A-K Valley’s best swimmers to clash at WPIAL championships
By:
Tuesday, February 25, 2025 | 5:37 PM
Knoch’s Giona Lavorini and Indiana’s Peyton Scott certainly are no strangers in the swimming pool.
The senior standouts in the 100-yard breaststroke have been together at the top of the medals stand at the WPIAL Class 2A championships the past three years.
As freshmen, Scott won the 100 breast title, and Lavorini finished fourth.
Two years ago, Scott repeated as champion, and Lavorini moved up to second.
Last year, it was Lavorini who had gold around her neck as she touched the wall in a time of 1 minute, 1.90 seconds to edge Scott by 13 one-hundredths of a second.
They will meet for possibly the final time in the 100 breast finals Friday afternoon at Pitt’s Trees Pool.
Scott, an East Carolina commit, wants her title back, and she is the top seed with a time of 1:04.54. Lavorini, who will swim at Pitt starting next year, is seeded second at 1:04.87.
“I said multiple times that I wouldn’t be in the position I am in or be as fast as I am without Peyton being right there pushing me,” Lavorini said.
“We really push each other. The first time swimming against her I was probably 12 at a Y meet. We’ve both come a long way.”
Southmoreland’s Allison Stinnett is the No. 3 seed at 1:05.18.
The 100 breast is part of a packed two days of swimming at the WPIAL championships. The Class 3A meet kicks everything off at 9:45 a.m. both days, with the Class 2A meet beginning at 3 p.m. Thursday and Friday.
The top eight finishers in each event earn medals. Only the WPIAL champion earns an automatic berth to the PIAA championships in two weeks at Bucknell University. The rest of the state qualifiers will be determined based on times recorded at each district or regional meet.
“It’s a great feeling to know WPIALs is here,” said Lavorini, who also is the fifth seed in Thursday’s 200 individual medley (2:12.56).
“I am excited and ready to compete. It’s a crazy feeling, like it snuck up on me. Two weeks ago, I was like, ‘Wow, WPIALs is getting really close.’ It’s crazy to think how fast these last four years have gone by. It seems like just yesterday I was a freshman going into my first WPIALs wondering how I was going to do and what it was all about. It is a bittersweet feeling. I have WPIALs and hopefully states to look forward to, but I also am thinking what it is like to leave high school and all the good memories and get ready for college swimming. ”
Alle-Kiski Valley individuals and relays are seeded eighth or better 14 times over the two days of Class 2A swimming.
Freeport senior Kira Schrecongost is gunning for three WPIAL titles in four years in the 100 butterfly.
“I am really excited,” she said. “This is the most confident I’ve been with my swimming and how I’ve been performing in a long time. I’ve been fortunate to swim a number of really talented swimmers at WPIALs.”
Schrecongost won last year’s 100 fly title with a time of 57.70 as she edged out seniors Katie Jackovic from South Park and Emily Connors from Quaker Valley for the gold.
She is seeded second this year to Hampton junior Lainey Sheets, last year’s WPIAL champion in the 200 IM and 100 backstroke.
Sheets moved over to the 100 fly for her Thursday individual swim and enters with a top time of 56.12. Schrecongost’s top time this year is 56.29 recorded in a dual meet with Indiana.
Indiana’s Scott is seeded third (58.92), and Freeport sophomore Kasey Schrecongost is fourth (58.98).
“Even though Lainey is the top seed, I am ready to race whoever is next to me or near me, and that includes my sister,” Kira Schrecongost said.
“I knew Lainey was going to do something else on the first day since she wasn’t going to be able to do the 200 IM.”
Sheets’ top 100 fly time this year was recorded in a head-to-head race against Kira Schrecongost in a dual meet Jan. 23.
“It was really close,” Kira Schrecongost said. “It was only a tenth (of a second) that separated us.”
Kira Schrecongost also is seeded second in the 200 IM (2:08.22).
The Freeport girls were fifth overall last year in the Class 2A team standings behind Kiski Area, Mt. Pleasant, Indiana, and Northgate.
All three relays are seeded fifth or better led by the top-seeded 200 medley relay (1:49.68) of freshman Riley Freshcorn (back), Kira Schrecongost (breast), Kasey Schrecongost (fly) and senior Mary Ann Altman (free).
The Schrecongost sisters, Altman and junior Isabelle Barton make up the third-seeded 400 free relay (3:43.18).
Kasey Schrecongost is the fifth seed in Friday’s 100 free (56.66), and Altman is seeded eighth in the 100 free (55.46).
The Freeport teams have come together at least three days a week to practice at Highlands High School as Freeport doesn’t have a pool of its own.
“We’ve been working so hard on the days we get to practice with each other,” Kira Schrecongost said. “We’ve been talking about the motivation towards this meet and what we can do together as a team.”
Three additional swimmers are slotted as top-eight seeds.
Highlands sophomore Addie Imler will be the seventh seed (1:00.87) for Friday’s 100 back.
On the boys side, Knoch junior Adrian Lavorini, Giona’s brother, checks in as the seventh seed for the 200 IM (2:03.66) and 100 breast (1:03.41).
Freeport senior Nathaniel Tarbi heads into his final WPIAL championship meet seeded sixth in the 100 free (50.60).
He missed a top-eight seed in the 200 free by less than a second.
He is ninth with a seed time of 1:52.32.
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.
More High School Sports
• WPIAL softball playoffs open with rare 1st-round section clash for 2 Westmoreland County teams• Plum’s power bats lead A-K Valley contingent into WPIAL softball playoffs
• Breaking down the 2025 WPIAL softball playoffs
• WPIAL reveals brackets for 2025 softball playoffs
• Mt. Lebanon, South Fayette draw top seeds in 2025 WPIAL boys lacrosse playoffs