Mt. Lebanon’s Ward branches out, eyes three-peat in pool

Tri-State Sports & News Service

Trinity Ward has had a pretty good run her first two years in the pool at Mt. Lebanon.

She is a two-time WPIAL Class 3A champion in the 100-yard butterfly and won the state championship in the event last year. In addition, she finished second in the WPIAL in the 100 backstroke as a freshman and, despite breaking the existing WPIAL record, was runner-up to Gateway’s Olivia Livingston in the 100 freestyle in 2017.

Now, as a junior, she toyed with the idea of branching out and maybe trying another event at the WPIAL finals in early March at Pitt’s Trees Pool. Though she rejected switching out of the two events she competed in a year ago, the experience could help her as she prepares for a potential threepeat in her main event.

“I’m trying to fix my breaststroke and I think it’s kind of coming, but I think to work on my breaststroke makes me realize things about butterfly and backstroke makes me realize things about freestyle, too,” Ward said. “It’s kind of cool how everything is kind of connected that way and I think doing the same thing over and over again can get kind of boring.”

Drab and routine though it may have been swimming the 100 butterfly in consecutive years, it was also an unmitigated success.

To win the state championship at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium, Ward posted an impressive time of 54.16 seconds and outdistanced runner-up Ann Carozza of West Chester East by 0.32 seconds. It was also 2.32 seconds faster than her seventh-place state time from 2016.

If she sticks with that event, it also means she will have two more opportunities to break the oldest WPIAL record on the books. In 1983, Penn Hills’ Melanie Buddemeyer swam a 54.16 — the same time Ward won the state title with last year — to set the standard.

Because most top swimmers don’t do a full shave and taper until after the WPIAL meet and only do so in preparation for the PIAA finals, Ward will have some work to do if she is to erase the 35-year-old standard.

“I think my 100 fly is a little slower at a [recent] dual meet and I know last year we tapered a little more for the meet, so that makes sense,” Ward said. “My off-events are actually doing better this year because I got my best time in the 500 free and I haven’t done that in years.”

Fox Chapel

Jonah Cagley has not rested on his laurels after winning the WPIAL Class 3A diving title last year.

“In our summer [session], our training is a lot more intense,” the Fox Chapel junior said. “We have double practices and we do a lot more drilling in the summer, which is important when you’re setting up your bigger dives, so I think it really helped me a lot in getting the technique right.”

As a sophomore a year ago, Cagley improved 79.15 points from his 2016 runner-up finish to bring home the WPIAL title. He also improved dramatically at the state level, moving up from 12th as a freshman to third and will be the top returning finisher if he qualifies for states.

He also likely won’t have to deal with the same circumstances as last year when diving was held a week after the swimming state championships because of a winter storm that blanketed the central and eastern parts of the state and forced the PIAA to alter its usual schedule.

Still, one challenge he will face is being a defending champion.

“One thing that has been helpful is that there’s a freshman on the team, David Manelis, and he’s my teammate at Pitt and we train together and he’s extremely talented,” Cagley said.

“I think it’s extremely helpful to have a new person on the team because he pushes me to be even better.”