North Allegheny girls complete historic title run
When girls first began competing for WPIAL championships after Title IX went into effect, the Norwin girls volleyball team came flying out of the gate and won each of the first 13 years.
It has taken 35 years, but the Knights now have company at the top of the mountain.
On Sunday, the North Allegheny swimming team joined Norwin volleyball when the Tigers rolled over the competition and racked up 425 points to beat secondplace Seneca Valley by a whopping 176 points for their 13th consecutive title.
“I think you can call it the NA Way,” North Allegheny coach Patrick Wenzel said. “When it’s hard to make the team on the swim team, it does breed competition within ourselves and it allows us to really strive for excellence and make sure that you’re doing your best.”
Molly Smyers won individual titles in the 200-yard individual medley and finished with her fourth consecutive 500 freestyle crown. But without swimmers such as junior Isabella Dietz, who finished sixth in the 100 breaststroke and 14th in the 200 individual medley, senior Quinn Frost and her sixth place in the 50 freestyle and junior Kara Mihm who finished ninth in the 200 freestyle racking up points, those 13 consecutive wins don’t happen.
“We work so hard every day and everyone puts so much time into training. You can see it the last couple of years and how we’ve done,” Smyers said. “It’s a great atmosphere at NA and it reflects in how we perform.”
Gator bites
Olivia Livingston put Gateway girls swimming back on the map when she finished as an eight-time individual champion last year, but it had been a long time since the Gators boys had put anyone atop the medal stand.
Andrew Holmes changed that.
Holmes, a junior, was seeded second in the 200 freestyle, but eked out top-seeded Kevin Donaldson of Seneca Valley by 0.23 seconds to win the title.
He is the first Gateway boys swimmer to win a championship since Luke Nosbisch won back-to-back 100 breaststroke crowns in 2010-11.
“It’s an amazing feeling that I know I’m supporting my school and supporting my team,” Holmes said. “It’s awesome that I’m the first person in a decade.”
Holmes also learned a lot from competing with Livingston the previous two years.
“She definitely motivated me because, seeing her win made me want to win and she represented the school, which is what I liked about it,” Holmes said. “She was amazing because it wasn’t just about her personally. It was about her and the school.”
Finally flying away
North Catholic senior Brittany Carmazzi has been one of the best butterfly swimmers in the WPIAL for the past four years.
Ever since her freshman year, when she finished second to Payton Rayko of Indiana by just 0.30 seconds, she looked like she would have a couple of titles to her credit in the end.
Then her sophomore year she finished second again to Rayko by 0.06 seconds.
When Rayko graduated, she finished second again as a junior in 2020, this time to Laurel Highlands’ Maria Mrosko, by 0.18 seconds.
This year enough was enough.
Carmazzi finally got her elusive title as she swam a 57.13-second heat and upset the defending champion Mrosko by 1.46 seconds. To put it into perspective, in her previous three second-place finishes combined, she came in second by a total of 0.54 seconds.
Being a-breast of things
With two events remaining in the Class 2A boys finals, Northgate had what appeared to be a comfortable 12.5-point lead over Hampton.
It turned out to be one event too many.
In the next to last event, the 100 breaststroke, Hampton seniorRichie Donate finished second, senior Ethan Apaliski came in fourth and freshman Zach Sutterline touched the wall in 13th. Those three swimmers combined for 36 points, while the only Northgate swimmer in the field, Jack Blaser, came in 12th to earn five points for the Flames.
That 31-point swing in one event was enough to vault Hampton into first place, 186167.5. That lead held when Northgate finished second and the Talbots third in the final event, the 400 freestyle relay and clinched a 218-201.5.
Another two-fer
Fox Chapel sophomore Sophie Shao won the WPIAL and PIAA Class 3A titles in the 100 butterfly last season and history suggested she would do it again That she did.
Shao veritably blew the competition away in the 100 butterfly as she won her second consecutive WPIAL title with a time of 54.50 seconds that was 2.23 seconds faster than North Allegheny junior Ella Ogden.
Repeating as champion in the 100 butterfly is almost a right of passage. Including Shao, each of the past four winners of the event, Natalie Johnson of Upper St. Clair ((2011-12), Kayla Churman of North Allegheny (2013-15) and Trinity Ward of Mt. Lebanon (2016-19) have won it at least twice.
Speaking of the butterfly …
Another year has passed and Melanie Buddemeyer’s Class 3A butterfly record is still the oldest mark on the books.
Buddemeyer, a Penn Hills alumna, swam a 54.16 in the event in 1984. Ward came closest to the mark when she swam a 54.44 in 2019.
Shao still has two more tries.