respectively.

The Little Indians title victory snaps the Shady Side Academy boys AA championship streak at nine years in a row. The title is sweet justice for Indiana, which had finished second to SSA the last four years.

In the Girls Class AA Swimming Championships, a new champion was guarenteed after eleven-time champ Oakland Catholic moved up to Class AAA. It was last years runner-up, the West Allegheny Indians who ran away with the title, winning their first swimming championship by a 314-287 margin over 2nd place Shady Side Academy. The Indians came into day two trailing Shady Side Academy by 9 points but finished with Gold (Ashley Niznik) and Silver (Emily Pia) in the first event, the Girls 100 yd. Freestyle. West A's Kara Kaulius also won Gold in the Girls 500 yd. Freestyle and got Silver and Bronze medal performances from Niznik and Amanda Gannon in the Girls 100 yd. Backstroke.

Congratulations to Mars Area HS swimmer Margaret Gruber who notched the only WPIAL record of day 2 as she swam to Gold in the Girls 100 yd. Backstroke with a time of 56.00, 0.06 better than the old record set back in 2009 by Andrea Marko.

Here are the top 5 finishers in both boys and girls events, plus the final team standings:

DAY TWO on Friday, March 4th:

Boys AA FINAL Standings
1. Indiana Little Indians – 261
2. Shady Side Academy Indians – 260
3. West Allegheny Indians – 174
4. South Fayette Lions – 154
5. Quaker Valley Quakers – 135

Boys 100 Yd. Freestyle
1. Broderick Kelly – Shady Side Academy 47.75
2. Tyler Vaughn – West Allegheny 48.88
3. Patrick Goelz – South Park 49.14
4. Jon Suarez – Beaver 49.55
5. Ryan Finnegan – Riverside 50.26

Boys 500 Yd. Freestyle
1. David Paulk – Shady Side Academy 4:41.43
2. Dan Mazur – Seton-LaSalle 4.49.40
3. Connor Calarie – Highlands 4:50.65
4. Alexander Szakelyhidi – Riverside 4:50.81
5. Christopher Georgiades – Mars 4:52.90

Boys 100 Yd. Backstroke
1. Tim Mangis – West Allegheny 52.60
2. Matt Rochna – Indiana 52.62
3. Jacob Nicolella – Bishop Canevin 54.27
4. Kurt Muehlheuser – Mars 54.31
5. Brad Kolesar – West Mifflin 55.77

Boys 100 Yd. Breaststroke
1. Bobby Francis – Quaker Valley 59.71
2. Mike Allada – Quaker Valley 1:01.33
3. Grant Zentgraf – Shady Side Academy 1:01.45
4. Jon Haycock – Indiana 1:01.56
5. Daniel Peng – Indiana 1:02.05

Boys 400 Yd. Freestyle Relay
1. Shady Side Academy Indians (David Paulk, Ryan Koul, Peter Scott, Broderick Kelly) – 3:15.81
2. Riverside Panthers – 3:22.25
3. Indiana Little Indians – 3:23.78
4. South Fayette Lions – 3:23.87
5. Quaker Valley Quakers – 3:24.26

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Girls AA FINAL Standings
1. West Allegheny Indians – 314
2. Shady Side Academy Indians – 287
3. Blackhawk Cougars – 194
4. South Fayette Lions – 182
5. Hopewell Vikings – 126

Girls 100 Yd. Freestyle
1. Ashley Niznik – West Allegheny 52.79
2. Emily Pia – West Allegheny 53.15
3. Braelyn Tracy – Elizabeth Forward 53.14
4. Anna McNurlen – McGuffey 53.36
5. Destin Groff – Shady Side Academy 53.52

Girls 500 Yd. Freestyle
1. Kara Kaulius – West Allegheny 5:03.23
2. Staci Schrecongost – Valley 5:16.80
3. Mary Rosati – South Fayette 5:17.62
4. Concilus Marie – Ellis School 5:17.79
5. Casey Cerbus – Blackhawk 5:23.57

Girls 100 Yd. Backstroke
1. Margaret Gruber – Mars 56.00 (WPIAL Record)
2. Ashley Niznik – West Allegheny 58.50
3. Amanda Gannon – West Allegheny 1:00.43
4. Morgan Fink – South Fayette 1:00.84
5. Hannah Palochak – Hopewell 1:00.90

Girls 100 Yd. Breaststroke
1. Mackenzie Wargo – Apollo-Ridge 1:05.71
2. Anne Marie Bilot – Shady Side Academy 1:05.79
3. Laura Haggerty – Quigley 1:06.77
4. Michelle Fischl – Greensburg-Salem 1:07.26
5. Holly Stein – St. Joesph 1:07.97

Girls 400 Yd. Freestyle Relay
1. Shady Side Academy Indians (Natalie Domeisen, Destin Groff, Courtney Collins, Anne Marie Bilot) – 3:33.16
2. West Allegheny Indians – 3:33.30
3. South Fayette Lions – 3:41.41
4. Blackhawk Cougars – 3:46.26
5. Mars Fighting Planets – 3:48.42

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DAY ONE on Thursday, March 3rd:

A tight battle for the team titles in both Boys and Girls AA Swimming after Day One of the McDonald's WPIAL Championships at Trees Pool. Indiana has a nine point lead over 9-time champion Shady Side Academy for the boys team title, the Little Indians have finished as the runner-up the past four seasons.

On the girls side, Shady Side Academy leads by 9 points over West Allegheny, as a new champion will be crowned for the first time in 12 years, with Oakland Catholic moving up to Class AAA.

Senior Matt Rochna of Indiana claimed individual goal in the 200 yard IM, Rochna also took home gold as part of the winning 200 yard medley relay and 200 freestyle relay teams. The 200 medley relay win was a record setting performance for Indiana, breaking the previous record set in 2009 by Shady Side Academy.

Also setting a new WPIAL mark on the boys side was senior Broderick Kelly of Shady Side Academy with the victory in the 100 yard butterfly.

Anne Marie Bilott and Natalie Domeisen took home double gold for Shady Side Academy, as part of the winning 200 medley relay. Bilott won the 200 yard IM and Domeisen won the 50 freestyle for the second consecutive year. Also winning double gold was Kayla Kaulius of West Allegheny, winning the 200 freestyle and part of the 200 freestyle relay team. Sophomore Maggie Gruber of Mars broke the WPIAL record in the 100 yard butterfly.

Here are the top 5 finishers in both boys and girls events, plus the team standings after Day One:

Boys Team Standings:
1. Indiana Little Indians – 155
2. Shady Side Academy Indians – 146
3. West Allegheny Indians – 128
4. South Fayette Lions – 99
5. Elizabeth Forward Warriors – 97

Boys 200 IM Relay:
1. Indiana Little Indians (Matt Rochna, Jon Haycock, Adam Hess and Daniel Peng) – 1:37.98 WPIAL Record
2. Shady Side Academy Indians – 1:38.08
3. West Allegheny Indians – 1:41.05
4. Elizabeth Forward Warriors – 1:43.73
5. Trinity Hillers – 1:44.02

Boys 200 Freestyle:
1. David Paulk – Shady Side Academy 1.42.28
2. Connor Calarie – Highlands 1:46.37
3. Alexander Szakelhidi – Riverside 1:46.90
4. Cameron Clerici – Beaver 1:49.03
5. Nolan Flynn – Hampton 1:49.60

Boys 200 IM
1. Matt Rochna – Indiana 1:55.43
2. Bobby Francis – Quaker Valley 1:57.43
3. Dan Mazur – Seton-LaSalle 1:59.79
4. Christopher Georgiadis – Mars 2:01.25
5. Kevin Crooks – Trinity 2:02.18

Boys 50 Freestyle:
1. Jon Suarez – Beaver 22.09
2. Patrick Goelz – South Park 22.22
3. Jacob Nicolella – Bishop Canevin 22.38
4. Tyler Vaughn – West Allegheny 22.49
5. Nathan Maxwell – Neshannock 22.51

Boys 100 Butterfly:
1. Broderick Kelly – Shady Side Academy 51.15 WPIAL Record
2. Tim Mangis – West Allegheny 51.63
3. Brad Kolesar – West Mifflin 55.36
4. Kyle Garase – Ringgold 53.39
5. Ian Buckner – Neshannock 54.20

Boys 200 Freestyle Relay:
1. Indiana Little Indians (Matt Rochna, Sean Gibbons, Adam Hess, Daniel Peng) 1:28.97
2. Shady Side Academy Indians – 1:31.23
3. Riverside Panthers – 1:31.35
4. Quaker Valley Quakers – 1:32.42
5. West Allegheny Indians – 1:32.87

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Team Standings:
1. Shady Side Academy Indians – 169
2. West Allegheny Indians – 160
3. Blackhawk Cougars – 116
4. South Fayette Lions – 100
5. Hopewell Vikings – 86

Girls 200 Medley Relay:
1. Shady Side Academy Indians (Courtney Collins, Hillary Cummings, Anne Marie Bilott and Natalie Domeisen) – 1:49.65
2. West Allegheny Indians – 1:52.56
3. South Fayette Lions – 1:52.65
4. Hopewell Vikings – 1:54.57
5. Blackhawk Cougars – 1:54.69

Girls 200 Freestyle
1. Kara Kaulius – West Allegheny 1:53.93
2. Staci Schrecongost – Valley 1:55.67
3. Braelyn Tracy – Elizabeth Forward 1:56.02
4. Morgan Fink – South Fayette 1:56.62
5. Destiny Groff – Shady Side Academy 1:59.20

Girls 200 IM:
1. Anne Marie Bilott – Shady Side Academy 2:08.23
2. Laura Haggerty – Quigley 2:09.74
3. Michelle Fischl – Greensburg-Salem 2:11.23
4. Morgan Schmidt – Chartiers Valley 2:13.54
5. Mary Rosati – South Fayette 2:14.52

Girls 50 Freestyle:
1. Natalie Domeisen – Shady Side Academy 23.95
2. Emily Pia – West Allegheny 24.52
3. Anna McNurlen – McGuffey 24.65
4. Grace Ninesline – Thomas Jefferson 24.89
5. Kristy Daubner – Knoch 24.97

Girls 100 Butterfly:
1. Maggie Gruber – Mars 54.63 WPIAL Record
2. Kellie Gervas – West Allegheny 59.28
3. Mackensie Wargo – Apollo-Ridge 59.37
4. Melody Clerici – Blackhawk 1:00.53
5. Courtney Collins – Shady Side Academy 1:00.53

Girls 200 Freestyle Relay:
1. West Allegheny Indians (Ashley Niznik, Kara Kaulius, Nadiya Wahl and Emily Pia) – 1:39.42
2. Hopewell Vikings – 1:42.77
3. Shady Side Academy Indians – 1:43.12
4. Blackhawk Cougars – 1:43.22
5. Indiana Little Indians – 1:44.35

Tags: Blackhawk, Hopewell, West Allegheny