NA Boys Take 3rd, Girls 5th At New Year’s Meet Challenge

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by Swimming & Diving Contributor

The North Allegheny Tigers traveled to Bucknell University on Saturday to compete at the New Year’s Meet Challenge.  The NA Girls achieved fifth place overall with the boys taking third place.

Starting things off, the Tigers had a strong showing in the 200 Medley Team Relay with both the Girls and Boys taking fourth place in their respective events.  Girls Team:  Greta Mott, Natalie Sens, Dani Hinkson, and Rebecca Melanson swam a time of 1:52.04.  The Boys team landed a time of 1:39.02 swam by William Gao, Gus Miller, Riley Williams, and Grant Regule.

In the 200 Free, Lexi Sundgren swam to an amazing first-place finish with a time of 1:54.70.  Zachary Jubeck came in seventh for his event with a swim time of 1:48.39.  In the 200 IM – it was Emma Dietz – beating her seed time and coming in 10th with a time of 2:15.65. For the Boys it was Danny Lesinski with a fifth-place finish swimming a 2:00.19. For the 50 Free, Grant Regule swam a 22.49, with Rebecca Melanson swimming a 25.29 for the Girls to take 6th place for the event.  Continuing to the 100 Fly, girls’ swimmer Dani Hinkson was the top NA finisher with a time of 1:00.01 for a 5th Place finish. William Gao scored 3rd place with a time of 51.75.  In the 100 Free, the top NA girls’ swimmer was Eva Ogden with a time of 57.27, and for the Boys it was Zachary Jubeck with a time of 50.01

Another strong showing in the 4×50 Free Team Relay with both the Girls and Boys taking fourth place in their respective events.  Girls Team:  Delaney Kennedy, Rebecca Melanson, Natalie Sens, and Lexi Sundgren swam a time of 1:43.14.  The Boys Team landed a time of 1:31.18 swam by Zachary Jubeck, Grant Regule, Danny Lesinski, and Zachary Totin.

The NA Girls once again dominated in the 500 Free. It was Lexi Sundgren taking third place with a time of 5:1.58.  The Boys Eliot Maravich got seventh place with a time of 5:00.05.  For the 100 Backstroke, it was Greta Mott with a seventh-place finish of 1:01.51, and for the Boys, a first-place finish by William Gao with a time of 52.63. Finally, for the 100 Breaststroke, Natalie Sens swam to a ninth-place finish for the Lady Tigers with a time of 1:10.30.  The top NA Boys finisher in the 100 Breaststroke was Dylan Seiford with a time of 1:04.64.

In the diving category, NA sent three girls to Bucknell and they delivered.  Christina Shi had another outstanding performance in the 11 dive meet, posting a score of 470.4 to take home first place. It was a battle for second place and Lola Malarky was able to out dive North Penn’s Keira Allison (2022 4th place at PIAA State meet) to take home a second place for the Tigers.  Grabbing some valuable additional points for the NA girls was Juliet Hood with her fourth-place finish. It was a large field of girl divers which makes taking home first, second, and fourth place quite an accomplishment.

For a complete look at the North Allegheny swim results from Bucknell University, click here.

Congrats on the great swimming and team effort.  Next up on Tuesday, Jan. 10, the Tigers travel to Moon Area High School for their next dual meet.