Mayo, Shahan, Gardner take gold on 1st day of WPIAL swimming
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Thursday, February 28, 2019 | 7:59 PM
Hempfield senior Gavin Mayo (in blue cap) won the 50-yard freestyle at the WPIAL Class AAA swimming championships.
Greater Latrobe sophomore Hannah Brewer competes in the girls 100 butterfly during the AAA WPIAL Swimming/Diving Championship on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool.
Hempfield junior Francesca Nemetz competes in the girls 100 butterfly during the AAA WPIAL Swimming/Diving Championship on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool.
Norwin senior Courtney Kosanovic competes in the girls 200 individual medley during the AAA WPIAL Swimming/Diving Championship on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool.
Franklin Regional sophomore Anthony Piraino competes in the boys 200 individual medley during the AAA WPIAL Swimming/Diving Championship on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool.
Penn Trafford sophomore Austin Prokopec competes in the boys 200 freestyle during the AAA WPIAL Swimming/Diving Championship on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool.
Franklin Regional junior Andrew Harris competes in the boys 200 freestyle during the AAA WPIAL Swimming/Diving Championship on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool.
Hempfield senior Zoey Wilson competes in the girls 200 freestyle during the AAA WPIAL Swimming/Diving Championship on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool.
Franklin Regional senior Laura DiNunzio (middle) competes in the girls 200 freestyle during the AAA WPIAL Swimming/Diving Championship on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool.
Hempfield senior Gavin Mayo pumps up his teammates prior to the start of the AAA WPIAL Swimming/Diving Championship on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool.
Hempfield swimmers check the scoreboard and cheer on teammates in the boys 200 medley relay during the AAA WPIAL Swimming/Diving Championship on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool.
Hempfield senior Gavin Mayo isn’t swimming for North Carolina yet. The All-American standout is still mining for WPIAL gold as he won the 50-yard freestyle Thursday afternoon at the WPIAL Class AAA swimming championships at Pitt’s Trees Pool
“Competition was great today,” said Mayo, who set a personal-best time of 20.60 seconds. “The 50 (freestyle) sort was just go as fast as you can. It’s anybody’s race.”
Mayo helped lead Hempfield to a third-place finish in the Class AAA standings after the first day of the two-day event.
“Gavin did a fantastic job,” Hempfield coach Kevin Clougherty said. “Gavin’s had a rough season. It started out that his ability to train was limited because of a back muscle. He’s kept the faith and paid attention to details, and about four weeks ago, everything started to fall into place.”
North Allegheny was atop the leaderboard after the first day, posting a team score of 234. Upper St. Clair was second (144), with Central Catholic (90) and Seneca Valley (87) fourth and fifth respectively.
Hempfield sophomore Brian Wilson finished tied for seventh in the 50 freestyle with North Hills’ senior Matthew McHugh at 21.74.
Mayo also swam the first leg in the 200-medley relay that finished fourth (1:36.11). Franklin Regional finished 10th (1:38.39) in the event. The Panthers finished in eighth place (81), just two points behind rival Penn-Trafford (83), on the leader board.
“It was OK, nothing real fantastic,” Franklin Regional coach Vic Santoro said about his team’s performance. “We had some real good swims and had some decent swims.”
Panthers senior Patrick Cavanaugh finished seventh (1:55.35) in the 200 IM. Franklin Regional junior Elias Holm improved on last year’s 21st-place finish by placing 12th (53.19) in the 100 butterfly.
“Cavanaugh had a real good meet today,” Santoro said.
Penn-Trafford sophomore Austin Prokopec took seventh (1:44.31) in the 200 freestyle. The Warriors 200-freestyle relay team finished the day on a high note, placing fourth at 1:26.77.
“We came in with a lot of high expectations,” Penn-Trafford coach Dave Babik said. “We really did do a lot of lifetime best times, but we’re looking for another big day tomorrow.”
North Allegheny also ruled on the girls side. The 10-time defending WPIAL champions finished first with a team score of 198. Mt. Lebanon finished a close second (151.5) followed by Moon (125), Seneca Valley (122) and Upper St. Clair to round out the top five on Day 1. Penn-Trafford (64) finished sixth, Franklin Regional (59) eighth and Hempfield (56.5) ninth.
“The girls 200 relay did really well. We’re real happy with that,” Santoro said.
The Franklin Regional girls 200 free relay finished fourth (1:38.23) in the day’s final event. Hempfield came in sixth (1:38.60), and Penn-Trafford finished eighth (1:39.72).
In the 200 IM, Franklin Regional senior Abigail Ramey placed seventh (2:08.86) ahead of Penn-Trafford’s Corina Paszek’s ninth-place finish (2:09.23).
Penn-Trafford’s Hannah Muro touched the wall at 24.14 to finish sixth in the 50 freestyle.
In Class AA, Belle Vernon sophomore standout Ian Shahan broke a WPIAL record in the 100 butterfly with a time of 49.66. Shahan swam anchor on the Belle Vernon’s 200-freestyle relay that picked up silver (1:29.63). Shahan also added a bronze medal as part of the Leopards 200-medley relay (1:38.80).
“I got to give it to the competition,” said Shahan. “It’s one of the driving things that pushes me.”
The Belle Vernon boys team finished the first day of competition in third place (106). Indiana was first with a score of 123.
Mt. Pleasant junior Heather Gardner took gold in the the 50 freestyle with a time of 23.24. Derry’s girls team is in ninth place (56), and Mt. Pleasant is 10th (55).
The Trojans also took seventh place (1:46.03) in the 200 freestyle relay. Belle Vernon freshman Delaney Patterson came in eighth (2:16.33) in the 200 IM.
“Most of our kids are very young,” Clougherty said. “It’s their first or second experience in this environment, and we’re pretty happy about this. It’s been a good day.”
William Whalen is a freelance writer.
Tags: Derry Area, Hempfield, Mt. Pleasant
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