Westmoreland County Senior Spotlight: Mt. Pleasant’s Seth Painter

By: Anthony DiFilippo
Monday, February 10, 2025 | 10:39 AM

Mt. Pleasant’s swimming program, both boys and girls, long has been regarded as one of the best in Class 2A, if not the entire WPIAL.

The Westmoreland County Coaches’ Association championship Jan. 24-25 was another example of that, as the Vikings boys and girls won team titles.

A key contributor for the boys team was the 200 medley relay squad of seniors David Mutter, Joseph Gardner, Seth Painter and junior Gunnar Probst, which took first place.

“I was a little bit exhausted, but I tried my best. My strokes have gone better this year,” Painter said. “Overall, I’m pretty happy with my performance for the time of the season and how I was feeling that day.”

Though Painter played a key role in the medley relay, he admitted it was somewhat unfamiliar territory.

“It was really wonderful to be a part of that,” Painter said. “I’m not a natural backstroker, so it took a lot of work to get there, but to be fast enough for states, we might have to switch some things around or figure out a better training program for myself.”

Mutter and Gardner, the other seniors in the relay, are committed to Alabama and Pitt, respectively.

“They push me to become better, just seeing them do what they do, and they love it,” Painter said. “It makes you love it, too. It makes you want to try your best, go for it and makes you love swimming.”

A key reason for Mt. Pleasant’s success is coach Sandy Felice.

She has guided multiple swimmers from this year’s team to Division I programs, including Mutter, Gardner and girls competitors Lily King (N.C. State) and Kierstin O’Connor (Connecticut).

“She listens to us about how we feel, and she’s very knowledgeable about the sport of swimming,” Painter said. “I love her dedication to it, her knowledge and the time that she spends to make the different lineups or to make the different workouts.”

The Vikings won nine of their first 10 meets, including going 2-0 in the section.

“Some meets, it’s difficult if we’re all tired and exhausted from practices, but it’s good to be surrounded by people who are trying their best and encourage ourselves to try our best,” Painter said.

Painter plans to attend Penn State Fayette for architectural engineering for two years before transferring to University Park for the final two.

This week, Painter took some time for a Senior Spotlight Q&A:

What kind of goals do you have for the rest of your senior season?

I know my 100 (butterfly), and I’m hoping to get to states for that. I have to do a lot more training for it though, as I was focusing on backstroke for a while, and then perhaps the 100 (freestyle). Depending on if I qualify for the up-and-coming meets and depending on how I do on that or if I just stick with the fly in the relays. Depending on how that goes, but it’s really based on how the training programs change and tapering for the different meets because my coach is pretty good with that, because right now I feel pretty exhausted, but that’s kind of where I need to be in order to be someone good in the coming weeks.

What’s it like being in the same program as the girls, who have been so successful, and what makes Mt. Pleasant swimming so good?

Well, being a part of the same program is nice. You get to see a wide variety of people, and it doesn’t matter where you come from or what you do, but you can progress in this sport. It’s very individualized, but it’s also a whole team effort as those points gather up and everything. So it relies on each person individually but also the whole team pulling through. That is really the coaches giving good workouts and the swimmers being dedicated and putting in that hard work. The coaches give us the opportunity to, and we take that opportunity and do the best we can with it. Get as strong as we can, as fast as we can and encourage each other through that.

What went into the decision-making process for Penn State?

Well, for a while, I was interested in building different things. I could visualize it in my mind pretty well. And my dad was a civil engineer, and that’s interesting, but I don’t see myself doing that. I’ve always been able to visualize buildings and different things like that, so architectural engineering just stood out for me for that. And Penn State has one of the best engineering programs around here. Relatively affordable. Of course, I’ll have to work hard and pray for the finances, but it’ll come through. And that was kind of the deciding factor. My family prayed, and they heard that. So we went for architectural engineering and then applied to Penn State. We looked at a few other colleges, but Penn State had the best program and resources available for me.

What is one thing that people may not know about you?

Well, last year, I recently got into guitar. So I’ve been playing it. I got a guitar a few years back. I played a little bit recently, and I’ve been playing it a lot more with my churches. I’ve been playing in the band, and I sing, too. I was in choir for three, four or five years. This year I wasn’t able to because it didn’t fit in the schedule, but I was in choir, and then I’m playing guitar, so that might be one thing.

What’s your favorite genre of music or favorite song on the guitar?

My favorite genre is like Christian worship music. Just because it’s very edifying, you know. They say what you listen to goes into your heart and your soul. It kind of reflects your mood and affects your mood in different ways. I really just enjoy any one of those songs.

Tags: Mt. Pleasant