North Allegheny teams pull ahead after 1st day of WPIAL Class 3A swim championships

By: Bob Orkwis
Thursday, February 26, 2026 | 2:08 PM

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The North Allegheny girls team is vying for an 18th consecutive Class 3A girls swimming championship, while their boys teammates have won three straight. So wasn’t surprising to see those teams atop the standings following the first day of the district swimming championships Thursday at Pitt’s Trees Pool.

The Tigers were even across the board, capturing 12 medals — four gold, four silver and four bronze.

North Allegheny’s boys relay teams won a pair of gold medals, posting 1:31.12 in the 200 medley and 1:22.73 in the 200 freestyle. The girls also captured gold in the 200 free with a time of 1:35.49.

Senior Claire Bacu took gold in the girls 200 freestyle (1:50.13). The Brown recruit earned a silver medal in that event as a junior. NA’s Julia Tengowski captured this year’s bronze.

Mason Shantz (49.26) and Eva Ogden (56.05) both took silver in the 100 fly events, with Dani Hinskon winning bronze.

Navy recruit Danny Lesinski won bronze in the 200 IM, with Jackson Ross finishing third in the 200 freestyle.

Senior Zachary Totin won a silver in the 50 freestyle.

The North Allegheny girls 200-yard medley relay started the day with a second-place finish in 1 minutes, 44.82 seconds. Fox Chapel won the first gold medal of the session in 1:43.94.

The Tigers have 287 points on the boys’ side to lead after the first day, with the girls leading with 279 points.

Fox Chapel is second place for the girls with 206 points.

The Foxes had a pair of freshman shine on Day 1. Ellie Lange won the 200 freestyle (2:03.33) and Delaney O’Toole finished first in the 50 freestyle (22.97). They were also part of the 200 medley relay gold medal team.

Mt. Lebanon is in third place on the girls’ side with 128 points, and eighth for the boys with 60 points.

“Our medleys weren’t what we wanted to do and expected, but we got better as the meet went on,” Mt. Lebanon coach Tom Donato said. “The 200 freestyle with William (Thomas) getting second and Rinzen (Sherpa) winning the IM, and our sprinters doing their thing; we’re down by six for runner-up (on the girls’ side) so we have to come back tomorrow and have some fun.”

Mt. Lebanon junior Rinzen Sherpa won gold in the 200 IM (1:51.05) after taking a silver last year. Senior William Thomas got silver in the 200 freestyle (1:41.59) after finishing sixth last year.

“Rinzen won and did his best time, so that’s exciting,” Donato said. “William getting second as a senior, we’ve been waiting for that for a couple of years, and he’s been leading us all year.”

The Blue Devils also had one of the best stories of the day, as Finn Thompson, the first ever para-swimmer from Mt. Lebanon, competed in the 50 free, and set a WPIAL record with that appearance.

Donati was emotional after that performance for the senior who battles cerebral palsy.

“You see the crowd, the kids, if you don’t cry when you see him swim, you’re missing something,” he said. “That’s what life is about. I tell the kids it’s just swimming gang, but how that kid has to work every day to do what he does, and then he comes in here and does that, that really puts things into perspective.”

Tommy Westerman from Franklin Regional won gold in the 200 free with a time of 1:40.91.

Dom Davis, a sophomore from Mars, finished first in the 50 freestyle (20.26) after his teammate Luke Lamb captured gold in that event last year.

Another freshman, Catherine Miller from Upper St. Clair, also won a gold medal. She placed first in the 100 fly in 58.68. Bethel Park’s Jackson Edwards (48.97) won that event for the boys.

Upper St. Clair in second place for the boys with 134 points.

Outside of Thompson setting a para-record, no other WPIAL records fell.

The final 12 events for the Class 3A competitors will take place Friday morning at Trees Pool.

Tags: Bethel Park, Fox Chapel, Franklin Regional, Mars, Mt. lebanon, North Allegheny, Upper St. Clair