Golden Freshmen Shine in Day One of WPIAL Class AA Swimming Championships

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, March 1, 2012 | 8:13 PM

After Day One of the McDonald’s/WPIAL Boys and Girls Swimming Championships, the West Allegheny Indians hold a 33 point lead to try and claim a second straight Girls Class AA championship, while on the boys side, Indiana holds a sizable lead over Hampton for a second straight boys championship.

Individually on the girls side, junior Braelyn Tracy of Elizabeth Forward upset defending champion Kara Kaulius of West Allegheny for the 200 Freestyle title. Margaret Gruber of Mars claimed her second straight championship in the 100 Butterfly. A pair of freshman also claimed WPIAL gold, Maddie Bartrug of South Fayette in the 50 Freestyle and Bria Otwell of Freeport in the 200 IM.

Senior Bobby Francis of Quaker Valley, the 2011 breaststroke champion, claimed gold in the 200 IM on the boys side.

Here are the individual and team standings after the opening day:

Girls Team Standings thru Day 1:
1  West Allegheny  174.50
2  Shady Side Academy  139
3  South Fayette 119
4  Blackhawk  112

Girls 200 Medley Relay:
1  West Allegheny (Ashley Niznik, Nadiya Wahl, Amanda Gannon, Emily Pia)  1:50.35
2  Shady Side Academy
3  Mars
4  Indiana

Girls 200 Freestyle:
1  Braelyn Tracy  Elizabeth Forward  1:53.30
2  Morgan Fink  South Fayette
3  Kara Kaulius  West Allegheny
4  Mary Folz  Eden Christian

Girls 200 IM
1  Bria Otwell  Freeport  2:07.02
2  Ashley Niznik  West Allegheny
3  Destin Groff  Shady Side Academy
4  Mary Rosati  South Fayette

Girls 50 Freestyle:
1  Maddie Bartrug  South Fayette  24.77
2  Alexandra Guzman  Hopewell
2  Emily Pia  West Allegheny
4  Emily Uhrin  Greensburg Central Catholic

Girls 100 Butterfly:
1  Margaret Gruber  Mars  55.00
2  Emily Jaffe  Shady Side Academy
3  Anita Onufer  Serra Catholic
4  Courtney Collins  Shady Side Academy

Girls 200 Freestyle Relay:
1  South Fayette (Maddie Bartrug, Mary Rosati, Sydney Briner, Morgan Fink)  1:39.90
2  Shady Side Academy
3  Indiana
4  West Allegheny

Boys Team Standings thru Day 1:
1  Indiana  150
2  Hampton  94
3  Beaver  93
4  Mars  91
4  Shady Side Academy 91

Boys  200 Yard Medley Relay:
1  Indiana (Daniel Peng, Jon Haycock, Adam Hess, Sean Gibbon)  1:39.28
2  Mars
3  Elizabeth Forward
4  Hopewell

Boys 200 Freestyle:
1  Alexander Szakelyhidi  Riverside  1:45.29
2  Ryne Fromholzer  South Fayette
3  Francis Folz  Mars
4  Drew Warner  Hampton

Boys 200 IM
1  Bobby Francis  Quaker Valley  1:55.14
2  Christopher Georgiadis  Mars
3  Grant Zentgraf  Shady Side Academy
4  Kurt Muehlheuser  Mars

Boys 50 Freestyle:
1  Cameron Clerici  Beaver  21.48
2  Chris Leech  Shady Side Academy
3  Daniel Yu  Greensburg Salem
4  Daniel Peng  Indiana

Boys 100 Butterfly:
1  Brad Kolesar  West Mifflin  52.10
2  Kyle Garase  Ringgold
3  Ian Buckner  Neshannock
4  Brian Uhrin  Greensburg Central Catholic

Boys 200 Freestyle Relay:
1  Shady Side Academy (Chris Leech, Ryan Koul, Thaddeus Ellis, Greger Zentgraf)  1:29.03
2  Beaver
3  Indiana
4  Hampton