NA Tops Mt. Lebanon For Non-Section Sweep
by Caitlyn Edwards
WEXFORD, Pa. — The North Allegheny Swimming & Diving teams swept Mt. Lebanon Thursday evening at North Allegheny High School. The women won by the score of 102-79 while the men won by a score of 105-73.
The meet opened up with a stellar diving performance from the Tigers. The women swept the competition with Christina Shi taking first with her score of 284.00. Shi’s final dive (5132D) recorded the best dive on the women’s side for the night with the score of 53.90.
Lola Malarky continued her strong freshman debut, taking second place with her final score of 248.70. Maddie Whitewolf rounded out the top three finishing with a 224.00.
On the men’s side, Will Schenk, the top AAA returning diver this season had a tremendous performance. Schenk’s third dive of the night (105B) was the highest score of the evening with a total of 59.80. Schenk finished in the top spot for the night with his final score of 289.60.
Alex Palermo finished third for the Tigers with his score of 164.00 and the newest addition to the team, Andrew Wasco finished sixth with a score of 119.15.
The tremendous diving performance started the meet off with a confident lead for the Tigers.
However, the spotlight was on two swimmers throughout the night. Natalie Sens and Eliot Maravich had great performances, earning them the Wright Automotive Swimmer of the Meet honors from the North Allegheny Sports Network.
Sens won the 200 IM (2:07.54) and was just shy of claiming the 100-yard breaststroke pool record with her time of 1:04.95. Both of these swims were personal bests for the sophomore.
Maravich clinched the victory in the 500-yard freestyle by over four seconds with his time of 4:47.33. Maravich also took second in the 200-yard freestyle (1:46.83) and out touched Mt. Lebo to claim second in the 200-yard freestyle relay clocking in a 50 split of 22.58.
The women quartet of Greta Mott, Isabella Dietz, Sens, and Rebecca Melanson started off the meet by edging out the Blue Devil’s in the 200-yard medley relay with their time of 1:46.55.
Lexi Sundgren had another successful meet with a first-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle (1:51.27). Teammate Delaney Kennedy finished second for the Tigers with a final time of 1:56.75. Additionally, Kennedy won the 500-yard freestyle by over 10 seconds clocking in a new personal best, 5:15.27. Sundgren also placed second in the 100-yard freestyle (51.53).
Dietz took second in the 200-yard Individual medley (2:10.48) and 100-yard breaststroke (1:07.55) behind teammate Sens.
The Lady Tigers finished the night with a victory in the 400-yard freestyle relay from the team of Sundgren, Kennedy, Mott, and Sens.
The men quartet of William Gao, Jacob Yarosz, Riley Williams, and Keller Sens followed the Lady Tigers and took home the gold in the 200-yard medley relay (1:37.50).
The boys swept the Blue devils in the first two events. Zachary Jubeck (1:45.16), Maravich (1:46.83), and Ethan Berty (1:47.14) took 1-2-3 in the 200-yard freestyle. Jubeck also took third in the 100-yard butterfly with a 53.07 and Berty claimed second in the 500-yard freestyle (4:51.45).
Followed by Yarosz (2:00.49), Gus Miller (2:01.86), and David Shi (2:02.94) sweeping the 200-yard individual medley.
Sens took home the gold in the 50-yard freestyle with his time of 22.24 out touching teammate, Ben Gavran by .08 (22.32). Freshman Grant Regule finished fourth with a 22.83, but claimed top spot in the 100-yard freestyle just a few events later with a 48.50.
Gao won the 100-yard butterfly with a 51.72 and the 100-yard backstroke by almost four seconds (52.73).
The strong team of Gavran, Sens, Regule, and Jubeck won the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:30.16.
The relay team of Gavran, Shi, Jubeck, and Gao ended the night with a win in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a 3:17.66.
NA Swimming & Diving will return to NA on Tuesday, December 21 to host AAA rival and 2021 Men’s WPIAL Champions and Women’s Runner-Ups, Upper St. Clair. The diving is scheduled to start at 5:00 P.M. followed by swimming. The meet will be broadcasted live by the North Allegheny Sports Network.