Mt. Pleasant’s Lily King sets another Pitt pool record to highlight Day 1 of WPIAL Class 2A championships

By: Michael Love
Thursday, February 27, 2025 | 8:52 PM

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Lily King will swim at N.C. State in the ACC starting next year.

She has a good start at filling up collegiate record boards.

The Mt. Pleasant senior already had the Pitt pool record in the 100-yard freestyle set at last year’s WPIAL Class 2A championships.

On Thursday afternoon, King added the 200 free record.

She swam to a time of 1 minute, 44.62 seconds, which not only surpassed the pool record of 1:45.96 set by West Virginia’s Morgan Calloway in 2010 and her own WPIAL record set at WPIALs last year, but also was faster than the PIAA record of 1:44.73 set at Bucknell in 2017.

“That is probably one of the things I’m most proud of, because I remember coming to this pool when I as 11 or 12 and seeing the pool records up there and thinking how cool it would be some day to have one of those,” King said. “So now that I am able to do that, I am very proud of that. I am honored that I am able to do that.”

King’s win was her third consecutive in the 200 free.

She won the 50 free as a freshman. She will go after her fourth 100 free title Friday afternoon.

“I do like the 200 now. I probably wouldn’t have said that three years ago,” she said. “I have gotten used to it, and I am able to set goals for myself in it. Helping the team also makes it easier swimming it.”

King also anchored the girls 200 medley relay to a come-from-behind win. The Vikings, with senior Kiersten O’Connor, junior Lainey Brown and senior Maddie Barrick, were second to Freeport heading into her swim.

She overtook Freeport senior Mary Ann Altman in the final 50 leg for the win in a WPIAL-record time of 1:45.22.

“We had talked about that record, knowing it was within our reach,” King said. “Swimming that with this group of girls is amazing. Swimming that relay and getting that record kind of gave me a boost going into the 200.”

Just minutes after the girls captured their relay title, the Mt. Pleasant boys 200 medley relay of seniors Seth Painter, Joseph Gardner and David Mutter and junior Gunnar Probst captured WPIAL gold in a time of 1:35.08.

It was a second off the WPIAL record of 1:34.15 Gardner, Mutter and Probst helped to set last year.

Senior Kiersten O’Connor brought Mt. Pleasant its fourth WPIAL champion of Day 1 with a win in the 50 free (23.30). It was her third straight 50 free title and an improvement on her winning time of 23.61 produced last year.

“I felt pretty good,” O’Connor said. “We’re not fully tapered right now, so we’re looking forward to states. I am looking to feeling a little bit better at states. Coming out of this race with the time that I have, I am optimistic for what states will look like.”

Mutter defended his WPIAL title in the boys 100 butterfly and lowered his WPIAL-record time to 48.01.

He now will focus his attention to winning another state title. He went to Bucknell last year and set a PIAA record in the 100 fly of 47.52.

“It is a nice feeling to lower my record from last year. It shows the improvement and the work that I have put in from this time last year,” Mutter said. “I am not tapered for this meet, so I know I can go even faster at states. My goal is getting into the 46 range at states, and the far goal is to get into the 45s. If 45s happens, it happens.”

Only the WPIAL champion in each event earned an automatic trip to the PIAA championships at Bucknell the week of March 13.

The other state qualifiers will be determined based on times recorded at each of the district or regional meets.

Gardner finished a close second to Northgate junior Sam Cavanaugh in the boys 200 individual medley. He clocked a time of 1:53.54, and Cavanaugh won the title in 1:52.95.

Gardner will go after the 100 breast title Friday. Last year, he finished runner-up with a 100 breast time (55.27) that surpassed his own WPIAL record from his sophomore season.

Gardner capped Thursday’s swims by anchoring the 200 medley relay — which included junior Cody Fusco, senior Quinn Heinnickel, and junior Gunnar Probst — to a runner-up finish in a time of 1:30.22.

The Mt. Pleasant girls 200 free relay of O’Connor, Brown, Barrick and sophomore Riley Shinsky also took second with a time of 1:38.28.

It was just 19 one-hundredths of a second ahead of the Franklin Regional quartet of junior Magdalena Hull and sophomores Jamie Kociela, Aidah Holm and Scarlett Zolnak (third, 1:38.47).

Zolnak and Hull led the rest of the field in the matchup with King in the girls 200 free. Despite finishing 11 seconds behind King, Zolnak earned a silver medal in a time of 1:55.12, and Hull touched the wall third in 1:55.54.

Gunnar Probst added 17 points to the Mt. Pleasant boys’ overall team score with a runner-up finish in the 50 free (21.89).

Day 2 of the Class 2A championships kicks off with the 100 freestyle Friday at 3 p.m.

Class 3A

Norwin’s Amber Klingensmith didn’t compete at the high school level last year as a freshman, opting to concentrate on her swims with Pittsburgh Elite Aquatics.

But she was familiar with Pitt’s Trees Pool, and she said that helped her in her WPIAL-championship debut Thursday morning.

Klingensmith’s first swim at WPIALs was golden.

She lowered her school record in the 100 butterfly set at the Westmoreland County Coaches Association meet a month ago. She touched the wall first in 56.34 seconds.

“It was really nice to see all the hard work pay off,” Klingensmith said. “It was nice to go out there and swim some people that I know in an atmosphere I was comfortable with. That was a good feeling. It brings me to a good mood for (Friday).

“It’s great to be able to race Lauren (Bell) again. We raced each other at counties. She always pushes me to be my best.”

Latrobe senior Bell finished as the 100 fly runner-up for the second year in a row, recording a time Thursday of 56.66.

Last year, North Allegheny’s Natalie Sens was the event’s champion.

This year, it was Klingensmith as the titlist after Bell had defeated Klingensmith at the county meet.

“There wasn’t any frustration,” said Bell concerning another second-place finish. “I am so happy for Amber. We went back and forth at counties. I am glad she was there pushing me. It is always really good competition.”

Bell came back quickly as part of Latrobe’s girls 200 free relay. She led off and joined senior Destini Homan, junior Hannah Carasia and senior Maggie Elder in placing third (1:37.99) behind Fox Chapel and North Allegheny.

“I was on the podium for the fly thinking about my next race in the relay, so there as a lot of excitement,” Bell said.

Latrobe’s strong swims in the 200 free relay continued with the boys quartet of junior Chris Heese, senior Patrick Cratty, Heinrich van der Westhuizen and junior Charlie Thomson. They combined to propel the relay to a silver medal in a time of 1:25.48.

Earlier in the meet, Heese (21.01) and Thomson (21.30) finished right next to each other in the standings of the boys 50 free. Heese took fourth, and Thompson placed fifth.

Thomson earned a medal after entering his 50 swim as the No. 9 overall seed. He won his heat with a time of 21.30.

Norwin senior Tyler Turgeon swam to silver in the 100 fly with a time of 50.37.

In all, Westmoreland individuals and relays took home 13 medals on Day 1 of the Class 3A championships and were close to capturing medals in several other events.

Day 2 of the Class 3A championships kicks off with the 100 free Friday at 9:45 a.m.

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: Mt. Pleasant