Records fall in day one of finals
NA relay, Wright, Livingston all shine
Jack Wright had reasonable expectations coming into the first day of the WPIAL Class 3A swimming finals at Pitt’s Trees Pool.
“Myself and a couple of other guys, we’re kind of focused on states this year,” the North Allegheny junior said. “I was expecting to go a good time, maybe my seed time or a little better.”
As it turned out, he went a lot better.
Wright hit the water in the 200-yard freestyle and ripped off a time of 1:37.82 that was not only 0.45 seconds faster than his seed time, but he also broke the WPIAL record of 1:38.89 set by Brian Lovasik of North Hills in 2015. If that weren’t enough, he won the race by 2.44 seconds over Adam Whisner of Central Catholic.
“I was surprised,” Wright said. “I wasn’t expecting to get into the 1:37s so I was happy with it.”
Wright wasn’t the only Tiger to walk away with a gold medal.
Sophomore Rick Mihm won his first individual championship, the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:49.46 — 0.11 seconds slower than his seed time — which beat Upper St. Clair junior Jack Fitzpatrick, the defending champion, by 2.40 seconds.
“It was just amazing and it’s something that I always dreamed of and something that I worked toward. I’m excited,” Mihm said. “It’s nice [swimming for North Allegheny] because you have people to look up to and people below you who are always pushing you. It makes you work harder at practice and helps with that next-up mentality.”
Tigers teammate Mason Gonzalez didn’t set a record, but came about as close as possible. The WPIAL record-holder in the 50 freestyle pulled off the secondfastest time in history with a 20.06-second lap that missed tying his 2017 mark by just 0.01 seconds.
Gonzalez, a Stanford recruit, is the only WPIAL swimmer to break 20 seconds in competition and he did so at the PIAA finals last year.
North Allegheny’s 200 freestyle relay capped the day with a record-setting performance as the Tigers foursome of Wright, Gonzalez, Mihm and Andrew Zhang posted a 1:21.15 to beat the previous mark of 1:22.93 the team set last year. Their time also was 5.11 seconds faster than second-place Central Catholic.
Gateway sophomore Olivia Livingston also continued to showcase her dominance in the speed events. She broke her WPIAL record in the 50 freestyle with a time of 22.71 seconds, 0.12 seconds faster than her time from a year ago and 0.02 faster than her 22.73 state record time from the PIAA meet at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium.
Livingston will have to have a better time at the state meet in
two weeks if she is to officially set the PIAA record as state records must be set at the state finals.
“It makes me feel like, because I didn’t fully taper and just rested, that I’m really happy with that,” she said. “I know there’s still stuff I can work on for states to help me go a little faster.”
Livingston might have won her second title in the event, but Trinity Ward did her one better. The Mt. Lebanon junior rolled to her third consecutive crown in the 100 butterfly with a time of 55.18 seconds.
Ward still came up a little bit short of her ultimate goal, which is to set the WPIAL record in the event. Penn Hills alumna Melanie Buddemeyer set the standard of 54.16 in 1983 and it remains the oldest record on the books in either classification.
“I wanted to get the WPIAL record, but I still have next year and hopefully I’ll get it because that would be a great way to close out my high school career,” Ward said. “It’s been there for 35 years and [assistant coach Bill] Kennedy tells me about it all the time.”
Upper St. Clair senior Abby Matheny lost as a defending champion in the 200 freestyle a year ago, but the Williams College recruit found her way back to the top of the medal stand with a solid 1:51.38 to edge out North Allegheny freshman Molly Smyers by 0.38 seconds. Matheny, Smyers and third-place Tigers senior Katherine Mihm were separated by just 0.12 seconds coming into the meet.
“Winning WPIALs is like no other thing. It’s amazing,” Matheny said. “After all of the hard work you put in all year, to stand up there and hold the [event] sign [for the medalists’ photo] makes it all worth it.”