Senior standout anchors North Allegheny

Tri-State Sports & News Service

There have not been very manyWPIAL swimmers over the years who have been offered scholarships to continue their athletic careers at Stanford.

North Allegheny senior Mason Gonzalez joined that elite group a few weeks ago whenhe opted to sign with the Cardinal.

“I’m pretty happy with his selectionin college,” North Allegheny coach Patrick Wenzel said. “He’s such a smart kid and can handle the work out there, but I’m so happy for him that he can go somewhere where he has an opportunity to excel academically andat swimming as well.”

If there was any doubt he was among a very select group of elite athletes, he put them to rest last weekend when he swam in the Junior Nationals East Regional in Knoxville, Tenn. The defending WPIAL and PIAA Class 3A champion in both the 50yard and 100-yard freestyles swam both events and had solidperformances in both.

Though he did not set a personal best in either event, he did come in fifth with a 20.15- second showing in the 50 freestyle, 0.58 behind first-place Drew Kibler, a Texas recruit who represented Carmel (Ind.) Swim Club. He followed that up with a fourth place in the 100 freestyle with a time of 43.91 that was 1.01 behind Kibler.

“I think we’re real excited with the way things went at Junior Nationals with Mason right up there and he’s definitely ahead of where he was at this time last year,” Wenzel said. “I think that he’s excited, he’s a super-talented kid and he continues to put the work in. We continue to make changes to try to make him evenfaster.”

When he gets to Bucknell’s Kinney Natatorium for the state championships in March, he will likely be chasing the shadow of another swimmer from the past who also committed to Stanford. In 2010 and 2011, Hershey’s David Nolan rewrote the PIAAand NFHS record books withsome of the fastest swims inhistory.

He holds the state and national records in the 200 individual medley with a 1:41.39 and the 100 freestyle, one of Gonzalez’s events, with a 42.34. Nolan still has the state record in Gonzalez’s other event, the 50 freestyle (19.58), the 100 backstroke (45.49) and was the first leg of Hershey’s 2011 state record-breaking 200 freestyle relay team that swama 1:21.01.

Gonzalez was not part of North Allegheny’s 200 freestyle relay team that beat Hershey’s mark with a 1:20.95 last year, but he did become the second swimmer since Nolan to break 20 seconds in the 50 freestyle when he touched up in19.99 to win the state title.

He also posted a 43.62 in the 100freestyle, but dropping 1.28 seconds would be a monumentaltask.

“David was obviously special and somebody to shoot for, without question,” Wenzel said. “I got to watch him swim and I don’t think I can compare the two of them because they’re very different swimmers, but I would say that they would have to be very determined individuals tobe as fast as they are.”

Just having a swimmer of Gonzalez’s caliber on the deck is making North Allegheny a better team. And that says a lot of a squad that is the reigning PIAA Class 3A team champion and six-time defendingWPIAL champion.

“It’s all about making sure the guys stay focused and, luckily for us, they still have a lot of very, very big goals so it’s a lot about goal-setting and continually making sure that they have something to shoot at,” Wenzel said. “Obviously we also want to keep some of the goals the same and just bringthem to new heights.”

Class 2A

Quaker Valley is also a multiple defending WPIAL champion as the Quakers have won the past three team crowns. Unlike North Allegheny, however, the Quakers don’t have that one dominant swimmer who has won multiple titles as the team graduated 2017 WPIAL Class 2A 50 and 100-yard sprint champion HarryHarkins.

Knoch and Laurel Highlands nearly ended the Quakers’ string last season, but could not hold a lead heading into the 400-yard freestyle relay.

Obama Academy senior Sead Niksic, who is the only person from his school ever to win a WPIAL swimming title, is the only returning individual champion in Class 2A. He will defend his crown in the 100backstroke.