Behind veteran standouts, talented freshmen, North Allegheny girls eye another WPIAL swimming title

By: Chris Harlan
Saturday, February 25, 2023 | 11:01 AM

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North Allegheny’s Corky Semler has coached high school swimming for almost 40 years, so when he says this year’s freshman class is among his best, that’s worth noting.

The Tigers had a dozen ninth graders qualify for the WPIAL championships March 2-3 at Pitt’s Trees Pool. Seven were seeded among the Top 10 swimmers in at least one event.

“If we win this meet, it’s going to be because of our freshmen,” Semler said. “We’ve got a ton of freshmen. If they step up, we’re going to be in good shape.”

The North Allegheny girls have won 14 consecutive WPIAL Class 3A team titles and are likely favored for another. The boys are seeking their first title since 2020. Both teams were undefeated in the regular season.

The psych sheet for the girls 200-yard freestyle showed the depth created by the freshman class. Seeded first is NA senior Lexi Sundgren, the defending WPIAL champion, but second was freshman teammate Claire Bacu, sixth was freshman Emma Dietz and seventh was senior Delaney Kennedy.

In the 500 free, Bacu is seeded first with Sundgren second.

“There’s a freshness about this year’s team because of the number of underclassmen,” Semler said. “We have a nice freshness, and yet we have a solid group of seniors providing great leadership. That combination is sort of neat.”

Among the other highly seeded freshmen is Dani Hinkson, who enters the WPIAL meet fourth in both the girls 200 IM and 100 butterfly.

Eva Ogden is seeded third in the 100 free and seventh in the fly. Danny Lesinski is fifth in the boys 100 backstroke and eighth in the 200 IM.

“I would be negligent if I didn’t give our former varsity coach Patrick Wenzel a ton of credit because he heads up our age-group kids,” Semler said. “We’ve got an extremely strong group of freshmen and he’s the one that developed all of those kids.

“Kudos to him for having such a strong age-group program that put in my lap a freshman class that is just phenomenal.”

Semler coached the North Allegheny varsity program from 1978-2013 and returned to his old job last winter to replace Wenzel, who resigned after eight seasons. Semler’s boys and girls teams combined have won 27 WPIAL titles and nine PIAA championships.

Yet he at least entertained the idea that this might be his best freshman class ever.

“I’ll tell you what, it ranks up there,” Semler said. “Obviously, over 37 years that’s a tough thing to say. But I will tell you it’s a very good freshman class with both boys and girls.”

Among the top upperclassmen is Sundgren, the defending WPIAL champion in the girls 200 and 500 freestyle. She also swam a leg on the gold-medal winning 200 free relay last year.

Junior William Gao is seeded first in the boys 100 butterfly and third in the 100 backstroke this winter. Junior Natalie Sens is second in the girls 100 back and third in the 200 IM.

Another indication of the team’s overall depth can be seen in the relays. The NA girls enter all three races as WPIAL favorites.

“There are several schools that have two good relays,” Semler said, “but to put up three good relays is a little bit of a different challenge. You can’t do it with just four girls, or three girls and somebody who gets by.

“You need to have depth.”

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: North Allegheny