Gateway swimmers pleased with performance at state championships

By: Michael Love
Sunday, March 31, 2024 | 11:01 AM

The final Gateway swim in the final event of the final day of the PIAA swimming championships at Bucknell University resulted in a podium finish and a state medal.

The Gator girls 400-yard freestyle relay of freshman Aliya Rassiane, senior Mallory Brown, sophomore Gianna Laurenti and senior McKenna Brown swam in the Class 2A championship heat March 16, and while their finish of 3 minutes, 41.33 seconds was slightly elevated from their prelim swim, they secured their place as the eighth-best team in the state.

“They fought hard and did what they needed to do in the prelims (3:29.67) to get into the finals,” Gateway coach Glenn Raymer said.

“That was their goal, to be top eight and come home with a medal. They were off their time a little bit in the finals, but I was very happy with what they accomplished at that meet and even throughout the year.”

The relay capped four days of swims for Gateway which started March 13 and 14 with the boys swimmers in the Class 3A competition. The girls took over March 15.

Gateway junior Hunter Raymer added PIAA medals in the 200 individual medley and 500 free, and Rassiane came close to being in medal position in the 100 butterfly.

Raymer rebroke his school record in the prelims of the 500 free (4:34.34) by about a second and placed fifth in the finals with a time of 4:34.99.

He also was about four-tenths of second off the school record in the prelims of the 200 IM (1:53.42) before coming back in the evening and placing eighth in the finals (1:54.10).

“It was different for Hunter this year than last year and even the year before,” coach Raymer said.

“He came in with more confidence. He did lifetime bests in both of his swims which got him into medal contention. He was really happy with his times. But he has some even bigger goals and is ready to take those next steps.”

Coach Raymer said Rassiane handled herself well in her PIAA debut.

“Any time you go to a meet like that, especially as an underclassman, it can look very big,” he said

Rassiane kicked off her state-meet performances with a 24.82 in the preliminaries of the 50 free. She finished tied for 17th with two others.

A swim-off was used to determine the first alternate for the consolation finals, but Rassiane didn’t participate. Coach Raymer said that because the likelihood somebody would scratch out and the alternate would get to swim in the consolation finals was slim.

“She also wanted to just focus on her 100 fly which was up next, and we allowed her to bow out of that swim-off,” he said. “We respected her decision.”

Rassiane came back and swam to 13th in the 100 fly prelims (59.54). She bumped up to 11th in the consolation finals with a 59.18.

“The difference between 17th all the way up to sixth in the prelims (of the 50) was literally tenths of a second,” coach Raymer said.

“It is always a difficult event, but it was good experience for her. She also had her second-best time in the 100 fly. We were really pleased with her season in those swims and as a force in that (400) relay.”

The Brown sisters and Mark DiPalma concluded their varsity careers at states, while Rassiane, Hunter Raymer, Laurenti, sophomore Gunner Raymer and junior Owen Echegaray will return with hopes of raising their stock next season.

“Mark was very excited that he got to go to that meet, and he had one of his best splits ever on the (400 free) relay,” coach Raymer said. “He also did personal bests in both of his events at WPIALs.

“The twins’ goal was to get back on the podium at states in some way, and that relay got them there. Both had personal-best splits on the relay. Those were high notes for them.

“It’s nice when you take a big group up to states. It’s that much more fun. They were able to celebrate their seasons and spend some quality time with each other.”

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