LH boys finished 3rd, BVA 9th in Class AA team standings
Kelly Tunney | Herald-Standard
Belle Vernon freshman Robby Spekis placed sixth in the boys 100-yard breaststroke in the WPIAL Class AA Swimming Championships at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool on Friday.
Laurel Highlands freshman Cole Dorobish finished sixth in the boys 100 backstroke with a time of 55.90 seconds at the WPIAL Class AA Swimming Championships at the University of Pittsburgh's Trees Pool on Friday.
Kelly Tunney | Herald-Standard
Uniontown’s Jonathan Sharp finished fourth in the 100 freestyle with a time of 47.78 seconds in the WPIAL Class AA Swimming Championships at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool.
Laurel Highlands freshman Luke Edmonds finished 12th in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 49.60 seconds in the WPIAL Class AA Swimming Championships at the University of Pittsburgh's Trees Pool on Friday.
The Laurel Highlands boys led the team standings at the WPIAL Class AA Swimming Championships after the first day of competition Thursday, but Quaker Valley and West Allegheny were just a little bit deeper on Friday as the Mustangs slipped to third in a strong showing at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool.
Uniontown’s Jonathan Sharp won his second medal in the district meet, while the Mustangs’ Cole Dorobish and 400 freestyle relay, Mount Pleasant’s Cole Dombrosky, Belle Vernon’s Robby Spekis, the Leopards’ 400 freestyle relay, Yough’s Jessica Cochran and Madison Nestor, and Ringgold’s Sarah Noll also returned home with a medal.
The top four girls and five boys in each event automatically advance to the PIAA Championships. Medalists are still alive to make the state meet on time.
Quaker Valley won the boys team title with 249½ points. West Allegheny was second with 226½ points and the Mustangs placed third with 214½. Mars was fourth with 147 points.
The Belle Vernon boys were ninth with 96 points. The Uniontown and Mount Pleasant boys tied for 19th with 34 points.
The two days of competition ended in a frenzy between Quaker Valley and Laurel Highlands in the final heat of the 400 freestyle relay. Quaker Valley held the early lead, but the Mustangs battled back in the middle two legs to set up the frenetic finish. Quaker Valley held on for the win in 3:14.23, about two seconds ahead of the Mustangs.
“When I talked to Matt (Kwalick) and he told me he was leading off, I knew we had a challenge ahead of us now,” Laurel Highlands’ Brandon Thomas said of Quaker Valley’s lead-off swimmer.
Laurel Highlands opened with Logan Knoyer, followed by Dorobish, Luke Edmonds and Thomas. The quartet had a rather successful two days with a combined medal count between individual events and relays of 12 medals.
“We were bringing it back,” said Thomas, who battled the stomach flu during both days of the district meet. “The crowd was giving us the energy. It really helped.
“I couldn’t be prouder.”
Dorobish came into the final relay with a sixth-place medal in the 100 backstroke already in hand.
“This was my best time in the backstroke,” Dorobish said of finish in his 55.60 seconds. “It was low enough to be happy about.”
He also finished 10th in the 200 IM on Thursday.
“I wanted to make the podium in the 200 IM, but it gave me the extra push to get on the podium today,” said Dorobish.
Sharp earned a second berth into the PIAA Championships after he finished fourth in the 100 freestyle with a time of 47.78. The time broke the long-standing mark at the distance (set in 1997) by .10 seconds. Sharp almost set the mark in the 50 freestyle on Thursday, missing by a mere .02 seconds.
“It was a new day. Whatever happens, happens,” Sharp said of any possible carry-over from the first day. “I still just go for the best I can.”
Sharp was in his second district meet and will be going to his first state finals.
“The first year (at the WPIAL finals) was a learning experience. It’s a lot harder than it seems,” said Sharp.
Belle Vernon’s David Mosco just missed the awards podium in the 100 freestyle, finishing ninth overall.
Mosco came back in the final event for a medal when he anchored Jonathan Susick, Robby Spekis and Noah Wiggins to seventh place in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:25.54.
Spekis won his first individual medal earlier in the afternoon when he finished sixth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:02.06, in addition to two relay medals and a trip to the state meet.
“I dropped a second in the breaststroke. I finished 14th in the 200 IM and dropped four seconds,” said Spekis. “(Winning a medal on the first day) put me more on track, I was more focused for the breaststroke and the relay.”
The Vikings’ Dombrosky won the next-to-last heat of the 500 freestyle by dropping nearly nine seconds off his seed time and his time was fast enough to finish eighth overall for his second medal of the championships.
The Lady Cougars’ Nestor finished third in the 100 breaststroke and Cochran was fifth in the backstroke. The Lady Rams’ Sarah Noll placed seventh in the 100 backstroke.