N. Allegheny on track for 3rd title in row

North Allegheny has won five PIAA Class 3A team titles in its history, but the Tigers have never won three state championships in a row.

They got a pretty good jump on it during the first day of the PIAA meet at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium in Lewisburg, though it didn’t start out as expected.

Instead it was the WPIAL runner-up Upper St. Clair foursome of Jack Fitzpatrick, Josh Matheny, Reese Samuel and Ryan Senchyshak that upset the topseeded Tigers to win the 200-yard medley relay by 0.03 seconds with a 1:30.67. North Allegheny had won the event the last two years, and the Panthers, who disqualified in the final heat a year ago, had not won the event since they set the state record in 2015 and did it for the third time in school history.

North Allegheny got back on its championship path in the next event, though, when senior Jack Wright, a Virginia recruit, swam a 1:35.04 to win his second consecutive gold medal in the 200 freestyle. Wright also anchored North Allegheny to its third consecutive win in the 200 freestyle relay to close out the night with a 1:22.48 to beat North Penn by 0.99 seconds.

Tigers junior Rick Mihm could not repeat his title in the 200 individual medley, though, as junior Sean Faikish of North Penn pulled out a 1:49.88 to beat Mihm by 0.09 seconds.

Fox Chapel freshman Zoe Skirboll pulled off the upset of the day in the girls draw to win the 200 individual medley. The runner-up to Laura Goettler in the WPIAL finals and the No. 4 seed coming out of the morning qualifiers, pulled out a 1:58.75 to beat Heather MacCausland of Downingtown East and North Allegheny junior Victoria Buerger by 2.21 seconds.

While Skirboll celebrated her first title, Gateway junior Olivia Livingston won her third in a row in the 50 freestyle, finishing in 23 seconds flat.

Livingston, though, lost her state record of 22.73 in the event when MacCausland swam a 22.67 on the opening leg of the 200 freestyle relay. The only way to set an individual record in a relay is to do it on the first leg.