Lady Warriors too deep for Uniontown in 137-46 win
Jim Downey | Herald-Standard
Elizabeth Forward’s Jordan Vasko pulls into the tuck position in one of her dives during Thursday’s Section 5-AA meet at Uniontown. Vasko finished first with 236.20 points.
Uniontown's Rylee Levander makes a splash as swims the 100 backstroke during Thursday's Section 5-AA meet against visiting Elizabeth-Forward.
Uniontown's Valerie Grimes catches a breath during the 100 freestyle in Thursday's Section 5-AA meet against visiting Elizabeth Forward.
Elizabeth Forward's Natasha Trainor reaches back in the backstroke during the 200 IM in Thursday's Section 5-AA meet at Uniontown.
Elizabeth Forward's Jordan Vasko rotates in a dive during Thursday's Section 5-AA meet at Uniontown.
Elizabeth Forward's Natasha Trainor swims in the first of two laps in the breaststroke during the 200 IM in Thursday's Section 5-AA meet at Uniontown.
Elizabeth Forward's Ashlee Toth swims the opening backstroke leg of the 200 medley relay during Thursday's Section 5-AA meet at Uniontown.
Elizabeth Forward's Natalie Glessner pops out of the water in the breaststroke leg of the 200 medley relay during Thursday's Section 5-AA meet at Uniontown.
Elizabeth Forward's Marleigh Bennett swims the butterfly leg of the 200 medley relay during Thursday's Section 5-AA meet at Uniontown.
The Elizabeth Forward girls swimming team is talented and deep, and displayed that talent Thursday night with a 137-46 Section 5-AA victory at Uniontown.
The Lady Warriors finished first in all but two events.
The diving competition was the last event instead of first, but the delay didn’t faze the Elizabeth Forward trio of Jordan Vasko, Katrina Wilhelm and Taylor Vasquez.
Uniontown’s Maeve Carei opted out of the diving competition after a full slate in the pool.
Vasko, who sits atop Class AA with the top qualifying score through Monday, won with 236.20 points. Wilhelm was second with 200.25 and Taylor Vasquez third with 173.85.
Vasko, a senior, finished fifth in the WPIAL and 10th in the state last year and she has her sights set higher this year.
“At the beginning of the season, my goal was to beat the school record,” said Vasko, which she did early in the season. “I want to push to get into the top 3 of the WPIAL and make the podium in the PIAA meet, finish in the top 8.”
Although Vasko has secured a spot in the WPIAL Diving Championship later this month, she is still going to push to improve on the dives she can rely on, as well as those she needs to improve her point total.
“I want to go out and do the best I can do,” said Vasko. “I want to get better and focus on myself, and make sure I execute my dives perfectly.
“I really enjoy all the inward dives. They are my favorites. I do all the inward dives very well. My reverse dives are not scary, but they are not executed as well as the others.”
Vasko has goals she’d like to meet in both 6-dive and 11-dive competitions.
“Higher than 245 (for six dives), that’s my goal. (For 11 dives), close to 500. I believe (the scores) wil lget me to what I want to accomplish.”
Ashlee Toth, Natalie Glessner, Marleigh Bennett and Kaelyn McClain opened the meet by winning the 200 medley relay in a WPIAL qualifying time of 1:53.57.
Toth, Natasha Trainor, Brooke Himich and Glessner hit the WPIAL standard in winning the 200 freestyle relay in 1:52.73. Glessner, Toth, Bennett and McClain closed the meet by winning the 400 freestyle relay in a qualifying time of 4:00.96.
Himich (200 freestyle, 2:19.71), Trainor (200 IM, 2:31.67), McClain (100 butterfly, 1:05.68, WPIAL), Jalyn Brown (500 freestyle, 6:04.32), Bennett (100 backstroke, 1:07.23, WPIAL), and Alexa Honick (100 breaststroke, 1:25.76) all had first-place finishes for the Lady Warriors.
Valerie Grimes (100 freestyle, 1:02.77) and Maeve Carei (50 freestyle, 28.62) had Uniontown’s first-place finishes.
Grimes is still seeking a spot in the WPIAL Championship and has about two weeks to do so. She’s closest in the 200 IM.
“My times have definitely been dropping. This was a hard week. We had three meets and didn’t practice Tuesday,” said Grimes. “My best time in the 200 IM is 2:30 (Wednesday against South Park). I’m about two seconds off. I’m right there.
“I’m mad at myself. I just ticked the wall (in the South Park meet) and didn’t get a good push. I had the time.”