WPIAL Swimming Championships – Class AAA Day Two Results

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, February 21, 2015 | 9:56 PM

North Allegheny boys and girls swim team came into the day with a commanding lead. That meant that today was all but a formality and PIAA qualifying day. Problem for the field was nobody told the Tigers that. North Allegheny picked up where they left off on the cold snowy day with their senior Morgan Soulia winning the Girls 100 Freestyle with a time of 50.75. 

{Left:  Members of North Allegheny swim team celebrate in the pool after winning another WPIAL crown}

We had Saturday’s first WPIAL Record set when in 100 Yard Freestyle North Hills’ Senior broke John Nappi of Mt Lebanon’s 2011 record by a whole tenth of a second. Lovasik’s finishing time was 45.02.

Next the marathons began when we entered the Girls 500 Yard Free Style. Kathryn Painter of Norwin used her endurance to finish the 20th lap and her ending time of 4:53.32 beating her qualifying time by 4.5 seconds.

For the Boys 500 Matthew Dinunzio of Pittsburgh Central Catholic was on record setting pace at about the halfway point. Again this race is a marathon not a sprint was proven when he began to tire. He won the event with an impressive time of 4:30.20 beating his qualifying time by almost 9 seconds.

The Tigers continued their run when WPIAL record holder Jacquelyn Du took the Girls 100 Yard Back Stroke setting a new WPIAL record and breaking her old mark by nearly a whole second.

The Tigers’ closest opponent on both the boys and girls side of things was the Panthers of Upper St. Clair and they placed first in the Boys 100 Yard Backstroke with Kevin Liu posting a time of 49.17.

We then went to the every so challenging Breaststroke where North Allegheny swept the event with Casey Melzer and Ann Juneau winning their respective events. Melzer broke Luke Nosbisch’s record of 56.37 by posting a time of 56.26 while Juneau posted a very respectable time of 1:03.27 as a Freshman.

We took a little bit of a break to get the pool settled down for the Main Event, the 400 Yard Freestyle Relay. Four swimmers would go the length of the pool 4 times a piece and this event did not disappoint. As was the case in most the events North Allegheny took the Girls’ side of things and did so fairly handily by a team of Lauren McGrath/Gianna Caputo/Charlie Brickner/Morgan Soulia posted a time of 3:27.30. The Boys’ side of things was much closer and much more intense in the final heat. With Upper St. Clair out of contention for a WPIAL Team Title they figured why not beat North Allegheny in the Main Event on the boys side of things. This race was not more than a second apart in any of the splits throughout. After last year both teams setting WPIAL Records Upper St. Clair and North Allegheny came close again to the feat. The Panthers’ relay team consisted of Patrick Lersch/Kevin Liu/Braedon Wong/Fynn Minute and the Tigers’ put Mason Gonzalez/Daniel Songer/Casey Melzer/Eben Krigger into the pool. With a three tenths of a second victory the Panthers for the second year in a row defeated North Allegheny in the Freestyle Relay.

GIRLS TEAM STANDINGS FINAL:

1. North Allegheny 536.5
2. Upper St. Clair 240.5
3. Mt. Lebanon 180
4. Oakland Catholic 152
5. Norwin 113.5

GIRLS 100 YARD FREESTYLE:

1. Morgan Soulia, North Allegheny 50.75                                                    
2. Monica Sowinski, Greater Latrobe High School                                                                              3. Lauren McGrath, North Allegheny                                                              
4.Victoria Shaffer, Upper St. Clair                                                                
5. Kathryn Nicholson, Mt. Lebanon

GIRLS 500 YARD FREESTYLE:

1. Kathryn Painter, Norwin High School 4:53.52
2. Gianna Caputo, North Allegheny
3. Sarah Mautino, Oakland Catholic High School
4. Alexis Kostelnik, Laurel Highlands
5. Rebecca Yonek, Bethel Park High School

GIRLS 100 YARD BACKSTROKE:

1. Jacquelyn Du, North Allegheny 53.59 WPIAL Record
2. Sarah Mautino, Oakland Catholic High School
3. Charlie Brickner, North Allegheny
4. Kayla Churman, North Allegheny
5. Abbey Parsons, Seneca Valley High School

Girls 100 YARD BRESTSTROKE:

1. Ann Juneau, North Allegheny
2. Erin Kuhn, North Allegheny
3. Peyton Kondis, Oakland Catholic High School
4. Maddie Yoos, Upper St. Clair
5. Loeva Paul-Benson, Peters Township High School

Girls 400 YARD FREESTYLE RELAY:

1. North Allegheny 3:27.30
2. Upper St. Clair
3. Mt. Lebanon
4. Greater Latrobe
5. Oakland Catholic 

BOYS TEAM STANDINGS FINAL:

1. North Allegheny 411
2. Upper St. Clair 358
3. Mt. Lebanon 270
4. Franklin Regional 130.5
5. Penn Hills 120

BOYS 100 YARD FREESTYLE:

1. Brian Lovasik, North Hills 45.02 WPIAL Record
2. Norman Gregory, Penn Hills 
3. Mason Gonzalez, North Allegheny
4. Patrick Lersch, Upper St. Clair
5. Jack Rice, Mt. Lebanon

BOYS 500 YARD FREESTYLE:

1. Matthew Dinunzio, Pittsburgh Central Catholic 4:30.20
2. Fynn Minuth, Upper St. Clair
3. Drew Damich, Chartiers Valley
4. Noah Cagley, Fox Chapel
5. Spencer Tretter, Seneca Valley

BOYS 100 YARD BACKSTROKE:

1. Kevin Liu, Upper St. Clair 49.17
2. Braedon Wong, Upper St. Clair
3. Greg Arnold, North Allegheny
4. Andriei Mihailescu, Mt. Lebanon
5. Zane Wilson, Hempfield Area

BOYS 100 YARD BRESTSTROKE:

1. Casey Melzer, North Allegheny 56.26 WPIAL Record
2. Brian Ramsey, Mt. Lebanon
3. Jack Lanphers, Mt. Lebanon
4. Isaiah Gregory, Penn Hills 
5. Tyler Stevenson, Franklin Regional

BOYS 400 YARD FREESTYLE RELAY:

1. Upper St. Clair 3:04.80
2. North Allegheny
3. Mt. Lebanon
4. Penn Hills
5. Chartiers Valley