close

Mustangs sweep unofficial county meet

By Jim Downey jdowney@heraldstandard.Com 3 min read
1 / 3

Collin Mastowski swims the breaststroke leg of the boys 200-yard medley relay for Connellsville during Tuesday's triangular swimming meet between Connellsville, Laurel Highlands and Uniontown at Connellsville Area High School.

2 / 3

The Falcons' Ian McCombie swims the boys 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:53.85 to win the event during Tuesday's triangular swimming meet between Connellsville, Laurel Highlands and Uniontown at Connellsville Area High School.

3 / 3

John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard

Connellsville’s Noah Barczyk (left) and Laurel Highlands’ Cole Dorobish shake hands after Dorobish edged out Barczyk with a time of 2:09.34 to win the boys 100-yard individual medley during Tuesday’s triangular meet between Connellsville, Laurel Highlands and Uniontown at Connellsville Area High School.

CONNELLSVILLE — The triangular meet between the county’s three swim teams Tuesday at loud, racousy Connellsville natatorium induced a night of fine competition, and the Laurel Highlands boys shined the brightest to win the triangular meet.

The Mustangs finished first with 129 points. Connellsville was second with 76 points and Uniontown placed third with 34.

Laurel Highlands’ Brandon Thomas has had a busy week with two meets last week in addition to competing in the Pitt Christmas Meet last weekend, so he and a few of his teammates haven’t had much of a break.

“I’ve had no break from practicing. I’m trying to make it through,” said Thomas. “It’s keeping the consistency. All season I’ve kept it consistent with the butterfly.”

The senior opened the meet swimming the butterfly leg of the victorious 200 medley relay team in a WPIAL qualifying time of 1:44.40. Logan Knoyer, Cole Dorobish and Luke Edmonds joined in the winning effort.

He won the 100 butterfly (54.46) and 100 backstroke (58.74) in WPIAL qualifying times.

Thomas anchored the 400 freestyle relay quartet of Edmonds, Jonathon Lewis and Jacob Johnson to a first-place finish in a qualifying time of 3:57.05.

Dorobish (200 IM, 2:09.34, WPIAL; 100 breaststroke, 1:08.39, WPIAL), Knoyer (50 freestyle, 22.62, WPIAL; 100 freestyle, 49.81, WPIAL), John Ek (diving, 237.80, WPIAL), and the 200 freestyle relay team of Edmonds, Dorobish, Lewis and Knoyer (1:34.26, WPIAL) also had first-place finishes.

Lewis qualified in the 200 and 500 freestyle, as did Edmonds in the 100 butterfly and Johnson in the 100 backstroke and 50 freestyle. Dylan Rice qualified in diving.

Connellsville’s Collin Mastowski felt he had an okay night in his events, the 200 medley relay (breaststroke leg), 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle relay and 100 breastroke.

“It’s not terrible. They’re just above my best times,” said Mastowski.

The Falcons finished second in the 200 medley relay. Mastowski had a WPIAL qualifying time of 57.03 seconds in his second-place finish in the 100 butterfly.

The quartet of Mastowski, Ian McCombie, Grant Solomon and Noah Barczyk finished second in the 200 freestyle relay with a qualifying time of 1:36.33. He closed his night with a second-place finish in the 100 breaststroke.

The meet against county swimmers in a filled natatorium upped the ante.

“It raises up the competition factor a lot. I got to know a lot of them. They’re all my friends,” said Mastowski.

McCombie won the 200 freestyle in a qualifying time of 1:53.85. Barczyk took first in the 500 freestyle in 5:20.87.

Uniontown’s Jonathan Sharp had a productive meet with a WPIAL qualifying time in the 100 butterfly. Although he finished fourth, Sharp covered the four laps in a personal-best 1:02.02.

The Red Raiders finished fourth in the 200 medley relay and second in the 400 freestyle relay. Sharp placed third in the 200 IM.

Sharp relished the opportunity to swim against his fellow county swimmers.

“They’re all fast. I’m trying to keep up with them,” said Sharp. “I qualified for the butterfly.”

Sharp admitted he’s just rounding into shape.

“I didn’t swim all summer, so my times are about where I want them to be.”

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $4.79/week.

Subscribe Today