Upper St. Clair phenom eyes record
Upper St. Clair senior Josh Matheny has set a pretty simple goal for himself heading into the PIAA Class 3A finals Saturday at Cumberland Valley.
He wants to set a national record.
Not like it would be the first time.
“I just want to swim as fast as I can and executing my start and walls just as fast as I can,” Matheny said. “It would definitely be cool to be faster than I was. I’ve been faster at club meets, but it would definitely be cool to be as fast as I was my sophomore year.”
Matheny firmly established himself as one of the top prep swimmers in the country when he set the National Federation of High Schools record in the 100-yard breaststroke when he went 52.52 to win the state title. Last year, when he won his third PIAA title in the event, he had a significant drop-off to a 54.34, but that was because, at the time, he was only attempting to move on to the evening finals.
It wasn’t until afterward competitors were informed the morning session at Bucknell University’s Kinney
Natatorium would count as timed finals after word came down the event was cut short because of the coronavirus pandemic.
His closest competition heading into the state championships will be Dallastown senior Riley Thomas, who spent the past two years swimming with his club team.
This won’t be the only event Thomas and Matheny face each other. Matheny is seeded second and Thomas third in the 200 individual medley behind Seneca Valley’s Daniel Simoes. Matheny
finished second in the WPIAL with a 1:51.33 and was 0.47 seconds behind the Raiders junior and ended up 0.48 ahead of Thomas.
Simoes was eighth in the 200 individual medley last year. The only other medalists to qualify this year were Dominic Edwards of Council Rock North, who finished fourth, and sixth-place finisher Paul Brosky of LaSalle, who all touched the wall well behind champion North Allegheny alumnus Rick Mihm.
Butler senior David Bocci is the favorite in the 100 butterfly after his WPIAL winning time of 48.94 has him 0.54 seconds ahead of District 1 champion Dalton Fink of Owen J. Roberts. Bocci finished fifth in the finals last year with a time of 49.64, while Fink was sixth at 49.67.
“A year ago I wasn’t even a butterflier, but I worked it all last year,” Bocci said. “There’s a few things I saw in my race that I can fix and try and fix that and see how it goes.”
Bocci and Fink are also the top returners to the field from last year as the first four all graduated. Also back from the finals will be District 12 champion Tim Grossi of LaSalle and senior DJ Fechtman of Downingtown East. .
“I was only able to get fifth last year in the fly and all four guys who beat me were seniors,” Bocci said. “My goal is to try to win it out there, but it will be completely different because it’s a different location, it’s all in one day, no prelims and finals. But I’m going to go and try my best and see what happens.”
Bocci is also the No. 2 seed in the 500 freestyle, but he will have to make up a lot of ground to catch topseeded Zachary Kohm of LaSalle. Kohm won the District 12 title with a blistering 4:23.72 — 8.09 seconds faster than Bocci — and could challenge the state record of 4:19.64 set in 2016 by LaSalle grad Jake Sannem.
North Hills senior Josh Bogniard is the only other individual with a top seed as his 49.08 has him No. 1 in the 100 backstroke by 1.23 seconds over Liam Simons of Kennett. He is also No. 2 in the 100 freestyle, 1.42 seconds behind Chris Giuliano of Daniel Boone.
And he’s trying a less conventional approach to preparing for the finals.
“We’re going to experiment because tapers don’t seem to work as well for me, so I’m just going to do some lifting. I actually swim pretty well when I’m under stress, so we’re going to see what happens,” Bogniard said. “I’ve got nothing to lose, so I’m just going to rest maybe three or four days beforehand.”
Girls
North Allegheny senior Molly Smyers is a four-time WPIAL champion in the 500 freestyle and has won six individual titles overall.
But so far at the state meet, the George Washington recruit has come up empty. And, though it would be a perfect way for her to end her high school career, she’s not laser-focused on it.
“That would be amazing but I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself about it for my last year,” Smyers said. “I’m going to just do what I’ve been doing all year, just swim fast and work as hard as I can.”
To be fair, Smyers has as much of a chance of winning both of her events as she does finishing with a pair of silver medals.
Competing in the 200 individual medley for the first time in her high school career, Smyers won the WPIAL title with a 2:02.45 and has the top seed time in the state, but her advantage is just 0.36 seconds over Haverford sophomore and 2020 fourthplace finisher Katya Eruslanova. She is also the No. 2 qualifier in the 500 freestyle, but just 0.32 seconds behind Shelby Kahn of Wilson.
While Smyers is looking for her first state title, Fox Chapel sophomore Sophie Shao is seeking a repeat in the 100 butterfly. Shao will come in seeded second by 0.15 seconds behind Sydney Gring of Muhlenberg.
Gring finished second to Shao in the finals last year, when Shao swam a 54.22 to beat her by 0.85 seconds.
Smyers is the only No. 1 seed from the WPIAL in the individual field, but Shao is a top seed as part of the Fox Chapel 200 medley relay. The Foxes seed time of 1:45.16 is 0.29 seconds faster than Unionville and 0.49 better than Upper Dublin.
HERSHEY, Pa. — Laurel sophomore Grant MacKay didn’t need a change of scenery after an impressive freshman season at North Allegheny, but it sure did pay off for him.
When his parents decided to purchase his grandparents’ farm in Laurel, MacKay transferred from one of the WPIAL’s largest schools and a known wrestling powerhouse to the small, rural school that had never produced a state wrestling champion. The odds weren’t exactly stacked against him, but history wasn’t on his side, either.
Just don’t tell him that. MacKay (40-3) went from a state qualifier who failed to earn a medal in Class 3A as a freshman to the top of the podium in Class 2A as a sophomore, winning the PIAA Class 2A 152-pound title last Friday in Hershey to become the Spartans’ first state champion wrestler.
“Obviously North Allegheny is a great wrestling school,” MacKay said. “Moving to Laurel was a big change, not just wrestlingwise but school-wise, too. … North Allegheny was kind of like a city a little bit, and Laurel is all farm fields.
“I love Laurel. It’s a perfect small town with a bunch of hard-working, blue-collar people.”
MacKay displayed a rare intensity and motor over the weekend that stood out among his peers, even with some of the best wrestlers in the nation competing at the tournament. He applied constant pressure, battered his opponents with hard clubs to set up his attacks on the feet and completely neutralized his foes once he gained top position.
In order to win his state title, MacKay needed to control his opponent for a full two minutes in the third period of a 1-0 win — and there was hardly any question about whether he’d get it done for anyone who had watched him wrestle this year, especially in the postseason.
“I fully believed in myself,” MacKay said. “This year, I’ve been really tough on top, and I just put my faith in my skills.”
MacKay credited his training at Quest Wrestling Club for getting him to this point and preparing him to compete against the best wrestlers in the state — he even considers his practices at Quest to be tougher than any tournament he’s competed in. And considering the success his club teammates had this year, it’s easy to see why.
“I’d like to thank my practice partners down at Quest for that,” MacKay said. “ [Frazier freshman] Rune Lawrence, [Pine-Richland senior] Cole Spencer, [Blackhawk senior] Kenny Duschek — all those guys. They make me work really hard, and every day in there is a battle with them. I get used to fighting for every takedown and every point in there.
“In between breaks, we’re all hanging out in the same room. We’ve been friends for a while, all of us. It’s kind of cool being able to compete next to each other.”
South Park
Coach Tony DeGeorgio knew going into the PIAA tournament this would be his last season at South Park.
He let his standout senior Joey Fischer know beforehand, too, and Fischer (24-0) promised he wouldn’t be going out without a state champion. The Clarion recruit delivered with a 3-2 win in the 126-pound finals to cap off an undefeated senior season with his first PIAA title.
“I’m totally thrilled,” DeGeorgio said. “I told him right before he went out there — you’ve wrestled your whole life for these last six minutes, so get me the championship. I want it. And he goes, ‘I want it, too.’ ”
DeGeorgio said that while he is moving on from his position with the Eagles, he isn’t ready to call it quits on his coaching career just yet.
“I don’t know if I’m going to hang it up completely yet,” DeGeorgio said. “Maybe a new chapter down the road for me. We’ll see.”
Bentworth
Bearcats freshman Chris Vargo went undefeated through the regular season en route to the WPIAL Class 2A and PIAA Southwest Regional 113-pound titles, then suffered his first loss in the West Super Region semifinals. After opening up his first PIAA tournament with a 6-4 loss to Athens’ Gavin Bradley, Vargo (20-2) responded with three consecutive wins in the consolation bracket for third place, including a 2-0 win in his final match vs. Bald Eagle Area’s Coen Bainey, who defeated him at the Super Region.
Freedom
Bulldogs senior Trent Schultheis put together a remarkable career, earning four PIAA medals and finishing it off with a third-place finish at 189 pounds. Schultheis (35-6) fell to eventual state champion Cael Crebs of Montoursville, 10-4, in the semifinal round, then battled back to take home third place with two more hard-fought wins in the consolation bracket. His 4-3 overtime win vs. Wesley Barnes of Southern Columbia gave him 150 wins for his career.