NA DOMINATES IN PIAA SWIMMING
There was a tension in the air as the PIAA Class 3A boys swimming finals neared its final event.
Swimmers, coaches and onlookers crowded the deck at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium for the 400-yard freestyle relay, trying to get a glimpse at what could be a staterecord in the making.
North Allegheny had posted a solid preliminary time of 3:02.13, which was only 2.55 seconds off the current standard and, considering the fact times traditionally drop from the morning qualifying to the evening finals, the tension was palpable. The last time something like this happened was in 2011, when Hershey’s David Nolan set national records in the 200 individual medley and the 100 freestyle.
“This is pretty similar and there’s just a lot of anticipation like there was when David was swimming when everyone was gathered around the pool so they could witness it. It felt very similar,” North Allegheny coach Patrick Wenzel said. “I was so focused on what we were doing that I didn’t realize it until it was over and people were congratulating us. We had so many people on the deck that were taking selfies with our guys.”
When the race and the meet ended, North Allegheny had carved its niche in history.
In that final heat, seniors Mason Gonzalez and Andrew Zhang, junior Jack Wright and sophomore Rick Mihm shattered the previous state record of 2:59.58 set by Upper Dublin in 2016 and, in the process, erased swimming powerhouse Jacksonville (Fla.) Bolles National Federation of High Schools 2012 mark of 2:54.43 with a blistering 2:53.81 that left the team and everyone in attendance stunned.
“I just couldn’t believe it,” Mihm, who swam the anchor leg, said. “It was a bit of a disappointment last year getting disqualified in that relay and, literally, right after states, that was our main goal. We kept thinking about it through the summer through all the dual meets of the season and, to finally get that time, was completely unbelievable.”
North Allegheny would have broken the Upper Dublin record last year when it touched the wall in 2:58.00, but the team was disqualified for an early entry during one of the relay legs. This year, however, there were no fouls, only kudos for breaking a relay record by a Bolles team that had two future Olympians in Singapore gold medalist Joseph Schooling and Ryan Murphy, who has three gold medals for the United States to
his credit.
And they were among the first to give North Allegheny their due.
“Obviously we had set our minds on that time all season, but it’s one thing to think about and another thing to go out and do it,” Gonzalez said. “The other thing was that maybe we’ll get a shout out from the Olympians that had that record before us and Ryan Murphy actually did Tweet us out the next day and congratulate us, which I thought was pretty cool.”
North Allegheny broke one of Bolles records and nearly knocked out another. On the first day, the foursome of Mihm, Gonzalez and junior Joel Songer swam a 1:19.60 in the 200 freestyle relay that not only knocked 1.35 seconds off the previous state mark set by the Tigers a year earlier, but dropped the team’s own national public high school record of 1:20.46 set by Gonzalez, Mihm, Wright and Zhang in their second dual meet of theseason.
Though Bolles still holds the NFHS record at 1:19.27, the Tigers foursome is the only one in the state ever to break 1:20 in the event. But considering the skill level on this team — and that the coaching staff can select any four of eight competitors that were on the eligibility sheet when they qualified at the WPIAL finals on March 1 — picking the four swimmers was not easy.
“It was a tough decision for me because we swam the secondary relays (the 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay qualifiers) in the morning and I wasn’t sure which relay we were going to go for, but we decided to go for the 200 free relay at night based on places and what we thought we could do as far as winning gold medals,” Wenzel said. “It worked in our favor because we were able to win both relays that night.”
Setting the national record put a capper on what may be an unprecedented accomplishment for North Allegheny, which won all three relays and five individual events to take home eight of the 11 possible state titles.
In addition to the relays, Gonzalez won both the 50 and 100 freestyles, Mihm brought home two crowns in the 200 individual medley and the 500 freestyle while Wright captured the 200 freestyle.
“It was pretty exciting and I think it was a historical thing that we won eight of the 11 events. I’m pretty sure that’s never been done before and it just shows how good our top guys are,” Wenzel said.
“It’s exciting to win a state championship all by itself, but to give out so many gold medals, well, I got to know the lady who was setting them up pretty well.”