LH swimmers 2nd in WPIALs
PITTSBURGH – Jimmy Tesauro had a pair of medals slip through his hands the past two days by a combined .16 seconds. So when the Laurel Highlands’ co-captain finally got his chance to grab a piece of history, he held on as long as he could.
“We’ve had good teams all four years I’ve been here, but this year just keeps getting better and better,” Tesauro said, shorty after the Mustangs wrapped up second place in the Class AA team standings Friday at the WPIAL Championships at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool.
Perennial juggernaut Shady Side Academy claimed its fourth straight team title and fifth in the past six years with 214 points, while the Mustangs added to an undefeated regular season (20-0) and Section 2-AAA title with their best-ever showing in the District 7 meet, totaling 125 points.
Junior Adam Collins helped LH’s cause greatly, grabbing a gold medal Friday when he edged Freeport’s two-time defending champion Brendan McGregor in the 100 backstroke to go along with a silver medal he picked up in the 100 butterfly during the opening day of competition.
All three Laurel Highlands’ relay teams had strong showings as well, capturing a bronze medal in the 400 freestyle relay Friday to go with a gold medal and sixth-place finish a day earlier.
After Friday’s Class AA meet ended with the boys 400 freestyle relay, the team trophies were presented. The Mustangs took turns passing their trophy among team members, with each swimmer seeming to enjoy the moment slightly more than the previous one.
“You work so hard for so long … to get a reward like this …,” said co-captain Alex Mundel, searching for the right words to express his emotions. “It’s especially rewarding because we’re such a close-knit group of friends who have put so much hard work in for this to happen. It’s the climax of everything we’ve worked for this year.”
In perhaps as big a story, Connellsville’s super sophomore, Marie Nedley, followed up a surprise third-place finish in the 200 freestyle with a gold medal in the 500 freestyle when she nipped North Allegheny’s Kimberly Jenkins by .12 seconds in Class AAA action.
“I really wasn’t expecting to do so well, but this is just great,” Nedley said.
Uniontown sophomore Kaitlyn Johnson just missed medaling in the 100 freestyle, finishing .13 seconds out of eighth place, while Jefferson-Morgan’s Erin Barbetta was 12th.
Connellsville’s Heidi Halfhill narrowly missed a medal as well, finishing ninth in the 100 freestyle, just .16 seconds behind Burrel’s Katie Leech.
Tesauro’s story was one of hard luck until he anchored the Mustangs’ bronze-medal effort in the 400 freestyle relay. On Thursday, he missed an eighth-place finish in the 50 freestyle by .06 seconds before finishing ninth Friday by .10 in the 100 freestyle.
But when he touched the wall to end the 400 free relay, he cemented Laurel Highlands’ second-place finish and spot in school history.
“I never thought we’d do this well,” Tesauro said. “A lot of teams come down here, but it takes a lot of effort to place above every team but one.”
NOTES: Oakland Catholic junior Mallory Dietrich broke the four-year old PIAA mark in the 100 breaststroke with a mark of 1:03.35, .13 seconds faster than the previous standard set by Central Columbia’s Courtney Stnachock. Dietrich is now a five-time individual gold medalist. … Oakland Catholic captured the girls Class AA team title Friday, their sixth straight. … Shady Side Academy senior Tyler Scheid added to his treasure chest as well, winning the fifth and sixth individual gold medals of his career. … Uniontown’s girls came in 15th out of 28 scoring teams with 17 points, while Belle Vernon’s girls finished with nine points. … Laurel Highlands’ sixth-place 200 freestyle relay team still has a shot to make it Bucknell University for the PIAA finals. The top four places in Class AA automatically qualified for the state meet, with the remaining qualifiers to be determined based on a comparison of times between other competing districts. In Class AAA, the WPIAL received three automatic qualifiers, with the remaining berths to be determined in the same manner as Class AA. … Belle Vernon’s Stacy Hoffman had the team’s top finish of the two-day event, finishing 12th in the 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:12.53.