Mustang swimmers have another solid performance
With the WPIAL Swimming Championships looming on the horizon, Monday’s non-section meet between Mount Pleasant and Laurel Highlands was the next-to-last opportunity to make the WPIAL qualifying time or improve upon an established mark, and both teams did so.
The Mustangs were deeper than the visiting Vikings, leading to a 97-67 victory.
Laurel Highlands closes the regular season at home Thursday against Connellsville, while Mount Pleasant is on the road at the Greensburg YMCA to swim Greensburg Salem.
The WPIAL Championships will be held Thursday and Friday, March 3-4, at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool.
The Mustangs’ Brandon Thomas won four WPIAL medals last year (two 5th-place medals in the relays, fifth in the 200 freestyle and third in the 100 butterfly) and just missed winning two individual medals at the 2015 PIAA Championships.
At the close of his state meet, Thomas said, “I’m happy with what I did. Next year will be a big change for me. Next year I plan on doing a lot bigger things.”
Well, “next year” begins in a couple weeks and Thomas is ready for the challenge he laid out for himself.
The junior won the 100 butterfly in a WPIAL qualifying time of 54.98 seconds and hit the WPIAL mark when he touched the wall first in the 100 breaststroke in 1:08.39.
Thomas swam the anchor leg of the Mustangs’ 200 freestyle relay team that included Logan Knoyer, Jacob Johnson and Luke Edmonds to a WPIAL qualifying time and pool record mark of 1:32.91. He then made it 4-for-4, anchoring the team of Knoyer, Cole Dorobish and Edmonds in the 400 freestyle relay to a winning (and WPIAL qualifying) time of 3:25.49.
“I swam the 200 freestyle and 100 butterfly last year, and I’m one of two coming back. I think I have a good shot at gold,” said Thomas. “My time in the 200 freestyle is 1:46.01 is where I want to be. I’m guesstimating 1:44 will be good. If I get my time to around 1:44.9, I’m solid, I’m happy.
“In the 100 butterfly, I want to get down to sub-51 (seconds), maybe 50 flat. I want that (second-place) seed at states.”
Cameron Lizza, Jonathon Lewis, Dorobish and Johnson opened the meet with a first-place finish in the 200 medley relay in a qualifying time of 1:49.71.
Edmonds (200 freestyle, 1:58.43), Dorobish (200 IM, 2:10.53; 100 backstroke, 58.82), Knoyer (50 freestyle, 22.74; 100 freestyle, 51.03), John Ek (diving, 243.23), and Lewis (500 freestyle, 5:18.71) all had individual first-place finishes in WPIAL qualifying times.
Lizza (200 IM, 100 backstroke), Dylan Rice (diving), Hunter Sloboda (diving), Edmonds (100 butterfly), and Johnson (100 freestyle) also hit the WPIAL qualifying times in their various events.
Although the Vikings didn’t have a first-place finish, they did have a couple swimmers hit qualifying times.
Gavin Swartz finished third in the 100 freestyle, but slipped under the qualifying time with his finish in 59.63 seconds. Cole Dombrosky finished second to Thomas in the 100 breaststroke with a qualifying time of 1:09.48 and Knoyer in the 50 freestyle in a qualifying time of 23.33 seconds.
Dombrosky had another motive for his time in the 50 freestyle.
“I want to try to get times in the 50-yard freestyle for the YMCA national cut,” said the junior, who finished sixth in the 500 freestyle and eighth in the 200 freestyle in last year’s WPIAL meet.
Dombrosky met a couple top-flight swimmers in Thomas and Knoyer, which he believed help the cause.
“It’s always good to have competition to push you,” said Dombrosky.
Teammate Andrew Fiore was in only one individual event, placing third in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:05.64, about one second over the WPIAL qualifying time and well off his time in the event.
“I want to try to win my race and get a better seed time for the WPIALs,” the senior said of his objectives for the meet. “I want to try to get a 58 (seconds) at the WPIALs.”