Menear, King top Herald-Standard All-Area Girls Swimming & Diving Team
Jim Downey | Herald-Standard
Mount Pleasant sophomore Lily King catches a breath on her way to winning the gold medal in the 200 freestyle at the 2023 WPIAL Class AA Swimming & Diving Championship at Trees Pool. King once again shared honors with Mapletown’s Ella Menear as the area’s top female swimmers.
Mapletown senior Ella Menear swims in the 100 backstroke at the 2023 WPIAL Class AA Swimming & Diving Championship. Menear once again shares top honors with Mount Pleasant’s Lily King as the area’s Swimmer of the Year.
Jim Downey | Herald-Standard
Jim Downey | Herald-Standard
Uniontown freshman Hannah Foster swims the breaststroke leg of the 200 medley relay in the 2023 WPIAL Class AA Swimming & Diving Championship at Trees Pool. Foster received Newcomer of the Year honors for her solid first season.
Jim Downey | Herald-Standard
Lily King (left) and Trinity Graft hold the trophy as the Lady Vikings pose for a team photo after winning the team title in the 2023 WPIAL Class AA Swimming & Diving Championship.
Laurel Highlands senior Ella Ciez swims the freestyle leg of the 200 IM in 2023 WPIAL Class AA Swimming & Diving Championship at the University of Pittsburgh's Trees Pool. Ciez finished eighth.
Elizabeth Forward's Maddy McClain swims the 500 freestyle in the 2023 WPIAL Class AA Swimming & Divining Championship at Trees Pool. McClain placed 10th, but improved her finish in the PIAA final in eighth place.
Mount Pleasant sophomore Lily King continued her domination in the pool, despite opting for a longer distance in the freestyle.
Mapletown senior Ella Menear capped her stellar career with three gold medals and a silver, and a scholarship to the University of Alabama.
King and Menear were among the best swimmers in the state and for those accomplishments the pair shares the 2023 Herald-Standard All-Area Girls Swimming & Diving Team honor as the Most Outstanding Performer.
The impressive group of swimmers to earn first-team honors along with King and Menear include:
200 medley relay: Mount Pleasant.
200 freestyle: Lily King, Mount Pleasant.
200 IM: Ella Menear, Mapletown.
50 freestyle: Kiersten O’Connor, Mount Pleasant.
Diving: Paige Richter, Mount Pleasant.
100 butterfly: Reegan Brown/McKenna Mizikar, Mount Pleasant/Anastasia Georgagis, California.
100 freestyle: Lily King, Mount Pleasant.
500 freestyle: Maddy McClain, Elizabeth Forward.
200 freestyle relay: Lily King, Mount Pleasant.
100 backstroke: Ella Menear, Mapletown.
100 breaststroke: Ella Ciez, Laurel Highlands.
400 freestyle relay: Mount Pleasant.
MOST OUTSTANDING PERFORMERs: Ella Menear, Mapletown/Lily King, Mount Pleasant.
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR: Hannah Foster, Uniontown.
COACHING STAFF OF THE YEAR: Mount Pleasant.
Honorable Mention: Belle Vernon, Ava Bosetti, Martyna Maley, Melina Stratigos, Marlee Davis; Connellsville, Ella Detwiler, Abigail Harvey, Kassidy Callahan, Kyra Callahan; Elizabeth Forward, Emma Durant, Madison Alessio, Riley McLaughlin; Laurel Highlands, Addie Ciez, Riley Tolbert, Sarah VanVerth; Mount Pleasant, Trinity Graft, Morgan Baughman; Ringgold, Emily Carpeal, Emily Doleno, Natalie Noll; Uniontown, Hanna Foster, Jacquelyn Jeffries, Zaya McCune, Joss Rutter.
NOTES: Menear made it a WPIAL three-peat with gold medals in the 200 IM and 100 backstroke. The senior repeated as the PIAA gold medalist in the 200 IM and won silver again in the backstroke, finishing second to record-setting Leah Shackley, from Bedford. … King continued her domination in the pool with the sophomore winning four more individual gold medals. King decided to swim the 200 freestyle after her record-breaking finish in the 50 freestyle in 2022, and came through with another gold medal in a WPIAL Class AA record time of 1:47.36. … She successfully defended her 100 freestyle gold in record-breaking time. King added PIAA golds a couple weeks after the district, breaking the PIAA and Bucknell University pool record in the 100 freestyle. … King also had an impressive relay performance, joining Trinity Graft, SaraJo Gardner and Kiersten O’Connor for a gold medal swim in record time in the 200 freestyle relay and doing the same in the 400 freestyle relay with Reegan Brown, Mizikar and Graft. … The same quartets won PIAA relay gold medals. … O’Connor, Gardner, Mizikar and Brown opened the WPIAL meet in grand fashion with a gold medal in the 200 medley relay with a meet record time. … O’Connor also won an individual WPIAL gold medal with her first-place finish in the 50 freestyle. … Local girls won eight gold medals, two bronze and a total of 22 medals in the WPIAL Class AA championship. … Sandy Felice and her Mount Pleasant staff led the Lady Vikings to a section title, and WPIAL and PIAA team championships. … The Lady Vikings easily won both team titles, outscoring Northgate in the WPIAL meet, 290-198, and Wyoming Seminary in the state final, 218½-118. … Mount Pleasant won six gold medals and a total of 18 medals in the WPIAL final. … Mizikar and Brown both won two WPIAL medals. … Graft just missed the podium in two events at the WPIAL finals, finishing ninth in both the 200 and 100 freestyles. … The Lady Vikings added three relay golds, double gold by King and a total of eight PIAA medals. … Graft and Brown earned honorable mention in two events, while Mizikar placed in the top 16 in another. … Ciez repeated as the WPIAL bronze medalist in the breaststroke and was seventh in the 200 IM. … She capped her career by placing eighth in the breaststroke and 13th in the 200 IM at the PIAA meet. … Foster had quite an opening performance as a freshman with a school record and seventh-place finish in the breaststroke in the WPIAL finals. She barely missed a second medal after placing ninth in the 50 freestyle, trailing Mizikar by a mere .05 seconds. … Foster placed 16th in the breaststroke in the PIAA championship. … Georgagis had a pair of WPIAL sixth-place finishes in the breaststroke and butterfly. … McLaughlin improved her finish in the WPIAL 100 breaststroke after making the podium in eighth place. .. Noll finished sixth in the backstroke in the district meet. … McClain finished eighth in the 500 freestyle in the state final.