Trib HSSN Girls Swimmer of the Week: Penn-Trafford’s Hannah Muro

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, January 31, 2019 | 7:57 PM

Hannah Muro is entering the twilight of her high school swimming career, but the Penn-Trafford senior is building momentum for what she hopes is a series of strong final performances.

Muro found success again at the Westmoreland County Coaches Association last Saturday at Derry High School.

She captured two individual titles — the 200-yard freestyle and 100 backstroke — and helped the 200 and 400 freestyle relays earn runner-up finishes.

Muro again defended her title in the 100 back and bested Hempfield’s Zoey Wilson for the 200 free crown. Last year, Wilson claimed the 200 free championship, and Muro took second.

“Hannah works really, really hard and pays attention to detail,” Penn-Trafford coach Dave Babik said. “She’s always trying to refine her technique. She’s a perfect example of the things we’re trying to do on our team. When she is successful, it’s good for the whole team because it reinforces the things we should be doing.

“I think her leadership is Hannah being Hannah and leading by example. She just does her thing every day, and her teammates take notice of that. She was named a captain for that reason.”

Muro established Penn-Trafford’s first swimming title at the WCCA meet. On Friday, Paige Kalik and Logan Sherwin swept the county diving titles.

“She was pleased with her results at the county meet, especially in the 200 free,” Babik said. “It was a nice boost for the whole team, because we had a lot of really nice results. It showed we are heading in the right direction before WPIALs.”

Babik said the 200 free and 100 back are Muro’s leading contenders for WPIALs. She swam the 50 free at WPIALs last year and placed sixth. The next day, she recorded a fifth in the 100 back.

“We’ll take a look at what other kids in the WPIAL, and maybe even the state, have done in each event and then figure out where her chances for success are the highest.”

Babik said Muro was encouraged by a fast time in the 100 back recorded earlier for her than usual.

“She typically doesn’t do these really fast swims before an event like counties or at WPIALs,” Babik said. “But she swam a 1 minute in the 100 backstroke in a dual meet earlier this season. I think that was a nice surprise for her. That gave her a boost.”

Michael Love is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Michael at mlove@tribweb.com or via Twitter @MLove_Trib.

Tags: Penn-Trafford