Sarah Pasquella defends 200 free title on good day for Fox Chapel at WPIAL 3A swimming

By: Michael Love
Thursday, February 27, 2025 | 7:07 PM

Previous Next

Sarah Pasquella was the hunted in the final heat of the girls 200-yard freestyle Thursday morning at the WPIAL Class 3A swimming championships at Pitt’s Trees Pool.

The Fox Chapel senior and Michigan commit wasn’t about to let anyone prevent her from defending her title.

Pasquella lowered her school record time to 1 minute, 48.79 seconds, a second faster than the 1:49.91 she recorded at last year’s PIAA championships, and defeated runner-up Claire Bacu from North Allegheny by more than 2 seconds (1:50.90).

“I am really happy with my swim. I felt really good,” Pasquella said. “It was really fun to just go out there and do my best and get my best time and lower my record. Claire is a very strong swimmer, and she swam great. But I was just focusing on my own race and swimming as fast as I could to defend my title.

“I knew I had it in me because I was training really well. I think I have even more to give at states.”

Fox Chapel had two of the top three finishers in the 200 free as sophomore Charlotte Rusche took bronze in a time of 1:51.92.

Rusche helped cap the first day for the Fox Chapel girls as she anchored the 200 free relay — which also included Pasquella, senior Grace Kovach and sophomore Josie Stanczak — to WPIAL gold in a school-record time of 1:35.14.

“I was really excited to see (Pasquella, Kovach and Stanczak) do so well, and it gave me a lot of motivation to bring it home for the win,” Rusche said. “We were out-touched (by North Allegheny) by a couple hundredths last year, so we came in this year really hungry to win.”

About a half-hour after Pasquella defended her 200 free title, it was Foxes senior Owen Howell’s turn to do the same in the boys 200 individual medley.

Howell fought off all challengers, including runner-up Rinzen Sherpa, a sophomore from Mt. Lebanon, to win the title by more than a second (1:51.40).

“It was a really great feeling,” Howell said. “I was just trying to keep with the pack the first half, and then I know I have a really strong back half. I just went for it on the breaststroke, and I am really happy with that.

“It’s always good to feel as good as I did at the beginning of the meet. It was the start I wanted.”

Howell came back and helped the Foxes’ boys 200 free relay take fifth overall (1:27.26).

Only the WPIAL champion in each event earned an automatic trip to the PIAA meet in 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.

Foxes senior Christian Dantey sought a championship in the boys 200 free after taking second last year.

While he didn’t match last year’s runner-up finish — he took third Thursday in a time of 1:40.08 — he did find himself up high on the medals podium.

Fox Chapel freshman Nathan Agens, in his WPIAL debut, broke the school record in the boys 100 butterfly (51.57) and picked up an eighth-place medal. Corey Meek set the record at 51.81 in 2001.

Fox Chapel senior Margaret Rusche wound up on the medals podium in the girls 100 fly with a fourth-place finish (56.86).

The Plum girls 200 medley relay of junior Brooke Price, seniors Kaileigh Smith and Giuliana Ricciuti and junior Dom Massie cut nearly 4 seconds from their seed time and jumped seven places from the 12th seed to take fifth overall (1:50.42).

In all, A-K Valley individuals and relays took home 19 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 freestyle at 9:45 a.m. Friday.

The Fox Chapel girls are in second place after Day 1 with 174 points. North Allegheny leads the way with 250 points.

The Foxes boys team is in third (133.5) with North Allegheny in first (233.5) and Upper St. Clair in second (158).

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: Fox Chapel, Freeport