Excitement growing for WPIAL swimming’s return to Pitt

By: Michael Love
Saturday, February 19, 2022 | 8:56 AM

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When Penn-Trafford swim coach Dave Babik took over as the WPIAL swimming and diving chairman at the start of this school year, he knew he would have a lot on his plate.

Near the top of that list was the when, the where and the format for the upcoming WPIAL Class 3A and 2A swimming championships.

After much deliberation, those details have been settled. While the diving meets are set for next Friday and Saturday at North Allegheny, WPIAL swimming returns to Pitt’s Trees Pool on March 3 and 4.

A week and a half has passed since the swimming dates, location and other items were agreed to and released, but Babik still feels a sense of excitement and relief that things are returning to, for the most part, the way they were.

“It feels wonderful to be at this point and getting ready for the WPIAL championships,” Babik said.

“It took a lot of hard work on the part of the WPIAL staff and also a lot of work in the case of the Pitt staff to come together to make this happen. We appreciate they were able to make it work and get us back to a sense of normalcy with the championships as they were before the pandemic.”

The start of the covid pandemic in March 2020 hit during the PIAA swimming and diving championships at Bucknell, and as a result, a portion of the Class 3A meet and the entire Class 2A meet were canceled.

Changes spilled over to the 2021-22 season as the WPIAL and PIAA championships were moved from Pitt and Bucknell to Upper St. Clair and Cumberland Valley high schools, respectively.

The entry lists for both events were drastically reduced, and with no spectators permitted, the change from normally festive atmospheres took some getting used to.

“Now, with the fact that we can get into Pitt to have a more normal swim meet, we’re over the moon about it,” Babik said.

Babik said the main sticking points with Pitt were how many swimmers would be able to compete and how many spectators could come and watch the meet.

“One of the goals was to have as many swimmers get the chance to compete as we could,” Babik said.

Last year, the entries for the WPIAL swim championships at Upper St. Clair were capped at 16 per individual event and 12 per relay event with automatic and secondary qualifying standards set to compile those lists.

With things up in the air at the start of this season, the WPIAL again instituted the automatic and secondary qualifying times to give individuals and teams a sense of what they could work toward.

On Feb. 8, the WPIAL announced the swim championships would return to Pitt, spectators would be permitted with a mask requirement, and the number of entries from last year would double to 32 individuals and 24 relay teams in each event. It sent excitement throughout the WPIAL.

“We weren’t able to allow a blanket entry format where if anybody hits a single time standard, like in previous years, they would qualify,” Babik said.

“That wasn’t really feasible in this environment. But if you look at previous meets we’ve had at Pitt, we tended to average about 31 or 32 athletes per individual event and would average around 24 relays. Although the entry system is a little different, when we get to the meet, it’s going to appear a lot like meets in the past with very similar numbers in each event.”

Since early last month, the WPIAL has posted the top performances — swim times and diving scores — from regular-season meets and invitationals. Coupled with the automatic times and secondary times standards, Babik said it has given individuals, relays and their coaches an idea of where everyone stands and helps them form strategies as the days tick off the calendar leading up to the championship meets.

“Throughout the season, everywhere I went, I was asked about participation numbers for the championships,” Babik said.

“The coaches were really hoping to get these numbers, and it is a relief to everyone. It now has let the kids and coaches focus on what they should be focused on and that is swimming faster through working on techniques and conditioning.”

“Last-chance” meets were held Saturday at places such as Chartiers Valley and North Allegheny to give individual swimmers and relays who are close to qualifying cuts the chance to get in the conversation.

Saturday was the final day for performances to be recorded. On Monday, all entries are due, and Babik said the whole meet, including the qualifier lists, should be set up and released by Wednesday.

Each individual swimmer is permitted to enter up to two individual events and two relays or one individual event and three relays. With numerous swimmers qualifying in more than two individuals events, scratches will be made as they finalize their main events, and each event’s performance list will shrink.

For a number of secondary qualifiers just outside of the top 32 for a certain event, Babik said that will probably create a few days of wondering if they will move up enough to land in the top 32. He hopes their wait will not be too stressful.

“There’s going to be a little disappointment for some who are just outside the cutoff but definitely relief for others who make it,” Babik said.

“It’s sort of like what happens with the state meet where we all wait Sunday morning and keep hitting refresh on our computers to see when the PIAA will post the entry lists. But for WPIALs, I think there are a number of coaches and swimmers who are very savvy as to know who above them in an event will stay or scratch out. That can help alleviate some of the uncertainty for them.”

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.