Tigers Stay Unbeaten with Spirited Sweep of Rival Pine-Richland
by Bob Orkwis
Both the North Allegheny Swimming & Diving Teams came into tonight’s meet undefeated at (5-0). Both squads stayed unblemished with victories, beating Pin-Richland despite an impressive showing from the Rams. The girls were winners by a score of 104-73, while the boys squeezed out a 94-91 victory.
Overall, the Tigers girls won 7 of the 11 races and the girls 1 meter diving competition, while Pine-Richland’s boys took 8 of the 11 races. North Allegheny won the boys diving competition and finished with enough race points to gain the win.
Harvard bound Christina Shi dove for the first time since the Bucknell Invitational and posted a winning score of 274.80. Zoe Ky took second with a score of (209.75), while Emily Smallwood of Pine-Richland placed third. On the boy’s side, who else but junior Will Schenk emerged victorious with a score of (253.70). Schenk has won all six diving event this season. Dylan McCabe finished in second for the Rams, 62.05 points behind Schenk.
Things started well enough in the swimming event for the Tigers as the relay team of Vivien Le, Isabella Dietz, Natalie Sens and Rebecca Melanson won the 200-yard medley with a time of (1:50.79). After the Rams boys took 1st and 3rd in the 200-medley, junior Delaney Kennedy started off her great night with a winning time of (1:59.98) in the 200-yard free.
Zach Jubeck (1:4.:77) and Eliot Maravich (1:51.31) placed first and second for NA in the 200-yard free, but Pine-Richland would win the next two races, scoring victories in the 200-yard IM events.
North Allegheny would capture wins in 6 of the next 7 races. Lexi Sundgren (24.80) and Melanson (25.03) finished 1-2 in the 50-tyard free. After the Rams won the boys 50-free, freshman May Coffman (1:03.58), junior Sophia Huwar (1:05:16) and freshman Josie Daltorio (1:08.66) swept the 100-yard butterfly. That was one of two sweeps on the evening for the Tigers girls.
William Gao touched first in the 100-yard fly for the boys with a time of (52.83) and Natalie Sens (53.85) and Dietz (55.80) followed that with a 1 & 3 finish in the 100-yard freestyle. Ben Gavran (49.21) and Keller Sens (50.64) captured the top spots for the boys in the 100-free. Then Kennedy (5:25.69) and Li (5:31.91) finished first and second in the girls 500-yard free.
Pine-Richland won the next three races, taking the boys 500-free and both 200-yard freestyle relays. The Tigers swept the girls 100-yard backstroke with Sundgren (1:00.03), Li (1:02.72) and Mikayla Tieppo (1:06.61). The Rams answered with wins in both 100-yard backstroke events as the back-and-forth night continued. Pine-Richland’s Matt Casper won the boys 100-yard breaststroke, but Stewart Messer and Jacob Yarosz finished second and third respectively to gain a much needed 7 points. The final two events, the 400-yard freestyle relays were won by the Rams, but the Tigers B-Relay team (Coffman, Sophia Huwar, Kennedy, and Ava Sharar) finished second and the A-Relay team (Shea Mahon, Dietz, Julianne Weaver and Sens) placed third for the girls. The boys B-Relay, Ethan Berty, Grant Regule, Messer, and Yarosz (3:29.85) and C-Relay of Jackson Frazer, Caden Currykosky, Josh Berty and Jake Rechenmacher (3:38.70) came in second and third, winning another crucial 6 points for the Tigers, enough to win by the slim three-point margin.
Diver Will Schenk was chosen as the Wright Automotive Male Diver of the Meet as he remained a perfect (6-0) on the season. The Wright Automotive Female Swimmer of the meet went to Delaney Kennedy. Kennedy had individual wins in the 200 & 500-yard freestyle races and helped the girls relay team to a second-place finish by swimming leading the first leg of the 200-yard free relay with a time of (26.15) as well as a second-place finish with the girls 400-freestyle B-Relay team.
The Tigers will host Bethel Park next Monday January 31st at 5:00pm as they close out the month with a non-section match-up.