Fox Chapel’s Sarah Pasquella keeps perspective after PIAA swim meet

By: Michael Love
Saturday, March 15, 2025 | 10:21 PM

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LEWISBURG — Sarah Pasquella entered Saturday evening’s championship heat of the 100-yard breaststroke hoping for PIAA gold to add to the state title she won in the 200 freestyle on Day 1 of the Class 3A swimming and diving championships at Bucknell University.

While the end result wasn’t a second gold medal, she was able to drop time from the preliminaries earlier in the day and finish fifth overall in a time of 1 minute, 3.08 seconds.

The Fox Chapel senior wraps up her PIAA swims in the 100 breast with three medals, including a runner-up finish last year to North Allegheny’s Natalie Sens and a seventh as a sophomore in 2023.

“It wasn’t what I was expecting or what I was going for,” Pasquella said. “I was disappointed with my results, but at the same time, I am happy because I tried my best and did everything I could.”

Pasquella said she is pleased with all she accomplished at the PIAA meet and throughout this season. She said she now is looking forward to getting ready for her freshman season at Michigan.

“I know for a fact I have so much more in me, and I am excited for this next year,” she said. “I want to explore a little bit more of my potential in the (100 breast). I am looking forward to dropping some more time next year and see where I can take it.”

Pasquella’s final race of her high school career also was the final one for fellow senior Grace Kovach.

They teamed with sophomores Josie Stanczak and Charlotte Rusche to place fourth overall in the 400 free relay in a time of 3:29.01.

The quartet came in as the third seed after winning the WPIAL title in 3:27.93. The finals time was slower than at WPIALs but faster than what they produced in the prelims (3:32.72).

“It was pretty emotional before the race,” Pasquella said. “I was so happy I could have one last strong race with my team. We executed it really well.”

Said Kovach: “We were happy to swim that (finals) time and go faster than we did in morning (prelims).”

The same four in the lineup took third at states last year.

“That last race was bittersweet,” said Kovach, who will swim in college at Division III Franklin and Marshall. “It was exciting in the moment, but at the same time, we’ve been swimming this race together the past two years. It was kind of sad that it was our last race together. We just wanted to have fun and enjoy the moment.”

Kiski Area senior Justin Tucker placed third in the Class 2A 500 free at states last year (4:36.01).

With the move up to Class 3A, Tucker said he was ready for some new challenges.

He finished as the WPIAL runner-up two weeks ago with a top time of 4:32.64.

Tucker followed that up Saturday by going faster in the 500 finals. His 4:31.65 placed him seventh overall.

“That was probably the deepest field of 500 swimmers I think I’ve ever been in,” said Tucker, who will swim for Lafayette College in the Patriot League starting next year.

“It was such an honor to be a part of that. I am very happy about my (finals) race. You can never complain about a best time. Going under 4:30 was a goal, and maybe I am a tiny bit disappointed that didn’t happen, but going up to triple-A and still reaching the podium and coming home with a medal, I am so happy.”

Fox Chapel boys swimmers took part in three races during the consolation and championship sessions Saturday evening.

Senior Owen Howell and Christian Dantey, separated by one one-hundredth of a second in the 100 breast at WPIALs, hoped to find themselves together again in the championship heat.

Dantey and Howell came into states seeded fifth and sixth, respectively, but only Howell was able to punch his ticket from the preliminaries to the championship finals. Racing out of Lane 1, Howell experienced a slight time drop from his prelim swim and finished with an eighth-place medal in 55.89, faster than his WPIAL time of 55.98.

Dantey was 13th after the prelims, which put him in the consolation heat. But he took advantage of the opportunity to come back, and he rose up to 10th place (56.01), knocking seventh-tenths of a second from his prelim time.

Fox Chapel’s final race of the two-day Class 3A meet came in the 400 free relay as Howell and Dantey teamed with Arman Alborzi and Nathan Agens to take sixth in the consolation final (3:11.14) and finish 14th overall.

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.

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