State meet performance leaves Latrobe swimmer optimistic

By: Michael Love
Saturday, March 15, 2025 | 10:15 PM

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LEWISBURG — Latrobe junior Chris Heese hoped for a solid follow up to his WPIAL 100-yard breaststroke championship from two weeks ago at Pitt’s Trees Pool.

While he wasn’t able to qualify for the championship heat Saturday on Day 2 of the PIAA Class 3A championships at Bucknell University, Heese was able to improve on a preliminary swim from earlier in the day.

He came into the consolation heat during the evening session as the 10th seed and ticked down one spot to 11th overall in a time of 56.14 seconds.

“I feel like I swam pretty good at states overall,” Heese said. “I think there definitely would be more potential in me if the season was a tad longer. But it is what it is. It felt pretty good to be up here at states and be in this atmosphere. There were 10 guys faster than me (in the 100 breast) this year. Who knows what it will be next year? I am confident I can come back and go faster and improve my place finish. This gives me a lot of motivation.”

Latrobe coach Grey Arrigonie said he was pleased to see Heese swim well against the best in the state.

“Chris did a really nice job,” he said. “He fixed a couple of things from his morning swim and went a little bit faster. It really worked out well for him.”

Latrobe senior Lauren Bell hoped to be in the evening-session mix in the girls 100 freestyle. Needing to finish 16th or better in the preliminaries, Bell, however, was on the outside looking in by the smallest of margins.

She ended up 17th in a time of 53.15, just 25 hundredths of a second away from 16th.

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.