With school record in his sights, Shaler swimmer puts in work

By: Josh Rizzo
Sunday, December 3, 2023 | 11:01 AM

Waking up at 4:20 a.m. to start the day makes sense for Shaler junior Noah Lang when he arrives at swim practice. When Lang gets on the pool deck before he starts his practice, he’s in his element.

Starting the day with a 5 a.m. practice features a group of familiar faces.

“I see over half the people on the 500 podium at WPIALs, actually,” Lang said. “A lot of those guys are on my club team. Everybody on the team puts in the work and has a like mindset. They want to get better. It’s a positive environment and beneficial.”

Lang is coming into this season highly motivated to continue chasing the Titans’ record in the 500 free. Lang placed fourth at WPIALs in the event last season and earned a bid to the PIAA Class 3A championships.

Lang finished in 19th place during the state championships with a time of 4 minutes, 42.85 seconds.

Lang wants to challenge Shaler’s school record in the 500 free. Jeff Trew set the record of 4:33.55 in 1976 when he won the WPIAL title.

Lang is focused on perfecting his technique. He also stressed that being confident entering races will be important for success and improvement.

During last winter, Lang had an aggressive schedule. In addition to the WPIAL and PIAA meets, he competed in a club competition in Pennsylvania and another in Virginia. In all, Lang ended up swimming in four meets on four consecutive weekends.

“The main thing I’ve been focusing on is front-end speed,” Lang said. “I need to work on how to sustain that front-end speed. If I can hold onto that front-end speed, I think I’ll look good for the record. I need to figure out how to sustain it and hope everything can come to fruition.”

Titans assistant coach Stephen Adametz said that Lang has set a good example for the group of swimmers Shaler has coming back. The Titans will have 19 swimmers out for the team this season, which includes the girls and boys teams.

“I think he’s an incredibly hard worker,” Adametz said. “He’s willing to get up and go to practice at 5 a.m. and practice for hours and hours. He travels pretty far to go to high-level meets. I think he had a lot of passion and had his heart into swimming.”

Grace and Ava Melocchi, Sarah Vitale and Kaysia Chelli are expected to be major contributors on the girls side. Will Nebiolo and Braden Bork will join Lang on the boys side and try to earn WPIAL cuts in several events.

Lang said he also looks forward to trying to help some Shaler relay teams qualify for WPIALs. He has the routine down and puts in the time.

Everyone where he is in the morning feels the same way.

“People call me crazy all the time,” Lang said. “I do it because it’s fun. I wouldn’t wake up that early if I didn’t find it fun. I want to improve on a daily basis. It gets my day off to a good start as well.”

Tags: Shaler