NA Boys & Girls Sweep AAA Crowns While Ind Boys & SF Girls Win AA Swim Titles

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, March 2, 2013 | 12:34 AM

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In the WPIAL AAA Boys and Girls swimming championships held at the University of Pittsburgh Joseph Trees pool it was another in the long line of dominant performances for the North Allegheny Boys and Girls. Both teams won yet again for retiring head coach Corky Semler. After 35 years and numerous WPIAL, and PIAA titles his favorite people in the world as he put it sent him out a winner one last time.

The Girls were especially dominant scoring 417 points to beat second place Oakland Catholic by 160 points. The Eagles were second with 257, and Upper St Clair finished 3rd with 189.5. The Tigers winners of the last 5 WPIAL titles had numerous swimmers in every event and piled up points all day. Morgan Soulia a Sophomore at NA set a WPIAL record in the girls 100 yard freestyle to start the afternoon with a 50.82 score beating a record set just last year. The records continued to fall as NA Sophomore Jacquelyn Du won the girls 100 yard backstroke with a 55.57 score. It all ended with a flourish as the 400 yard freestyle relay team won in glorious fashion. They set a new WPIAL record, they beat  record they set last year by scoring  a 3:26.55  beating last year’s record breaker by 2.5 seconds.In other girls news from the day Leah Smith of Oakland Catholic continued her dominance in the girls 500 yard freestyle. She set another record beating her score form 2011 at 4:39.78, besting her WPIAL and PIAA records from last year. Kristan Murslack of Pine Richland won her 2nd straight 100 yard breaststroke tying her WPIAL record set last year with a score of 1:02.68.

On the Boys side of AAA North Allegheny won their seventh WPIAL title in the last 8 years scoring 327 points. They beat 2nd place Upper St Clair by 57.5 points. The Panthers in second scored 269.5. In third place was Bethel Park with 224 points.The Boys were solid, scoring in every event. Sam Ruttana Junior for NA won the Boys 500 yard freestyle with a score of 4:37.17 to help his team. The most exciting event of the meet was the last event. As usual North Allegheny was front and center. The Tigers were one of the three favorites along with Bethel Park and Upper St Clair. Even though the Boys title was already decided this event was a grudge match. The Blackhawks and Panthers wanted to beat the Tigers in this event and it showed as both teams took turns with the lead. NA led as well as between the 4 swimmers from each team there were more than a few lead changes. Hitting the wall heading into the last 25 yards all three swimmers, Sam Ruttan the Junior from NA, Erik Brinkoff  a Senior form Bethel, and Ryan Dudzinski the Sophomore of USC were dead even. The final 25 yards saw the overflow crowd rise to their feet in a deafening crescendo as they watched the Tigers win with a 3:07.73. Bethel Park was .20 behind in 2nd, and USC was third .57 behind. In one of the best final races in WPIAL history these kids gave everything in a race that was run for pride.

Girls 100 Yard Freestyle

1.  Morgan Soulia, North Allegheny 50.82 (WPIAL RECORD)

2.  Monica Sowinski, Latrobe 51.44

3.  Kaitlyn Ruffing, Franklin Regional 51.49

4.  Alyssa Ruffing, Franklin Regional 52.18

5.  Natalie Feola, Oakland Catholic 52.43

 

Boys 100 Yard Freestyle

1.  Alex Hardwick, Upper St. Clair 46.44

2.  Brian Lovasick, North Hills 47.05

3.  Erik Brinkhoff, Bethel Park 47.18

4.  Chris Buzard, Peters Township 47.31

5.  Noah Cagley, Fox Chapel 47.45

 

Girls 500 Yard Freestyle

1.  Leah Smith, Oakland Catholic 4:39.47 (WPIAL RECORD)

2.  Allison Murslack, Pine-Richland 5:01.98

3.  Saiorse Palu-Benson, Peters Township 5:04.16

4.  Franny Dean, Fox Chapel 5:04.46

5.  Jade Song, North Allegheny 5:05.84

 

Boys 500 Yard Freestyle

1.  Sam Rutan, North Allegheny 4:35.17

2.  Zachary Buerger, North Allegheny 4:37.01

3.  Neal Smith, Central Catholic 4:37.36

4.  Spencer Tretter, Seneca Valley 4:43.21

5.  Ryan Deemer, Butler 4:45.93

 

Girls 100 Yard Backstroke

1.  Jacquelyn Du, North Allegheny 55.57 (WORLD RECORD)

2.  Meghan Schilken, Mt. Lebanon 56.16

3.  Katie Ford, Mt. Lebanon 56.41

4.  Kayla Churman, North Allegheny 56.75

5.  Brittany Dudzinski, Upper St. Clair 56.83

 

Boys 100 Yard Backstroke

1.  Ryan Dudzinski, Upper St. Clair 50.63

2.  Zach Misak, Bethel Park 51.55

3.  Greg Arnold, North Allegheny 51.61

4.  Kyle Higgins, Peters Township 52.09

5.  Dan Pletz, Peters Township 52.21

 

Girls 100 Yard Breaststroke

1.  Kristen Murslack, Pine-Richland 102:68 (WPIAL RECORD)

2.  Peyton Kondis, Oakland Catholic 1:04.93

3.  Kayla Owens, Latrobe 1:05.25

4.  Gabriella Borza, North Allegheny 1:05.38

5.  Katie Fernandez, Hampton 1:05.60

 

Boys 100 Yard Breaststroke

1.  Gabriel Larson, Penn Hills 56.73

2.  Andrew Nosbisch, Gateway 57.38

3.  Chris Buzard, Peters Township 57.65

4.  Alex Caprara, Gateway 57.80

5.  Casey Melzer, North Allegheny 58.01

 

Girls 400 Yard Freestyle Relay

1.       North Allegheny 3:26.55 (WPIAL RECORD)

2.       T-2.  Latrobe 3:30.30

3.       T-2. Oakland Catholic 3:30.30

4.       4.  Mt. Lebanon 3:31.19

5.       5.  Upper St. Clair 3:32.08

 

Boys 400 Yard Freestyle Relay

1.  North Allegheny 3:07.73

2.  Bethel Park 3:07.93

3.  Upper St. Clair 3:08.20

4.  Hempfield 3:13.56

5.  Franklin Regional 3:15.52

 

GIRLS TEAM TOTALS

1.  North Allegheny 417

2.  Oakland Catholic 257

3.  Upper St. Clair 189.5

4.  Latrobe 175

5.  Franklin Regional 166

 

BOYS TEAM TOTALS

1.  North Allegheny 327

2.  Upper St. Clair 269.5

3.  Bethel Park 224

4.  Peters Township 198

5.  Mt. Lebanon 145.5

 

AA:

 

At Joseph Trees Poll at the University of Pittsburgh the WPIAL AA swimming championships second day took place today and  some old favorites did well, and some new blood rose to the occasion. The South Fayette Lions girls won their first WPIAL championship ousting two time defending champion the West Allegheny Indians culminating with a big win in the 400 yard freestyle relay. They totaled 252 points beating the Indians by 29.5 points. Indians finished third with 206. Along the way Morgan Fink of South Fayette won the 100 yard breast stroke for the second year in a row to help her team. The Other big story on the girls side was Margaret Gruber of Mars. The Virginia Tech recruit won her 6th WPIAL title as she won the 100 yard backstroke for the third consecutive year breaking her own WPIAL record set last year with a  54.51 time. Yesterday she won her third straight 100 yard butterfly. She has 4 PIAA state championships and will now try to three peat in both events at the state title meet and become one of the most accomplished swimmers from the WPIAL.

On the Boys side of the event the Indiana Little Indians won their third straight WPIAL Boys title with a score of 203. Mars finished second with 172, and Shady Side Academy third with 150.Jon Haycock a Senior for Indiana won the 100 yard Breaststroke with a time of 59.58. The Indians had an overall strong steady performance relying on scoring in every event rather than winning a lot of events. It was enough to outlast the Planets who won the big race of the night the 400 yard freestyle. In other Boys events Cameron Clerici from Beaver a Senior from Beaver won the 100 yard freestyle for the second year in a row. The big story in boys was the Shady Side Academy Indians Boys 400 yard relay team. They had won the event previous 13 years, and had dominated in doing so and were one of only 3 teams to ever win the event in 20 years. They hold he WPIAL record and were beat today by the Mars Planets to end their run of dominance in the event.

Girls 100 Yard Freestyle

1.  Emily Zimcosky, Geibel Catholic. 51.85 2.  Mary Folz, Eden Christian. 53.68 3.  Casey Tokarski, West Allegheny. 54.23 4.  Destin Groff, Shady Side Academy. 54.44 5.  Katherine Curtin, Derry. 54.72

 

Boys 100 Yard Freestyle

1. Cameron Clerici, Beaver. 47.40

2. Austin Wittmer, Knoch. 48.13

3. Thaddeus Ellis, Shady Side Academy. 48.56 4. Ian Buckner, Neshannock. 48.97 T-5. Josh Krieg, Elizabeth Forward. 49.10 T-5. John Paul Zimcosky, Geibel Catholic. 49.10

 

Girls 500 Yard Freestyle

1. Braelyn Tracy, Elizabeth Forward. 4:59.43 2. Kara Kaulius, West Allegheny. 5:00.72 3. Bria Otwell, Freeport. 5:04.36 4. Mary Rosati, South Fayette. 5:06.65 5. Caroline Colville, Shady Side Academy. 5:08.57

 

Boys 500 Yard Freestyle

1. Drew Damich, Chartiers Valley. 4:40.87 2. Jarod Kehl, Montour. 4:46.37 3. Alex Szakelyhidi, Riverside. 4:47.80 4. Michael Schmidt, Chartiers Valley. 4:50.30 5. Noah Donovan, Laurel. 4:50.61

 

Girls 100 Yard Backstroke

1. Margaret Gruber, Mars. 54.51 (WPIAL RECORD) 2. Alexis Mitcheltree, Moon. 57.78 3. Morgan Joseph, Kittanning. 59.56 4. Jessica Cochran, Yough. 59.65 5. Sabrina Bowman, St. Joseph. 59.94

 

Boys 100 Yard Backstroke

1. Justin Kostelnik, Laurel Highlands. 52.46 2. Brad Kolesar, West Mifflin. 56.58 3. Luke Simpson, Charleroi. 54.17 4. Andrew Ferrington, Elizabeth Forward. 54.78 T-5. Bill Crumrine, Beaver. 55.59 T-5. Steve Conko, Geibel Catholic. 55.59

 

Girls 100 Yard Breaststroke

1. Morgan Fink, South Fayette. 1:05.01

2. Holly Stein, St. Joseph. 1:05.52

3. Anna Paccapaniccia, Indiana. 1:05.60

4. Alexis Lopez, Blackhawk. 1:09.18

5. Gabriella Bobak, Indiana. 1:09.99

 

Boys 100 Yard Breaststroke

1. Jon Haycock, Indiana. 59.58

2. Ian Lindsey, Knoch. 1:00.13

3. Kameron Faychak, Elizabeth Forward. 1:01.61 4. Adam Rastatter, Blackhawk. 1:01.86 5. Jacob Collas, South Park. 1:02.26

 

Girls 400 Yard Freestyle Relay

1. South Fayette. 3:36.39

T-2. West Allegheny. 3:40.79

T-2. Indiana. 3:40.79

4. Blackhawk. 3:40.80

5. Moon. 3:45.07

 

Boys 400 Yard Freestyle Relay

1. Mars. 3:17.56

2. Shady Side Academy. 3:17.60

3. Elizabeth Forward. 3:20.11

4. South Fayette. 3:21.50

5. Chartiers Valley. 3:21.83

 

GIRLS TEAM TOTALS

1. South Fayette – 252

2. West Allegheny – 222.5

3. Indiana – 206

4. Blackhawk – 168

5. Shady Side Academy – 143

 

BOYS TEAM TOTALS

1. Indiana – 203

2. Mars – 172

3. Elizabeth Forward – 150

4. South Fayette – 146

5. Shady Side Academy – 142