South Fayette swim team makes best of canceled invitational

By: Karen Kadilak
Thursday, January 23, 2020 | 5:54 PM

The South Fayette swimming and diving teams traveled to south-central Pennsylvania for the Big 8 Invitational meet Jan. 17, where they competed against only two schools, including one from their backyard.

The girls dominated with 649 points. Central York and West Allegheny placed second and third.

The boys came in third.

“Friday, (I) was driving into school and (the) Central York coach called and canceled,” South Fayette coach Matt Tucker said. “Bob Miller from West (Allegheny) suggested to the York coach we still swim Friday night.

“Both teams had (paid) for buses and rooms at (a) hotel. The coach from Central York called and said we could swim and dive Friday night at a tri-meet.”

Senior Hailey Poe led the girls with wins in the 100 and 200 freestyles.

Sophomore Allie Whalen, sophomore Gabriella Baiano, senior Abbie Duncan and junior Lexi Ray also won individually.

The Lions swept the three relays.

On the boys side, the Lions had four second-place finishes, including two individually by junior Garrett Fincke.

“(We) were disappointed the invitational was called off, especially since there (would be no) prelims and finals,” said Duncan, an Ohio recruit. “The meet ended up being fun.

“We had a lot of fun Saturday at the hotel. We played a lot of board games and built puzzles and just bonded.”

Tucker was happy the Lions were able to swim at all.

“We got three more (WPIAL) cuts,” he said. “We would have gotten more if we were able to swim Saturday as planned with eight teams, but (I) understand why the meet was called off (due to threatening weather.).”

The girls are 6-0 overall and the boys, 2-3-1.

Tags: South Fayette