Countdown to WPIALs: Penn Hills’ Kimani Gregory eyes continued success

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, February 23, 2018 | 5:22 PM

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Tribune-Review sports reporter Michael Love and the TribLive High School Sports Network are profiling 10 swimmers to watch leading up to the 2018 WPIAL championship meet, set for March 1-2 at the Pitt's Trees Pool.

TRIBHSSN is the exclusive audio and video home for the WPIAL Class AAA and AA championship meets, which will be broadcasted and video streamed live at TribHSSN.triblive.com.

Here is the sixth installment of a 10-part series featuring some of the area's top swimmers.

Kimani Gregory

School: Penn Hills

Class: Junior

Events: 100 butterfly, 100 freestyle, 200 medley relay, 200 free relay.

2017 WPIAL AAA results: 100 butterfly, 1st (50.17); 100 freestyle, 2nd (44.91); 200 free relay, 6th (1:27.45).

The first day of the 2017 WPIAL Class AAA championships was a bittersweet one for Penn Hills' Kimani Gregory.

The opening event for Gregory, the 200 medley relay, ended in a disqualification.

But about an hour or so later, he was on top of the heap as the WPIAL champion in the 100 butterfly.

On Day 2, he finished as runner-up to WPIAL record holder Mason Gonzalez in the 100 freestyle. They were the only two to end their races with times faster than 45 seconds.

The two rivals also finished 1-2 in the event at the PIAA championship meet.

Last year's WPIAL and PIAA performances have stoked the fire for Gregory heading into this year's championships, Penn Hills coach Cheryl Ciorra said.

“Kimani's such a very competitive swimmer, and he's excited to see what can happen,” Ciorra said.

Gregory is seeded second in the 100 fly (50.60) to North Allegheny senior Andrew Zhang (50.05), who placed fourth in the 100 fly last year.

Gonzalez will lead the final heat in the 100 free, and Gregory is right there with the fourth fastest qualifying time.

“(The 100 free) should definitely be a battle,” Ciorra said. “Now that he has a second in that event, he wants to move his way up. He's happy to be in that top heat. Once he felt comfortable with that time, he was good to go.”

In returning to the 200 free relay — the Indians took sixth in that event last year — Gregory hopes to break the school record in the 50 free as the lead leg of the event.

His brother, graduate Isaiah Gregory, set the 50 free school record last year in 20.76 seconds.

Kimani Gregory also will be swimming the fly leg of the 200 medley relay.

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

Tags: Penn Hills