Record day in pool

USC soph wins 100 breaststroke

Upper St. Clair swimmer Josh Matheny breaks national record.

Upper St. Clair sophomore Josh Matheny came out of the gate fast as he broke the state record in the 100-yard breaststroke in the morning preliminaries.

He had a lot more in the tank for the evening finals.

Matheny broke the National Federation of High Schools record with a 52.52 to become the first WPIAL swimmer to repeat as champion in the event in at least 50 years. Results prior to 1970 are unavailable.

“I was in disbelief,” Matheny said. “I thought I could do it, but thinking you can do it and doing it are different, so looking up and seeing yourself achieve your goal is something magical, I think.”

Matheny swam 53.64 seconds in the morning session, which broke the PIAA mark of 53.67 originally set in 2000 by Brendan Hansen of Haverford. His 52.52 shattered the previous NFHS record of 52.65 set in 2016 by Chandler Bray of Avon, Ind.

“In the morning my goal was the state record to build my confidence, because I knew I always go faster at night,” Matheny said. “I knew that if I broke the state record in the morning, I would be killer at night, so I was happy to break the record in the morning and it was a hectic day.”

North Allegheny set an NFHS record in the 400 freestyle relay in 2018 and, though the Tigers didn’t match that accomplishment this time, they did do something they had never done previously, as they became only the third WPIAL team in history to win three boys titles in a row when they posted 279 points to outdistance second-place North Penn by 83 points.

Only two other WPIAL teams had done it previously: Bethel Park, which won four straight from 1986-89, and Shaler from 1977-79 in the first three years of team competition.

North Allegheny capped its team title with its second consecutive win in the 400 freestyle relay.

North Allegheny picked up its only individual state title in the 500 freestyle, in which junior Rick Mihm repeated his title with a 4:23.48. Mihm had a healthy lead but was pushed at the end by Abington senior Matt Bonnell, who closed the gap but couldn’t pass before he touched the wall in 4:23.81.

Butler junior Laura Goettler broke her own record in the 100 breaststroke at the WPIAL finals but still came in second to Fox Chapel freshman Zoe Skirboll. The two were also the top seeds in the final heat in the state finals; only this time, the two flipflopped positions.

With the two neck and neck at the 75-yard mark, Goettler pulled ahead down the stretch and touched the wall in 1:01.13 and eked out a win over Skirboll by 0.10 seconds

Goettler, who became the first WPIAL swimmer to win the 100 breaststroke since Pine-Richland’s Kristen Murslack in 2011, was the only District 7 girls swimmer to win a gold medal in the second day of the meet.