Fox Chapel swimmers win in record times at WPIAL championships

By: Michael Love
Thursday, February 29, 2024 | 8:38 PM

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Fox Chapel junior Sarah Pasquella settled into her Trees Pool surroundings Thursday morning at Pitt and prepped for her 200-yard freestyle race.

As the No. 1 seed, the Pitt verbal commit was confident in her chances to take home WPIAL gold but understanding of the talent that would be hoping to rise to the top spot on the podium.

Pasquella didn’t let any pressure affect her as she swam to a championship, winning the 200 free in a school-record time of 1 minute, 51.08 seconds.

“I went into it feeling confident, and I just told myself that I was going to do my best and think about all the hard work I put in to have the chance to win a title,” she said.

“I trusted myself and my coaches for getting me here. I also got the team record, which I am super excited about.”

Pasquella moved to the 200 free this season after swimming the 50 free last year and in 2022.

She will go after a second individual title Friday as the top seed in the 100 breaststroke.

Pasquella wasn’t alone in her quest for the title as freshman teammate Charlotte Rusche was just two lanes over as the No. 3 seed. In her WPIAL debut, Rusche placed third with a time of 1:52.70.

“Before my race, I was pretty nervous, but when I dove in, I felt good,” Rusche said. “I tried to think about it as just another race like I’ve had before. Swimming (the heat) with Sarah was really nice. We train together all the time, and it’s a lot of fun to race her and race with her.”

North Allegheny sophomore Claire Bacu split up the Foxes swimmers, taking second in a time of 1:51.94.

Fox Chapel junior Owen Howell saw Pasquella swim to a title, and he wanted to match that success.

Mission accomplished.

Howell knocked more than 3 seconds off his seed time in the 200 individual medley and touched the wall in a school-record time of 1:52.38.

“I was confident going in, and I knew it was going to be a really good race,” Howell said.

“I knew not to go out too fast on the fly. Backstroke is my weakest, so I knew I really had to move it. I got a super good backstroke split, so when I was close to everyone going into the 100 breast, which is my strongest, I really felt good. After breaststroke, I had never been so tired in the freestyle. But I just knew I had to bring it home.”

Foxes junior Christian Dantey had his sights set on defending his WPIAL Class 3A title in the boys 200 free, but it wasn’t meant to be.

The race to the wall was close, and Central Catholic junior Luke Hartman edged Dantey by six one-hundredths of a second. Hartman won with a time of 1:39.39.

Dantey is the second seed in the 100 breast Friday. Howell is the fifth seed in the final heat.

The Foxes girls 200 free relay of Pasquella, Rusche, freshman Josephine Stanczak and junior Grace Kovach placed second by the closest of margins, two one-hundredths of a second behind champion North Allegheny (1:35.55).

The Lady Tigers are well on their way to claiming a 16th straight WPIAL title with 301.5 team points. Fox Chapel is second with 173.

The North Allegheny boys also are in first place after Day 1 with 236.5 team points. Upper St. Clair (176) is second, Mt. Lebanon third (126.5) and Fox Chapel fourth (104).

Only the WPIAL champion in each event advances to the PIAA championships March 13-16 at Bucknell. The other at-large bids to states will be determined by comparing times recorded at each district or regional meet.

The preliminary qualifying lists for both Class 3A and Class 2A are expected to be released on the PIAA website Sunday in the early afternoon.

The top eight finishers in each event both Thursday and Friday earn medals.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Fox Chapel, Freeport, Kiski Area, Knoch