Penn Hills junior in stunner
Tri-State Sports & News Service
There was every reason to believe North Allegheny would run the table in the 100-yard freestyle at the WPIAL Class 3A swimming finalsat Pitt’s Trees Pool.
Not only were the Tigers seeded1-2-3, they had the twotime defending champion and WPIAL record-holder in Stanford recruit Mason Gonzalez standing on the blocks ready to make it three in a row.
Kimani Gregory was havingnone of it.
Insteadof a clean sweep by North Allegheny, the Penn Hills junior came out of nowhere in Lane 6, kicked it in over the final 25 yards and edged Gonzalez at the wire to not only win the race by 0.05 seconds, but set a WPIAL record of 47.09 seconds in the process.
“Seeing that time, it was just like fireworks going off. It’swhat we wanted all year,” Gregory said. “This was the best moment, I think, of my high school career yet and I havenext year.”
Gonzalezgot out to a quick leadand had a slim edge after 50 yards as he made the turn in 22.96 seconds with Gregory just behind at 22.97. It appeared Gonzalez was about to pull away after 75 yards, but Gregory pulled even and eventually touched the wall a handbreadth aheadof the Tigers senior.
“He’s a big guy and he has a great pull, doesn’t get a lot of acid buildup and we’ve been pushing it in practice to swim those last 15 [yards] without breathing,” Gregory said. “This was a great race and, obviously, we’ve been looking forward to this all year.”
Gregory also defended his crown in the 100 butterfly on the first day of the meet and joined North Allegheny sophomore Rick Mihm as the only boys swimmers to win two individual championships. Mihm took the 200 individual medley title Thursday, then won the 500 freestyleon Day 2 with a time of 4:28.89, 1.83 seconds ahead of Upper St. Clair junior Jack Fitzpatrick.
Gateway sophomore Olivia Livingston didn’t break her record in the 100 freestyle, but she did come awfully close as she won her second title in the event — and fourth of her career — with a solid time of 49.07 seconds. She was only 0.04 seconds off her 2017 record pace and won the race by 1.44 seconds over Mt. Lebanon junior Trinity Ward. She also set the record in the 50 freestyleon the first day.
Sophomore Laura Goettler of Butler was the only other dual champion on the girls side. After defending her crown in the 200 individualmedley, she followed it up with her first championship in the 100 breaststroke, beating Leah Baker of Moon by 0.55 seconds with a time of 1:02.89.
North Allegheny’s 400 freestyle relay team reset its WPIAL record with a 3:03.12 to beat their old mark by 0.12 seconds to give the boys their seventhconsecutive title.
With the win, coupled with the girls team victory, North Allegheny extended its WPIAL all-sports record for concurrently holding boys and girls titles to seven years. The Tigers girls team now has won 10 in a row and is one behind Oakland Catholic (11 from 2000-10 in Class 2A) for the most consecutive girls team swimming titles.
Only one record fell in the two-day, Class 2A competition and that came in the final individual event as Belle Vernon junior Andrew Spekis pulled out a 57.80- second victory in the 100 breaststroke to beat the old mark of 58.13 set by Kyle Hrabovsky ofQuaker Valley in 2016.