Area swimmers and divers gearing up for annual WCCA championships

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, January 24, 2018 | 11:43 PM

Westmoreland County's best swimmers and divers will descend on Derry High School on Friday and Saturday for the annual Westmoreland County Coaches Association championships.

Diving kicks everything off Friday at 5 p.m., while the swimming will be Saturday beginning at 10 a.m.

The competitions are opportunities for coaches to see how their athletes stack up against some of the top talent in the region with the postseason championship meets only a month away.

It is one of the few times this season where competitors from both classifications go up against each other.

Each event features heats with a mix from Class AAA and AA. But separate team champions again will be crowned.

Last year, the Franklin Regional girls and Hempfield boys took home AAA team titles, while Derry swept the AA team crowns.

Meet records fall every year, and eight all-time marks — four individual and four relays — were established in 2017.

The girls 100 breaststroke was particularly fast as the top two finishers swam to times that were faster than the previous meet record.

The seeding sheets for swimming were released Tuesday.

Mt. Pleasant's Heather Gardner (50 freestyle, 100 breast) and Kiski Area's Joshua Madzy (200 free, 100 backstroke) lead the way with a pair of top individual seeds.

The diving entries are not seeded but listed alphabetically by their school. Latrobe senior Taylor Miller is the defending girls champion. Penn-Trafford junior Logan Sherwin was the boys runner-up last year, the top finisher among the returning divers.

In addition to those from Franklin Regional, Hempfield, Derry, Mt. Pleasant, Penn-Trafford, Latrobe and Kiski Area, schools represented this weekend are Belle Vernon, Burrell, Greensburg Salem, Jeannette, Kiski School, Ligonier Valley, Norwin, Southmoreland, Valley and Yough.

Michael Love is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at mlove@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Mlove_Trib.

Westmoreland County Coaches Association Swimming and Diving Championships

Friday and Saturday, Jan. 26 and 27, Derry Area High School

Swimming Top Seeds

Seed times in parentheses

Girls

200 medley relay: 1. Franklin Regional (1:54.97); 2. Mt. Pleasant (1:57.18); 3. Norwin (1:57.28).

200 freestyle: 1. Zoey Wilson, Hempfield (1:58.55); 2. Hannah Muro, Penn-Trafford (2:00.89); 3. Francesca Nemetz, Hempfield (2:03.22).

200 individual medley: 1. Abigail Ramey, Franklin Regional (2:14.12); 2. Corina Paszek, Penn-Trafford (2:17.56); 3. Evelyn Siler, Franklin Regional (2:21.02).

50 free: 1. Heather Gardner, Mt. Pleasant (24.69); 2. Rylee Jackson, Greater Latrobe (24.96); 3. Maddy Cisco, Hempfield (25.17).

100 butterfly: 1. Emily Smith, Hempfield (1:00.71); 2. Francesca Nemetz, Hempfield (1:00.82); 3. Meredith Pepka, Kiski Area (1:02.42).

100 free: 1. Zoey Wilson, Hempfield (54.06); 2. Maddy Cisco, Hempfield (54.67); 3. Michelle Lopes, Franklin Regional (54.92).

500 free: 1. Laura DiNunzio, Franklin Regional (5:29.48); 2. Emily Smith, Hempfield (5:31.97); 3. Alyssa Tomb, Penn-Trafford (5:32.20).

200 free relay: 1. Franklin Regional (1:42.84); 2. Hempfield (1:43.57); 3. Penn-Trafford (1:44.07).

100 backstroke: 1. Rylee Jackson, Greater Latrobe (1:03.16); 2. Hannah Muro, Penn-Trafford (1:03.67); 3. Shannon Geer, Hempfield (1:05.30).

100 breaststroke: 1. Heather Gardner, Mt. Pleasant (1:07.70); 2. Abigail Ramey, Franklin Regional (1:09.74); 3. Evelyn Siler, Franklin Regional (1:10.37).

400 free relay: 1. Penn-Trafford (3:43.56); 2. Franklin Regional (3:47.08); 3. Hempfield (3:47.23).

Boys

200 medley relay: 1. Hempfield (1:40.86); 2. Penn-Trafford (1:43.04); 3. Norwin (1:44.81).

200 freestyle: 1. Joshua Madzy, Kiski Area (1:47.86); 2. Ben Yant, Penn-Trafford (1:51.73); 3. Austin Prokopec, Penn-Trafford (1:52.04).

200 IM: 1. Patrick Cavanaugh, Franklin Regional (2:02.33); 2. Todd Wilson, Hempfield (2:03.78); 3. Zachary Snelling, Penn-Trafford (2:05.70).

50 free: 1. Gavin Mayo, Hempfield (21.80); 2. Luke Babik, Penn-Trafford (22.53); 3. Brian Wilson, Hempfield (22.61).

100 butterfly: 1. Brenden Brzozowski, Kiski Area (55.55); 2. John Sandala, Penn-Trafford (55.70); 3. Elias Holm, Franklin Regional (55.85).

100 free: 1. Ian Shahan, Belle Vernon (48.00); 2. Luke Babik, Penn-Trafford (49.63); 3. Ethan Tulenko, Norwin (49.76).

500 free: 1. Ben Yant, Penn-Trafford (5:04.61); 2. Jordan Prokopec, Penn-Trafford, 5:12.38; 3. Anthony Piraino, Franklin Regional (5:17.16).

200 free relay: 1. Hempfield (1:30.67); 2. Penn-Trafford (1:32.76); 3. Franklin Regional (1:34.57).

100 backstroke: 1. Joshua Madzy, Kiski Area (53.51); 2. Ian Shahan, Belle Vernon (54.96); 3. Zachary Snelling, Penn-Trafford (55.95).

100 breaststroke: 1. Robert Spekis, Belle Vernon (1:01.40); 2. Todd Wilson, Hempfield (1:01.76); 3. Patrick Cavanaugh, Franklin Regional (1:01.83).

400 free relay: 1. Penn-Trafford (3:22.48); 2. Franklin Regional (3:28.64); 3. Kiski Area (3:29.22).