WPIAL girls swimmer of the week: Northgate’s Karen Siddoway
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Thursday, December 20, 2018 | 6:39 PM
Karen Siddoway has been pretty busy over the past several weeks.
In addition to getting ready for her senior high school season at Northgate, the defending WPIAL Class AA champion in both the 100- and 200-yard freestyle swam three individual events and four relays at the USA Swimming Junior Winter Nationals in Greensboro, N.C., the weekend of Dec. 8.
Last weekend, she competed in preliminary and finals swims all three days at the annual Pitt Christmas meet.
On Monday, she earned WPIAL-qualifying cuts in both the 100 butterfly and 200 individual medley at the section meet against Beaver Falls. Her time in the 100 fly lowered her school record in the event.
“I was pretty exhausted after Monday’s meet,” said Siddoway, the PIAA runner-up last season in both the 100 and 200 free. “I’ve had a chance to recover a little bit over the past couple of days.”
Siddoway and her Northgate teammates were back in competition Thursday against Riverside.
Seeing a lot of fast swims at junior nationals and at Pitt has Siddoway energized for what the rest of the high school season has in store.
“Seeing so many fast swimmers really made me more motivated to increase my training,” Siddoway said. “It felt like the energy at WPIALs and states. I want to go faster at states than I did at junior nationals. I’m ready to train hard and compete well.”
In addition to her two WPIAL individual titles last year, Siddoway was a part of the Northgate girls 200 free and 400 free relays which claimed fifth and seventh, respectively.
“Karen has really risen up the ranks the past several years and is ready to have another really good year as a senior,” Northgate coach Jessica McKelvey said.
“She works so hard and deserves the recognition she gets. She owns or is a part of every single girls (individual and relay) school record. She trains for club also, but she always makes time for high school practices. She pays attention to detail and takes nothing for granted.”
Michael Love is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Michael at 412-388-5825, mlove@tribweb.com or via Twitter @MLove_Trib.
Tags: Northgate
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