NA Cruises Past Butler For Section Sweep

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by Bob Orkwis

North Allegheny’s boys and girls diving, and swimming teams remained unbeaten in WPIAL meets this season, as the Tigers won twenty of the twenty-four events against an undermanned Golden Tornado squad. The girls won by a score of 101-68, while the boys posted a 88-56 victory.

Sophomore Lola Malarky and junior Alex Palermo won the girls and boys diving events to start the evening. Malarky posted a score of 51.25 on her final dive to finish with 227.60 points, while Palermo narrowly missed the 200 Club, finishing at 198.40.

The Tigers then reeled of 15 straight swimming wins before Butler posted victories in the boys 200 free relay and the girls 100 breaststroke.

North Allegheny swept both the 200 medley relays, before Greta Mott (1:58.79) and Danny Lesinski (1:49.48) won the 200-yard freestyle events.

Lexi Sundgren and Riley Williams each posted victories in the individual 200-yard IM events, with times of (2:11.41) and (2:06.92) respectively. Emma Dietz (22.95) and Zach Jubeck (22.79) followed suit in the 50-yard freestyle races.

The 100 fly and 100 free events were next, and the story remained the same for the Tigers with the following winners: Eva Ogden (1:01.31), Gus Miller (55.88), Natalie Sens (54.72) and Lesinski (49.83).

Two freshman shined in the 500-yard freestyle events, as Claire Bacu (5:24.29) and Mason Shantz (5:11.28) cruised to wins. It was a victory in the 200-yard free relay for the Tigers before Butler posted it first two wins on the night.

Jake Rechenmacher (1:00.30) won the 100-yard backstroke and Emma Dietz (1:10.58) won the 100-yard breaststroke events before Butler again posted back-to-back wins in the boys 100-breast and the girls 400-free relay. A pair of twin sisters stood out on the evening for Butler, as sophomores Abigail and Addison Vance were competitive all night. Addison won the 100-yard backstroke and both sisters swam strong closing legs on the winning 400 free relay team.

North Allegheny capped of the evening by capturing the boys 400-yard freestyle relay.

It was a pair of freshman who were awarded the Wright Automotive Players of the Night for their efforts.

Danny Lesinski with wins in the 100 and 200 freestyle events and a strong opening leg in the 400-free relay won the award for the boys. In the 100-yard freestyle race, Lesinski cut nearly 5 seconds of his seed time of (54.74) and qualified for the WPIAL championships in the process.

Claire Bacu also qualified with her strong 500-yard freestyle win. She won the Wright honors by cutting her seed time in that event by over twenty-one seconds.

The Tigers hit the road next week when they visit Pine-Richland. They return home Wednesday February 1st with a big meet against Seneca Valley. That meet was moved up a day from Thursday to Wednesday and coverage that night beginning at 6PM can be heard on the North Allegheny Sports Network.