Two golds by Norwin senior highlights day one
Norwin senior Ethan Tulenko didn’t have the greatest success in his previous visit to Pitt’s Trees Pool for the WPIAL Class 3A swimming finals.
He did not qualify for the meet as a freshman and, as a sophomore, he finished sixth in the 50-yard freestyle and 13th in the 100 freestyle. He took the year off from high school swimming and concentrated on his training.
And it paid off in a big way.
Tulenko opened his day by winning the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:40.07 to edge North Allegheny’s Josh Galecki by 2.82 seconds. He then came back a few minutes later and pulled off a rare double gold on the same day as he captured the 50 freestyle title in 20.78 seconds and defeated Tigers runner-up Alex Grahor by 0.49 seconds.
“It’s simply a challenge, but I swam a lot of meets before where I swam a lot of events close, so I’ve been prepared” Tulenko said. “I do a lot in the offseason, so that helped me prepare for this.”
Most swimmers spread their events out over the two-day meet with one individual and one relay each day. But Tulenko opted to not only swim two individual events, but ones that were separated only by the 200 individual medley, which left very little downtime to rest between heats.
“Between that I warmed down a lot and made sure I was in the pool just stretching out,” Tulenko, a George Washington recruit, said. “I was also staying sharp and getting my mind ready.”
North Allegheny, the eight-time boys team champion, only had one individual win in the first day of the meet, but it was significant as senior Rick Mihm, a Stanford recruit, became the first boys swimmer to win the 200 individual medley three consecutive years since Penn Hills’ Bill Glasstetter did so from 1973-75.
“I didn’t know that but it’s pretty amazing and it’s an honor,” Mihm said. “I was pretty happy with how I swam and with how the team was swimming.”
While Mihm won his third in a row, Gateway senior Olivia Livingston joined some elite company as she became the third sprinter — and first since Penn-Trafford alumna Cindy Weir (1998-2001) — to sweep the 50 freestyle all four years. The Louisville recruit touched the wall in 23.09 seconds to beat North Allegheny senior Olivia Kraus by 1.27 seconds.
“It’s really cool and I feel so blessed because not everybody gets to say they’ve done that kind of thing,” Livingston said. “It’s just an honor to say I’ve done
something like this.”
Butler senior Laura Goettler was also looking to become a four-time champion this year — and the fifth all time — to sweep the 200 individual medley. But North Allegheny senior Torie Buerger, a Kentucky recruit who twice finished third and was runner-up to Goettler in 2018, finally broke through and finished in 2:00.57 to edge the Golden Tornado standout by 1.88 seconds.
“I was just going into the race doing the best I could to make it to states and whatever happens, happens,” Buerger said. “When I looked up [at the results] I was so happy.”
Upper St. Clair junior Taylor Connors was the top seed in the 200 freestyle, but was still considered a bit of an underdog considering she was in the pool with the defending champion in the event, North Allegheny’s Molly Smyers. In the end, though, Connors had just enough kick as she came from behind in the final 50 yards to win in 1:50.34 and edged the Tigers junior by 0.25 seconds for her first individual title.
“I could see her the whole time and I knew I had to have a strong back half because both of my competitors had strong back halves,” Connors said. “I knew I had to take it out strong and I had to build from there. It’s so exciting and it’s been my dream for a while.”
The North Allegheny boys and girls lead the overall team standings after the first day. The boys, looking for their ninth consecutive title, have a 196-136 lead over Seneca Valley, while the girls, seeking their WPIAL-record 12th in a row, hold a 215-125 lead over Mt. Lebanon.