A-K Valley senior spotlight: St. Joseph’s Sam Wygonik

By: Bill Hartlep
Monday, February 28, 2022 | 9:00 AM

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Sam Wygonik finishes classes each day and heads to swim practice, but for the St. Joseph senior, it’s not as simple as walking down a few hallways to the natatorium.

Wygonik is the lone swimmer at St. Joseph and does his daily workouts at Fox Chapel High School. He’s an “adopted” member of the Foxes team who competes in their meets as an independent.

He’s valued the chance to be part of the group and has benefited from the training with other talented swimmers. His work certainly has paid off.

He has some of the top reported times in the 200-yard freestyle (fourth, 1:48.24) and 500 freestyle (fifth, 4:55.63) and should be among top seeds for the upcoming WPIAL Class 2A swimming championships March 3-4 at Pitt’s Trees Pool.

An elbow injury and subsequent surgeries wiped out his sophomore season, but he returned strong in 2020-21. Wygonik earned a fourth-place medal in the 500 and was sixth in the 200 at last season’s WPIAL meet and went on to finish 11th in the 500 at the PIAA championships.

Fox Chapel coach Dan Taylor cites Wygonik’s focus, strong work ethic and high pain tolerance for his success. He will need to rely on all those qualities to challenge for WPIAL gold.

Wygonik took a few minutes before practice last week for a Senior Spotlight Q&A:

How has swim season gone so far?

I think it’s been a pretty good season so far. Since I’ve been able to drive, I’ve been able to go the gym more. I’ve gotten stronger. In 2019, I had two elbow surgeries, which set me back a bit. I think I’m getting much better from that point.

Is it strange to be the only swimmer at St. Joseph and practice with students from another team?

It was definitely weirder freshman year. I swam with a lot of them already. At St. Joe’s, it’s small anyways. It’s hard not going to school with the people I swim with, but I’m sort of adopted with them at home meets.

What makes you want to swim in the distance events?

The distance really appeals to me. It’s something impressive that not a lot of people can do. That’s how I started in it. Then I kind of developed a love for it. I find it fulfilling to complete it with that sustained speed.

Do you ever do the even longer events at club meets?

Once in a while, I’ll do the mile or 1,000 (yards). I lost a lot of my long, long endurance (after the elbow injury) in terms of competitive edge. So, I do the (200 and 500) now.

What are your goals for the WPIAL championships?

I want to try and at least get top three because last year I got fourth and felt like I got snubbed. I definitely want to get top three, and obviously the goal is to win. I think I have a good chance. Not that I don’t think other people will drop time, but I think I have good chance of dropping time. That’s how I swim. At championship time, I’m dialed in and really put my best foot forward.

How did you get involved in swimming?

I started swimming when I was 5. I did swim lessons at Sylvan Pool in Harrison Township and joined the team in the summer there. I joined Allegheny Valley YMCA to see if I wanted to do it all year round. Then my summer coaches recommended I try (Fox Chapel) Killer Whales 10 years ago. I’ve been there ever since. It’s been a fun ride.

Have you made any plans for next fall?

I’m still waiting on college acceptances. I’ve been accepted at Georgia Tech. I’m not sure if I’ll swim in college yet. But I’ll definitely be swimming, it’s just a matter if I’m on a team. I’ve started to look into triathlon.

Are you involved in any other activities at St. Joseph?

I’m president of the student council. I do leadership and student ambassador, a bunch of miscellaneous things. Last year, I was on the robotics team. I’ve done science research in the past too.

What is something people might not know about you?

I’m pretty academically focused. I like a lot of the STEM programs. I want to study physics in college. That’s comes off as a surprise to some people. I think I want to go into some sort of STEM field.

Have you watched the Winter Olympics?

I think the slopestyle and things like that are really cool, snowboarding and skiing. I watched Nathan Chen do the figure skating routine, and it was insane.

Bill Hartlep is the TribLive sports editor. A Pittsburgh native and Point Park graduate, he joined the Trib in 2004, covering high school sports. He held various editing roles before assuming his current position in 2019. He can be reached at bhartlep@triblive.com.

Tags: St. Joseph