Zimcosky wins gold in 50 freestyle
Submitted photo
Geibel Catholic senior Emily Zimcosky shows off the gold medal she won in the Class AA 50-yard freestyle Friday night in the PIAA Swimming & Diving Championships at Bucknell University.
Submitted Photo
Uniontown senior Elizabeth Klingensmith wears the medal she won Friday after placing eighth in the Class AA 100-yard butterfly.
Led by Emily Zimcosky’s gold medal, area swimmers had a strong first day Friday at the PIAA Class AA Swimming & Diving Championships at Bucknell University with five medals and nine top-16 performances.
Uniontown had a pair of medalists with Jonathan Sharp placing fifth in the 50 freestyle and Elizabeth Klingensmith finishing eighth in the 100 butterfly.
The Laurel Highlands boys 200 freestyle relay of Logan Knoyer, Jacob Johnson, Luke Edmonds and Brandon Thomas finished fifth, and Yough’s Jessica Cochran was fifth in the 100 butterfly.
Zimcosky finally swam to the state gold medal that had eluded her the first three years of her high school career. The Geibel Catholic senior finished the 50-yard freestyle in 23.12 seconds, a mere .07 seconds ahead of Ellwood City’s Taylor Petrak.
Petrak edged Zimcosky for the WPIAL gold medal in the event two weeks ago.
Despite competing in a variety of meets at various levels, Zimcosky was a bit nervous in the prelims.
“I knew the kids. The heats were filled with fantastic swimmers. You know everyone is so prepared. I just focused on my preparation,” said Zimcosky. “I was so prepared.”
Zimcosky had the fastest time in the prelims, 23.27 seconds, a touch faster than Petrak’s time of 23.29.
“I really try not to hold anything back in the prelims. I trained to come back faster in the finals,” said Zimcosky. “It hurt a little bit (after the prelims). That’s a good sign for me.”
Zimcosky relied on all the years and all the coaches she had when she looked to the finals.
“All the different perspectives from the different coaches I swam under. It’s really all about the journey. God really has a plan,” said Zimcosky.
She, too, as mentioned by the other swimmers, had some difficulties with the wall turns because of the way the pool was set up.
“The bulkheads they set don’t stretch to the bottom of the pool, so the lines don’t go all the way,” explained Zimcosky.
Zimcosky finished second as a sophomore, but opted out of last year’s state meet for the opportunity to qualify for the Olympic trials. She was in the 200 freestyle as a freshman.
She knew the sprint in the pool didn’t leave much room for error.
“I was expecting a great race,” said Zimcosky. “I said to myself ‘Oh my gosh, barely anything separates us. Anyone can win, it’s so close.’
“It’s my last 50 (freestyle) in high school. Just relax and go enjoy it.”
With first gold medal-winning performance for Geibel since 1978, Zimcosky is ready to close out her tremendous career with another medal shot in today’s 100 freestyle.
“I’m very excited to go race. Today shows me whatever happens, happens,” said Zimcosky. “I’m for sure to go out and enjoy it.”
Thomas and Knoyer not only had a medal-winning performances in the 200 freestyle relay, but the pair also earned honorable mention in individual races. Thomas finished 11th in the 100 butterfly in a time of 52.75 seconds, faster than his prelim time of 53.06. Knoyer placed 15th in the 50 freestyle in a time of 22.34 seconds.
Both John Ek and Dylan Rice advanced to the Class AA diving finals. Rice finished 16th with 318.50 points, while Ek just missed a top-10 finish in 11th place with 333.75 points.
“I felt I could’ve taken it out faster, but when we found we made the ‘A’ finals in the 200 freestyle, that set the tone,” said Thomas. “We like to call ourselves ‘night swimmers.’ We prepare for an evening swim.”
The medal-winning time of 1:28.71 in the 200 freestyle relay was a school record.
Knoyer said of his performance in the 50 freestyle, “I thought it was a good swim. I just wanted to do the best I possibly could.”
Knoyer felt the consolation final in the 50 freestyle helped with the later 200 freestyle relay final.
“I was swimming another 50. I got me ready from my first relay,” explained Knoyer.
As for their approach to the relay finals, Knoyer added, “We weren’t thinking about a time. We want to go as hard as we possibly can and as fast as we possibly can.
“We finished 10th in the relay last year, so that’s a big improvement.”
The Mustangs will be back in the pool today with Cole Dorobish in the 100 backstroke and the 400 freestyle relay looking to medal.
“We got our medals today, so we’re more relaxed now,” said Knoyer. “We’re going as fast as we can and do the best we can.”
Sharp’s first trip to the state produced a fifth-place medal with a time of 21.82 seconds, although he had a couple problems with the pool.
“I almost missed the wall in the prelims. Then, almost did the same thing in the finals,” said Sharp. “In the prelims, my first stroke was under water. The slowed me down a little bit.
“It’s a slow pool. It’s a shallow pool, which is usually a slow pool.”
Now with one medal in hand, Sharp is looking to go 2-for-2 in the 100 freestyle today.
“I’m feeling pretty good. I feel I learned from my problems and should have my wall (turns) down,” added Sharp.
Klingensmith, given her nature, probably had the widest, happiest smile on the the 100 butterfly medal podium after she earned her first PIAA after finishing eighth in 59.60 seconds.
“This was my last high school meet. I wanted to have fun,” the senior said. “I just wanted to have fun and not get DQ’ed (disqualified). I was really excited to be there.
“It was a long day. We got here early.
“I was most worried about getting in the top-8 (in the preliminaries). If I was in the top-8, I got it made. I was in the third heat. I was watching the heats before me and then the one after me. I knew pretty quickly I was in.”
As for her first state final swim, Klingensmith said, “I’m happy with it.”
Cochran finished about one second ahead of Klingensmith in fifth place with a time of 58.41 seconds.
The Belle Vernon boys 200 medley relay finished 21st with a time of 1:43.94, and the Leopards’ David Mosco was 25th in the 100 butterfly with a time of 55.40 seconds.
Dorobish finished 24th in the 200 IM with a time of 2:05.66, while Mount Pleasant’s Cole Dombrosky was 25th in the 200 freestyle in 1:49.38.