Gateway notebook: Gators swimmers earn berths to PIAA championships

By: Michael Love
Sunday, March 9, 2025 | 11:01 AM

Members of the Gateway boys and girls swim teams fared well at the WPIAL Class 3A championships Feb. 27-28 at Pitt’s Trees Pool and earned berths in four events to the PIAA meet Friday and Saturday at Bucknell.

Only the champion in each individual and relay event at WPIALs secured an automatic bid to states with the at-large qualifiers determined based on times recorded at WPIALs and compared with the times from other district and regional meets.

Senior Hunter Raymer hopes to be among the swimmers who will qualify for the evening consolation or championship finals both days.

He is the 13th seed (1:53.80) for Friday’s 200-yard individual medley preliminaries after placing sixth in the event at WPIALs.

He also is the 11th seed (4:37.24) for Saturday’s 500 free after securing a sixth-place medal at WPIALs.

Hunter’s brother, junior Gunner Raymer, makes a return to states in the 200 free.

He enters his Friday morning preliminary swim seeded 23rd. He found himself on the medals podium at WPIALs with an eighth-place finish in a time of 1:43.56.

Sophomore Aliya Rassiane knows what states is all about as she made her Bucknell debut last year.

She returns with a Friday morning prelim swim in the girls 50 free. She swam to seventh at WPIALs in a time of 24.25, and that places her as the 18th overall seed.

Rassiane was the first alternate in the girls 100 butterfly, and she hoped to enter the field if an entry above her scratched out of the event.

She swam to an eighth-place medal in the event at WPIALs (58.34).

Her time is better than four district champions who received an automatic berth to states.

The boys 200 free relay of Hunter and Gunner Raymer, senior Owen Echegaray and sophomore Dallas Richardson medaled in eighth at WPIALs in 1:28.35.

The quartet’s time wasn’t fast enough to qualify for states, but it was faster than four of the automatic qualifiers.

Boys bowling team returns to states

Gateway’s veteran group of seniors Josh Zlokas, Joey Jurczak, Landon Lohr and Allon Wallace Jr., and junior Chase Owens teamed to secure another trip to states with a top-six finish at the Western Regional team boys bowling championships March 2 at Bowlero Pittsburgh, formerly Noble Manor Lanes, in Carnegie.

While the team’s goal of back-to-back regional titles didn’t materialize, it’s fourth-place finish (3,985 pins) in the qualifying round, fronted by a 681 series (220, 233, 228) from Owens, clinched a spot at Saturday’s state tournament and punched its ticket to the regional bracket playoffs.

Gateway met No. 5 Thomas Jefferson in the first round. The Jaguars won a close 188-180 first game and then completed the sweep with a 193-165 victory in Game 2.

TJ went on to the finals where it swept Plum in two games.

Owens’ series in the team qualifying round earned him a spot on the boys regional all-star team.

He also qualified for the state singles tournament after finishing sixth in the regional qualifying round with a six-game total of 1,052 pins which featured a 253 high game.

Owens rolled a 200 in the first round of the bracket playoffs, but his score was not high enough for him to advance to the quarterfinals.

Nadarevic earns silver at indoor track states

The Gateway indoor track and field record in the shot put is 61 feet, 4.5 inches set by Bob Buczkowski at the Tri-State Coaches Association championship meet in 1982.

That was the mark Gators senior Dino Nadarevic was going after as he entered this year’s indoor championship events.

While he ended up falling short of his distance goal at both the Tri-State finals Feb. 22 and the Pennsylvania state championships March 1, Nadarevic did set himself as one of the best shot putters in the state.

His best throw in the state competition at Penn State was 58-0.75, and that mark was good enough to place him second overall out of 17 throwers.

Only Colin Sturges, a junior from Perkiomen Valley near Philadelphia, had a farther attempt by just 2.75 inches (58-3.50).

Nadarevic’s state runner-up finish came on the heels of his championship effort at Tri-States at Edinboro when he unleashed a top throw of 58-7.5.

Nadarevic’s season and personal best of 60-1 came during the second TSTCA meet at Edinboro on Jan. 11.

Hockey caps season in Penguins Cup playoffs

The Gateway hockey team faced top seed Morgantown in the first round of the Division 2 playoff tournament and was dealt an 11-0 loss to the Mohigans at Printscape Arena at Southpointe in Canonsburg.

The potent Morgantown offense unleashed 37 shots. It led 2-0 after the first period and all but put the game away with six goals in the second.

Gateway tallied 29 shots but wasn’t able to solve Mohigan senior goaltender Lincoln Cox.

The Gators knew what they were up against as they had suffered a 12-3 setback to Morgantown in the regular season.

Gateway entered the playoffs with wins in its final six games of the regular season to secure the No. 8 seed with a 10-8-1-1 record (33 points). The wins included key victories over White Division rivals Ringgold, 3-2, and Connellsville, 5-3.

The win over Ringgold eliminated the Rams from playoff contention.

Gateway won 11 of its final 14 in the regular season after an 0-6 start.

Senior CJ Evans led the Gators with 22 goals and 21 assists, while freshman Beau Ritson capped his breakout season with 10 goals and 21 assists.

The Gateway offense averaged 4.3 goals in 20 regular-season games.

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.

Tags: Gateway