WPIAL swimmers to race in championship heats on Day 1 of PIAA Class 3A meet

By: Michael Love
Wednesday, March 16, 2022 | 2:12 PM

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LEWISBURG — The consolation and championship finals for the first day of the WPIAL Class 3A swimming championships are set.

Preliminary swims Wednesday in the 200-yard medley relay, 200 freestyle, 200 individual medley, 50 free, 100 butterfly and 200 free relay determined the top 16 in each event, and swimmers will return for the evening session at Bucknell.

The top eight finishers in the championship heat will earn medals.

The boys consolation and championship finals begin at 4:20 p.m., with the girls races to follow at 6:50.

The WPIAL champion Fox Chapel girls 200 medley relay will swim as the second seed in its championship finals heat. Mt. Lebanon is seeded third, while North Allegheny is the fifth seed.

North Allegheny’s Lexi Sundgren, WPIAL champion in the 200 free, finished third overall in the prelims. She will be joined in the championship finals by Upper St. Clair’s Kaitlyn Conners (seventh seed).

Fox Chapel junior Sophie Shao is in position for a run at her third PIAA title in the 100 fly. She swam a little slower than her WPIAL time of 53.85 seconds, but she was able to secure the No. 2 seed behind Hatboro Horsham freshman Annie Jia, who clocked a prelim-best 53.39.

Seneca Valley’s Ria Dietz secured the fifth seed for the 100 fly finals.

Shao is the lone WPIAL representative in the championship finals of the 200 IM. The first-time WPIAL champion is seeded second (2:04.12) behind Haverford junior Katya Eruslanova.

Mt. Lebanon freshman Sylvia Roy made her PIAA debut as the anchor of the Blue Devils’ 200 medley relay. She came back in the 50 free and earned the No. 4 seed for the championship finals.

The North Allegheny girls 200 free relay earned fifth place in the preliminaries with a time of 1:36.14. They are the lone WPIAL rep for the championship finals.

On the boys side, six relays and six individuals will compete for gold in the championship heats.

Seneca Valley’s Daniel Simoes heads into the finals the second seed in the 200 IM after a morning swim in a time of 1:50.69. Teammate Haihan Xu will swim in the 200 IM finals as the sixth seed.

Also seeded second for the finals is Upper St. Clair’s Ganesh Sivaramakrishnan, who recorded a 49.21 in the prelims of the 100 fly. Bethel Park’s Dom Cortopassi is the sixth seed in the event.

The WPIAL will have three teams in the championship finals of both the 200 medley relay and 200 free relay.

USC is fourth in the 200 medley relay, followed by WPIAL champion Franklin Regional in sixth and Hempfield in eighth.

The Spartans entered the preliminaries as the 11th seed.

Seneca Valley (second) and USC (third) held their seeds coming out of the 200 free relay prelims.

Hempfield also will swim in the 200 free relay finals as the eighth seed.

Also swimming in the championship finals are Seneca Valley’s Kevin Donaldson in the 200 free (fifth seed), and Butler’s Ben Borvendeg in the 50 free (fifth seed).

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.