Pine-Richland swimmers giving all for coach as he recovers from stroke

By: Ted Sarneso
Sunday, March 16, 2025 | 11:01 AM

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“Swimming for Coach Pete.”

That’s what was emblazoned on the Pine-Richland swimmers’ shirts for the WPIAL championship meet at the end of February and the PIAA championship meet last week.

Pete Barry, the long-time Rams swimming head coach, suffered a stroke in mid-February and has since been recovering in the hospital.

“He’s frustrated because he wants to say certain words and he doesn’t quite know how to get them out of his mouth yet,” said Barry’s sister, Shannon Kabala, who is an assistant coach for the Pine-Richland team and took over for Barry.

“He’s learning and they started physical therapy with him last weekend, so he’s had some improvement.”

Kabala was granted a parent volunteer by the school district to help her on deck and to travel with the team to the WPIAL championships, but she says the greatest help she’s gotten has been from the team.

“They have been absolutely amazing during the weeks since Pete’s had his stroke,” Kabala said. “They’ve acted like young adults, listening and taking on leadership. They’ve even worked well with my volunteer. They’ve been great all around.”

Boys and girls team captains, junior Andrew Kirkpatrick and senior Anna Schomaker, also have stepped up, getting practices and different sets started as well as organizing the other swimmers.

“It’s all been a great help,” Kabala said.

The Rams swam their hearts out for Coach Pete at the WPIAL championships.

Although the boys didn’t have anyone qualify for states, they still put up some best times.

Kirkpatrick swam a 54.11 in the 100-yard butterfly and finished 16th in 58.24 in the 100 back, placing him 27th.

Sophomore Cameron Wincko, who missed a couple of weeks in the fall due to illness, performed well at end of the season.

He posted a 1:49.85 in the 200 free, good for 20th place, and swam a 54.22 in the 100 fly, which put him at 17th.

Freshman AJ Guiffre placed 20th in the 200 IM in 2:05.60 and was 12th in the 100 breast at 1:01.10.

“I think AJ really surprised himself and had one awesome 100 breast at WPIALs,” Kabala said. “I know he was one of the swimmers who was nervous not having Pete on deck, but I told him to remember everything Pete had told him throughout the meets this season and put it together, and he sure did.”

Sophomore Matt Uzelac swam the 50 free (23.27) and the 100 free (50.82) for the Rams, finishing 31st and 23rd, respectively.

“Matt did an amazing job all year anchoring our freestyle relays as well,” Kabala said.

Senior diver Jake Jones came back from missing all of last year with an injury and finished ninth in the boys diving competition with a score of 346.45.

“He really stepped up this year,” Kabala said. “Finishing in the top 12 and scoring points for the boys team from where he was a year ago was a great accomplishment.”

The girls team finished third overall in Class 3A with 223 points and had 10 top 10 finishes.

“They did great all year,” Kabala said. “They finished 5-1 in their section, second only to North Allegheny and at WPIALs, third place was the highest our girls team has ever placed in our 3A history.”

In all, six Pine-Richland girls qualified for the state swimming championships, five in individual events.

Senior Sarah Anne Shaffer, who finished third in her two events (200 IM and 100 breaststroke) last year at WPIALs, finished fourth this year in the 50 freestyle in 23.91 and took first in the 100 breast in 1:02.11.

Sophomore Allison Schomaker, who placed seventh in both the 200 IM and 100 breast at last year’s WPIALs, was sixth in the 200 IM and fifth the breaststroke. She swam a 2:09.62 in the IM and a 1:05.89 in the breaststroke.

“Sarah Anne has become a remarkable athlete and young woman,” Kabala said. “She’s grown by tremendous strides since her family moved to Pine-Richland and she joined our team. Allie has been a part of our swim club since she was 8. So, to watch her grow up into the young lady she’s become and the success she’s made in all her meets is great to watch.”

Freshman Whitney Calhoun placed fifth (5:02.37) in the 500 freestyle and sixth (1:54.73) in the 200 free.

“She’s been a huge point-getter for us and a major player on the team all season long,” Kabala said.

Allison’s sister, Anna, also placed in the 500 freestyle, finishing eighth in 5:11.49.

Junior Riley Shafer placed third in the 200 IM in 2:08.42.

Allison Schomaker, Calhoun, Shafer and Shaffer were the Rams’ quartet in the 400 free relay and finished fourth in3:34.35.

Calhoun, Shafer and Shaffer were joined by sophomore Bree Arthur in the 200 free relay, which qualified for states after they swam a 1:38.41, good for fourth.

Not that they needed any extra motivation to go out and swim their hardest at states, but this year’s meet meant a little more to those girls headed to the PIAA championships.

“All the girls headed to Bucknell are going to put it all on the line for Coach Pete,” Kabala said before the state meet. “They’re doing this for him. They don’t want to disappoint him.”

Tags: Pine-Richland