Tigers Defeat Shaler On Senior Night
by NA Swim Contributor
The Senior Class of 2014 took center stage on Thursday evening at the NASH Pool as the North Allegheny Swimming and Diving teams once again smashed a WPIAL AAA Section 2 opponent. This time, the victim was the Shaler Area Titans who were overrun by the Tiger Girls by the score of 106 – 66 while the Tiger Boys rolled to a 97 – 78 victory.
Strong swims by the Tigers in several events helped to propel the Girls and Boys to their wins. Victorious in dual events on the night for the Tigers was Jade Song in both the Girls 200 Yard and 500 Yard Freestyle events with respective winning times of 2:00.56 and 5:21.08. Zachary Buerger also claimed victory in the Boys 50 Yard Freestyle sprint with a time of 21.74 seconds, and later followed that performance with a winning time of 55.15 seconds in the Boys 100 Yard Backstroke. Sam Rutan was also a two-time event winner for the Tigers, winning the Boys 200 Yard Freestyle in 1:46.05 and again touching first in the Boys 100 Yard Freestyle with a time of 49.68 seconds.
Kristen Bishop posted a winning swim for the Tiger Girls in the 100 Yard Butterfly in a time of 1:00.34, and also swam the lead-off leg in 54.96 seconds for the Tiger Girls win of the 400 Yard Freestyle Relay event later in the evening. Abigail Rubio had some solid swims on the evening, finishing in second place in the Girls 200 Yard Freestyle and grabbing fourth place in the 500 Yard Freestyle. Bishop, Song, and Rubio also swam on the Tiger squad that won the Girls 200 Yard Freestyle Relay with a time of 1:42.86.
It was Josh Tonti and Connor Smith each swimming well in the Boys 50 Yard Freestyle with second and third place finishes in that sprint event. This Tiger twosome again swam well in the Boys 100 Yard Breaststroke when Tonti won in 1:06.57 with Smith following in second place. Gabe Gaspar swam a strong race in the Boys 500 Yard Freestyle while narrowly being beaten to the wall. Buerger, Tonti, Rutan, and Gaspar combined to take the win in the Boys 200 Yard Freestyle Relay with a winning time of 1:31.44. Rutan and Buerger finished the night of swimming by helping the Tigers take the Boys 400 Yard Freestyle race with a winning time of 3:15.59.
The Tigers finish off the dual meet portion of their WPIAL AAA Section 2 schedule this Thursday, February 13 when they will swim against the North Hills Indians in a meet that begins at 6:00 PM at North Hills Senior High School. North Allegheny will also host their traditional “Last Ditch Invitational” on Saturday, February 15 beginning at 5:00 PM. This meet will be the final chance this season for area high school swimmers to achieve WPIAL standard times with the possibility of competing at the WPIAL Swimming Championships later this month.
