Golden performance: Menear wins two golds in WPIAL swim finals
Mapletown’s Ella Menear takes a breath as she pushes toward the finish of the 100 backstroke in Saturday’s WPIAL Class AA Swimming Championships at Upper St. Clair. Menear won the gold medal in a pool record time of 54.58 seconds. (Photo by Jim Downey)
Jim Downey | Herald-Standard
Jim Downey | Herald-Standard
Mapletown’s Ella Menear swims the freestyle leg of the 200 IM in Saturday’s WPIAL Class AA Swimming Championships at Upper St. Clair. Menear won the 200 IM in a pool record time of 2:04.54.
Jim Downey | Herald-Standard
Mapletown’s Ella Menear swims the breaststroke leg of the 200 IM in Saturday’s WPIAL Class AA Swimming Championships at Upper St. Clair. Menear won the gold medal in a pool record time of 2:04.54.
Laurel Highlands' Ella Ciez swims the breaststroke leg of the 200 IM in Saturday's WPIAL Class AA Swimming Championships at Upper St. Clair. The Fillies finished third with a time of 1:50.65.
Laurel Highlands' Elizabeth Thomas placed third in the 100 backstroke at the WPIAL Class AA Swimming Championships at Upper St. Clair. Thomas' bronze medal time was 58.27 seconds.
Laurel Highlands' Elizabeth Thomas swims the breaststroke leg of the 200 IM at the WPIAL Class AA Swimming Championships. Thomas placed sixth with a time of 2:17.05.
Laurel Highlands' Maria Mrosko swims the 100 butterfly in Saturday's WPIAL Class AA Swimming Championships at Upper St. Clair. Mrosko won the silver medal with a time of 58.59.
Laurel Highlands' Maria Mrosko swims the breaststroke leg of the 200 IM in Saturday's WPIAL Class AA Swimming Championships at Upper St. Clair. Mrosko placed third with a time of 2:10.44.
California's Anastasia Georgagis won the bronze medal in the 100 breaststroke in Saturday's WPIAL Class AA Swimming Championships at Upper St. Clair. Georgagis finished in 1:06.60.
UPPER ST. CLAIR — Mapletown’s Ella Menear opened her WPIAL Class AA Swimming Championships Saturday at Upper St. Clair High School by winning the 200 IM in a pool record time.
What did the sophomore do for an encore?
Well, Menear won a second gold medal, this time in the 100 backstroke, with another pool record.
Menear battled Quaker Valley’s Isabel Huang through the first three laps, and then started to pull away in the final leg, the freestyle, to win in 2:04.54.
Huang trailed by .24 seconds for the silver.
“I need to make up time for the breaststroke. I get into the backstroke and freestyle to make up time,” explained Menear. “My splits were really good.
“Getting the pool record was definitely nice.”
Menear felt her performance in the 200 IM would carry momentum into the backstroke.
“(Winning the 200 IM) give me more motivation. I’m more excited about it. It makes me more hopeful for the second event,” added Menear.
Menear was centered between Huang and Laurel Highlands’ Elizabeth Thomas in the second heat of the 100 backstroke. Menear fed off both swimmers to win her second gold — and another pool record time — in 54.58 seconds.
Huang was second in 55.92 seconds and Thomas placed third in 58.27 seconds.
“It felt really good, but the last 15 yards were hard,” said Menear. “The whole time I knew I had to kick it in gear.
“I focus on the third 25 yards (lap) and the last 15 yards. The third 25 yards is the hardest.”
Menear, who automatically qualified for the state meet in both events, wanted to win gold in both events, but admitted she was pleasantly surprised with her performances.
“I did better than I thought I’d do and wanted to do,” said Menear, adding, “And, I’m really happy about that.”
Laurel Highlands senior Maria Mrosko had a productive day in her final district meet with a silver medal in the 100 butterfly (58.59) and bronze in the 200 IM (2:10.44).
Mrosko made up space in the final 50 yards in the butterfly.
“I had a good time in the butterfly. I’m a back half swimmer, so that’s what happens. It makes a big difference,” said Mrosko.
Mrosko just wanted her final district meet to be a good one.
“I just want to have a good time. This is my last one and I want to have good memories,” said Mrosko.
Though fans were not permitted, Mrosko appreciated to actually swim against competition after a season that was basically virtual.
“It’s nice for everyone to be energetic. I’m just glad we actually got to do it,” added Mrosko.
California sophomore Anastasia Georgagis won a pair of medals, taking bronze in the 100 breaststroke (1:06.60) and fourth in the 200 IM (2:11.20).
“I dropped three seconds in the 200 IM. I’m really happy with my time,” said Georgagis.
The Mrosko sisters, Maria and Cecilia, Ella Ciez and Thomas won bronze in the 200 medley relay (1:50.65), and the same quartet finished third in the 400 freestyle relay (3:39.67).
Ciez (5, 50 freestyle, 24.80; 8, 100 freestyle, 54.30), Thomas (7, 200 IM, 2:17.05), and Cecilia Mrosko (8, 500 freestyle, 5:29.17) also won individual medals.
The Mount Pleasant quartet of Reegan Brown, McKenna Mizikar, Ashlyn Hornick, and SaraJo Gardner won gold in the 200 freestyle relay in a time of 1:39.76.
“We wanted to get first and automatically go to states,” said Gardner. “We had a school record (by .25 seconds). That was our best time of the season. That’s a lot of time in a sprint race.”
Gardner also won individual medals in the 100 backstroke (4, 58.99) and 50 freestyle (6, 24.81).
The automatic berth in the relay into the state meet gives Gardner and her teammates the opportunity to swim this year after the 2020 Class AA PIAA Championships was cancelled the day of the meet.
“I felt very anxious and nervous. I have never swam here. It’s definitely different than what I’m used to,” said Gardner. “(Not swimming in the state finals) last year was heartbreaking.
“We haven’t hit our best times yet. It’s been very stressful. We have yet to hit our best times. We didn’t get to swim last year, so we’ve trained for two years now.”
Brown (5, 100 backstroke, 59.31; 4, 100 butterfly, 59.38) and Mizikar (6, 100 butterfly, 1:00.74) also won individual medals.
Brown, Gardner, Mizikar and Hornick won silver in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:49.13. Mizikar, Morgan Baughman, Hornick and Trinity Graft placed eighth in the 200 freestyle relay (3:50.01).
Elizabeth Forward’s Hailey Yurkovich won silver in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:10.01 and bronze in the 200 freestyle (1:56.72). Natalie Glessner took bronze in the 500 freestyle in a time of 5:12.51 and fourth in the 200 freestyle (1:57.45). Maddy McClain won a pair of medals with a fourth-place finish in the 500 freestyle (5:24.38) and fifth in the 200 IM (2:16.96).
Belle Vernon’s Delaney Patterson was fourth in the 100 breaststroke (1:09.35) and fifth in the 200 freestyle (2:00.31). She joined Martyna Maley, Marlee Davis and Melina Stratigos to place seventh in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:45.03.
Ringgold’s Paige Doleno was eighth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:10.82.