Tigers Remain Perfect on Season, Sweep Upper St. Clair
by Bob Orkwis
So far, so good this year for the North Allegheny swimming and diving teams. Through one invitational and three dual meets, the Tigers have posted four sweeps.
They hosted Upper St. Clair tonight, and came away with two more wins, the girls by a score of 96-82, and the boys with a 97-86 victory.
The trio of Lola Malarky, Juliet Hood and Maggie Lapina got things started right for North Allegheny by finishing one-two-three respectively in the girls diving competition.
Sophomore Ethan Maravich, in his second appearance of the season, finished second in the boys competition.
The fun began with the swimming events, with several close races.
The Tigers girls 200-medley relay teams posted a win, with Dani Hinkson, Tori Tieppo, Eva Ogden, and Natalie Sens finishing at (1:46.01).
Greta Mott (1:54.37) won the girls 200-yard freestyle, and Danny Lesinski was edged out by .69 seconds in his freestyle after Nazar Zoukovski posted a great finish in that event.
The race of the night happened in the girls 200-yard IM. The sophomore Tieppo from North Allegheny and senior captain Amanda Adair from the Panthers tied with a time of (2:07.77).
William Gao (1:58.87) won the boys 200 IM. Claire Bacu and Julianne Weaver finished second and third in the girls 50-free, while Grant Regule (21.09) and Gus Miller placed one-two for the boys.
Sens (56.72) and Ogden went top two in the 100-fly, with Riley Williams (52.19) winning that event for the boys.
Hinkson and Madden Woycjeck finished behind Duquesne recruit Kaitlyn Connors in the girls 100-free.
If the girls 200 IM wasn’t the race of the night, the boys 100-free may have been. The Panthers Zoukovski did it again, edging Zachary Totin by .11 seconds to win that race.
Bacu, Shelby Sundgren and Shea Mahon finished atop the girls 500-free, and freshman Alex Harbaugh swam a great 500-free for the boys, finishing in second with a time of (5:02.56).
The Tigers won both 200-yard free relays, as the victories for the Tigers were no longer in doubt. Mott was strong in the girls 100-back and Miller won for the boys at (52.40).
Tieppo finished first in the 100-breast although no points were awarded, with Dylan Seiford and Emmanuel Chu placing two-three for the boys.
The Tigers won both final events, the 400-yard freestyle relays, with no points being awarded once again.
Including the season opening invitational win, both squads for North Allegheny are now (4-0) on the season.
The Wright Automotive Players of the Meet were Tori Tieppo and Zachary Totin.
The sophomore Tieppo was part of the winning 200-yard medley relay team, and she set personal bests in the first-place tie in the 200-free and the win in the 100-breast.
Totin swam a leg in the 200-yard medley relay, and the sophomore narrowly missed a win in the 100-free, while swimming on the winning teams in the 200 and 400 free relays.
The Tigers take a break for the holidays, before returning to the pool on Jan. 2 at Fox Chapel and Jan. 6 at the Bucknell Invitational. The next home dual meet for North Allegheny is set for Jan. 11 when they host Moon for a battle of the Tigers in Wexford.