Geibel’s Zimcosky sets record in girls 50 freestyle
Christina Homer swims for Uniontown in the girls 200 medley relay during the WPIAL Class AA Swimming Championships at Trees Pool in Pittsburgh on Thursday. Uniontown finished with a time of 2:06:85.
Lucas Thomas swims for Laurel Highlands in the boys 200 Freestyle during the WPIAL Class AA Swimming Championships at Trees Pool in Pittsburgh on Thursday. Thomas placed first in his heat with a time of 1:49:24.
Joel Brewton | Herald-Standard
Elizabeth Klingensmith swims for Uniontown in the girls 200 freestyle relay during the WPIAL Class AA Swimming Championships at Trees Pool in Pittsburgh on Thursday. Uniontown finished with a time of 1:48:78.
Dave Mosco swims for Belle Vernon in the boys 100 Butterfly during the WPIAL Class AA Swimming Championships at Trees Pool in Pittsburgh on Thursday. Mosco finished with a time of 56:23.
Brandon Thomas swims for Laurel Highlands in the boys 200 IM during the WPIAL Class AA Swimming Championships at Trees Pool in Pittsburgh on Thursday. Thomas finished with a time of 2:06:95.
a senior. “It paid off because this was my best time ever.”
In the last event of the day, the Laurel Highlands 200 freestyle relay team of Brandon Thomas, Jacob Hughes, Lucas Thomas, and Logan Knoyer placed third in Class AA with a time of 1:34.30 to qualify for the state meet. Knoyer also qualified for the PIAA championships in the 50 freestyle by placing fifth with a time of 22.34 seconds.
“I just tried to do everything right, not make any mistakes, and swim really hard,” Knoyer said. “It feels great to be going to states.”
Lucas Thomas scored a personal best of 1:49.24 in the 200 freestyle, which earned him ninth place. Hughes swam the race in 1:56.56. In the 200 IM, Brandon Thomas swam a 2:06.95 for eighth place and Dan Keith swam a 2:12.58.
“I thought I did well. I felt good in the water. I dropped three seconds from my seed time,” Lucas Thomas said. “I was looking forward to getting under a 1:50 so this feels like I accomplished something.”
The boys 200 medley relay team of Cameron lizza, Caleb Ruthardt, Keith, and Theo Skoric finished with a time of 1:52.90. In the 50 freestyle, Ruthardt swam a 24.06.
“(The race) was intense. It got our adrenaline going,” Skoric said. “It’s a good atmosphere. It made the season worthwhile.”
Other area swimmers included the Uniontown girls 200 medley relay team of Alexandra Meadows, Sera Meadows, Christina Homer, and Rachel Van Nosdeln, who swam the event in 2:06.85.
Uniontown’s 200 boys freestyle relay team of Nate Edenfield, Logan Phillips, Billy Seliga, and Braden Carei swam the event in 1:43.97. The girls team of Christina Homer, Van Nosdeln, Alexandra Meadows, and Elizabeth Klingensmith swam the race in 1:48.78. Klingensmith also swam the 100 butterfly in 1:02.76.
Belle Vernon’s Dave Mosco swam the 100 butterfly in 56.23. Gabrielle Kohr swam the event in 26.48.
In the Class AAA championships Thursday morning, Laurel Highlands junior Emily Yarish broke the school record in the 200 IM with a time of 2:12:18. She credited her strong butterfly stroke as being a key in the race.
“I did what I wanted to do. I wanted to (race my personal best). I dropped a half-second and also got the school record,” Yarish said. “My butterfly was good. I took off in the beginning of the race better than I had before, so I think that was a key in getting the time I needed.”
She predicted that the team would also do well in the 200 freestyle Relay and her prediction came true, as the Fillies shaved two seconds off the school record with a time of 1:41.47. She was joined on the relay team with Brooke Mansberry, Kristen Bane, and Lexi Kostelnik.
Kostelnik also swam a personal best time of 1:55.63 in the 200-yard freestyle. She was happy with the time after she was not able to break under two minutes earlier in the year.
“I think I did really well (in the race). There was a lot of competition, I was just really happy with my time overall. It was my best time,” Kostelnik said. “(My time) was really nice because in the beginning of the season, I had a hard time getting under two minutes. To be able to do that at the end of the season, it just feels really good to see all the hard work paid off.”
Bane swam a personal best of 2:17.47 in the 200 IM.
“I dropped two seconds off my best time,” Bane said. “I was looking to do that today.”
Laurel Highlands head coach Ed Yauger was pleased with all his swimmers in Thursday’s session, especially Yarish’s and the relay team in breaking school records.
“I think (Yarish) won by doing a little bit here and a little bit there. She swam a solid race all the way through. Another highlights was the 200 freestyle relay dropping the school record by two seconds,” Yauger said. “Just about everybody had a personal record today. It was just a bunch of really great swims. This is what you want, everybody getting best times. You can’t ask for anything else.”
Connellsville sophomore Alyson Urie broke her school’s record in the 200 IM as well with a time of 2:16.26. It was over a second better than the previous record of 2:17.29.
“I’m really excited that my name will be on the (record) board. That’s what I wanted to do when I got here. I took off on my fly really fast. I felt it starting to hurt toward the end so I just had to push through it,” Urie said. “When I touched the wall, I felt like I did good, but I didn’t know if that was good enough to beat the record, so when I looked up and saw the time, it was a great feeling.”
Connellsville head coach Marie Nedley felt Urie’s performance motivated the rest of the team moving forward.
“We’re really proud of (Urie’s) breaking the school record. We had her working on her backstroke a lot. Everyone swam their best time today, that’s all we’re really looking for,” Nedley said. “We worked on all the little things over the past two weeks. Swimming is all about the little things.”
The Lady Falcons’ 200 freestyle relay quartet of Alyson Urie, Nicole Wood, Lauren Urie and Bayle Shreve finished in 1:47.34.
Connellsville sophomore Collin Mastowski topped his personal best in the 100 butterfly with time of 56.44 seconds.
“It wasn’t quite the time I was looking for, I wish it was a little faster, but I still topped my personal best,” Mastowski said. “It was all the small things added up that made it faster. It felt great being able to get my personal best at the end of the season.”
The district finals continue today at Trees Pool with the 100 and 500 freestyle, the 100 backstroke, the 100 breaststroke, and the 400 freestyle relay. Class AAA is in the morning session from 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and Class AA is from 3:00-5:30 p.m.