Upper St. Clair is focused on goal of WPIAL title

Tri-State Sports & News Service

Upper St. Clair is the only boys swimming team to defeat North Allegheny in the WPIAL Class 3A championships in more than a decade.

That victory occurred in 2011 when the Panthers’ 400yard freestyle relay team of Alex Hardwick, James Frauen, Nathan Novak and Kyle Dudzinski ripped out a 3:10.85 to beat the Tigers to the wall by 0.12 seconds and capture the championship, 295.5-289.

Were it not for that singular race, North Allegheny would be on a run of 11 consecutive titles instead of winning 10 of 11 and the past five. Upper St. Clair would like nothing better than to pull off an upset again this year.

Only it probably won’t happen.

“I think we’re not quite as strong as we’ve been for the past few years and North Allegheny is just dominant; probably the best boys teams I’ve ever seen,” Upper St. Clair coach Dave Schraven said. “Nobody has a chance and everybody knows it, but after that is the battle for second and I feel that we’re as well-positioned for that as anybody.”

Like every other boys coach in Class 3A, Schraven has come up with a creative way to keeping the team focused on the individual goals instead of having them happy with the fight for second.

“It’s nice when you can talk to your team and put it out there that we have a chance to win WPIALs and states this year and let’s put it out there as motivation,” Schraven said. “But the unique thing about swimming is that it’s an individual sport and a team sport and, if they take care of their business, then the team stuff will flow from that.”

Upper St. Clair has a few swimmers who could certainly make an impact when the two-day WPIAL finals are held in early March at Pitt’s Trees Pool. One of those is sophomore Jack Fitzpatrick, who was third in the 100 backstroke behind two teammates, Kevin Liu and Braedon Wong, a year ago and is the top returning finalist in the event.

He also finished 10th in the 200 individual medley — Dave Schraven, Upper St. Clair swimming coach and, considering his training regimen, could be a contender in that event as well.

“He’s doing great and is a really hard worker,” Schraven said. “Last year we focused just on the backstroke, but this year we’ve focused on everything and he’s a much better allaround swimmer than he was a year ago.”

South Fayette

Trevor Mahoney had a couple of pretty good divers to learn from when he was coming up through the ranks at South Fayette.

As a freshman, he was on the deck when Stephen Zombek finished first and Evan Zombek third in the WPIAL Class 2A finals.

Like Stephen Zombek, he has a second-place finish as a sophomore before he finally stepped to the top of the podium last year. Now Mahoney has an opportunity to finish his career the same way his former teammate did, with back-to-back WPIAL 2A championships.

“I just have to have confidence and I’ve tried a few new dives,” Mahoney said. “Last year I got in my head a little bit, but this year I want to just have fun. I’m going into my whole practice schedule and I want to stay more focused than I did last year.”

Mahoney is being recruited by several colleges, but has to keep juggling everything in his life until he finally makes a commitment.

“I really have to worry about my grades, first and foremost, because if you don’t have the grades, they won’t let you into college,” Mahoney said.

“I’m not trying to worry about the competition, but just trying to remain calm and, if I’m calm, I’ll perform all right.”