Southmoreland’s Henry Miller rocks PIAA competition with pair of gold-medal swims

By: Michael Love
Wednesday, March 15, 2023 | 10:53 PM

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A perk of being the No. 1 seed for a PIAA swimming finals heat is getting to pick the walk-up music that is played while the eight finalists make their way to the starting blocks.

Southmoreland senior Henry Miller had that opportunity twice Wednesday evening as he was the top seed for the Class 2A boys 50-yard freestyle and 100 butterfly.

His two songs?

The theme from “Rocky” for the 50 free and Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” for the 100 fly.

Miller, a Clarion commit, fought like a champ and was an iron man as he won back-to-back state titles, posting a time of 20.16 seconds in the 50 and coming right back with a 48.88 to claim his second consecutive 100 fly crown.

“Iron Man was the song my dad and I would always listen to when we would be in the garage working on cars,” Miller said. “It was an electric feeling, that’s for sure. It was a culmination of all of my work these past couple of years, and it paid off.”

Miller’s time in the 50 was 2 one-hundredths of a second better than the 20.18 he recorded at WPIALs and 16 one-hundredths off the PIAA record of 20.00 set by Belle Vernon grad Ian Shahan in 2021.

Miller clocked a 48.88 in the 100 fly, almost a second faster than his 49.83 from states last year.

“I was feeling good (in the 100 fly), and I was feeling loose and in control, and it just came together.” Miller said. “The guys closest to me, they had me on both sides. I was seeing the water splash. I put my head down and knew it was time to go.”

Miller’s state titles were two of five for Westmoreland County swimmers on Day 1 of the Class 2A championships.

The Mt. Pleasant girls showed their depth with several state medals, fronted by state titles from the 200 medley relay and 200 free relay and sophomore Lily King’s triumph in the 200 free.

The Vikings head into Day 2 on Thursday morning with a 32-point lead — 124 to 92 — over District 10’s Erie Cathedral Prep in the girls team race.

Quaker Valley (65) and Northgate (60) are fourth and fifth, respectively.

Mt. Pleasant kicked off the girls championship finals with a bang as sophomore Kiersten O’Connor and seniors SaraJo Gardner, McKenna Mizikar and Reegan Brown claimed PIAA gold in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:46.71.

The WPIAL champs were more than two seconds faster than runner-up Cathedral Prep.

“We really hoped to win gold after placing second last year (Villa Maria Academy),” said Mizikar, who swam the third (butterfly) leg of the relay.

“It’s been a goal since last year for me, personally. I was scared to turn around after I got out of the water because my split was not as good as prelims, and I was wondering if (Cathedral Prep) would catch up. But I turned around, and Reegan was the first to the turn, and I was like, ‘We’ve got it. It’s gonna happen.’ It was an amazing way to start things off.”

King followed her Mt. Pleasant teammates and captured the 200 free title with a time of 1:46.86. She added that gold medal to the ones captured last year in the 50 and 100 frees.

King held off the challenge of 2022 PIAA 200 free champ Elise Nardozzi, a junior from Northgate.

King and Nardozzi’s times — Nardozzi swam to a 1:47.43 — placed both of them on the National Federation of High Schools honor roll.

“I just started swimming the 200 free this year, and to know I could come here and do this, it is an amazing feeling,” King said. “I hoped for the best, but I wasn’t sure what might happen. Elise is such a strong swimmer, and we really push each other. That is a big part of what helped me get to the title.”

King said seeing the 200 medley relay take the title to start things off really motivated her to do the same.

“I was so proud of them,” King said. “When I saw them get to the wall and knew they won it, it was such a great start to the day.”

The Mt. Pleasant girls 200 free relay of O’Connor, senior Trinity Graft, Gardner and King closed the meet with a time of 1:35.88, which secured the state title and was faster than their WPIAL time by 2 one-hundredths of a second.

The quartet also eyed the state record, but it finished just seven one-hundredths away (1:35.81).

“I think Lily knew the time. I didn’t know it,” Gardner said. “Whenever she touched, we were looking around and looking up at the board to see if we got it.

“But we’re happy with how we swam and that we got the state title. It was definitely a goal coming in to win all three relays. We’ll see how tomorrow goes.”

Mt. Pleasant is the top seed in the 400 free relay Thursday.

On the boys side, Mt. Pleasant sophomore Joseph Gardner made his move in the 200 IM and finished a close second with a time of 50.24. He touched the wall 4 one-hundredths of a second faster than Northgate senior Matthew Purcell (50.28).

Vikings sophomore David Mutter swam six times on Day 1 and produced a silver and two bronzes.

He was a close second to Miller in the 100 fly (49.06) and earned thirds in the 200 free (1:40.88) and with Gardner, junior Logan Snively, and senior Matthew Koch in the 200 medley relay (1:34.89).

Cathedral Prep won the 200 medley title (1:33.89), but five of the next six were WPIAL teams: North Catholic (second), Mt. Pleasant (third), Northgate (fourth), Indiana (fifth), and Hampton (seventh).

“Last year, I had two events each day at states, and with three events, I was pretty tired,” Mutter said. “But I knew I had to just push through it. I want to get to bed and come back rested for the 400.”

Indiana (96) and Mt. Pleasant (82) are third and fourth, respectively, in the boys team standings to lead the WPIAL teams.

Day 2 of the PIAA Class 2A swimming championships begins with the girls prelims at 7:45 a.m. and the boys prelims at 10:20.

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.