Mustang swimmers top county rivals
Jim Downey | Herald-Standard
Uniontown’s Riley Gilleland (top) and Laurel Highlands’ Logan Kordich battle midway through the 100 butterfly in Wednesday’s non-section meet with Uniontown at Laurel Highlands. Gilleland finished first in 1:02.84.
Uniontown's Alex Eitner swims the butterfly leg of the 200 IM during Wednesday's non-section meet with Connellsville at Laurel Highlands.
Connellsville's Dean Peterson performs a dive as Uniontown dive coach Joe Carei and other divers look on during Wednesday's non-section with Uniontown at Laurel Highlands.
Laurel Highlands' Jonathon Lewis bobs out of the water in the 100 breaststroke near the end of Wednesday's non-section home meet against Connellsville and Laurel Highlands. Lewis finished first in a WPIAL qualifying time of 1:07.66.
Connellsville's Noah Barczyk powers through the 200 freestyle in Wednesday's non-section meet with Uniontown at Laurel Highlands. Barczyk finished first in a WPIAL qualifying time of 1:51.50.
The Laurel Highlands boys were just a little deeper than visiting Connellsville and Uniontown Wednesday night, winning the unofficial county swimming title with 102 points.
The Falcons finished second with 77 points and the Red Raiders were third with 48.
The meet got off to a rousing start in the diving competition with three divers qualifying for the WPIAL championships.
Laurel Highlands’ John Ek won with a Class AA qualifying total of 261.80 points.
“It’s better than the first couple of meets,” Ek said of his winning point total. “I usually takes one or two meets to get back into the swing.
“I feel there’s a lot of room for improvement.”
Ek, who will continue his career at St. Bonaventure, is the two-time Class AA defending silver medalist, but hopes to change the metal to gold this year.
“I want that gold medal. That’s my mindset,” said Ek, adding, “If I could point my toes every dive, I’d be golden.
“I’ve been working on higher difficulty dives. I don’t want to do it in competition until I’m better. I’m not thinking I’m the best, but I’m going in with the mindset I’m the best in the meet.”
Ek’s 6-dive record is 301 points, but said he would “like to get upwards of 330. The difference is adding the harder dives.”
Connellsville’s Dean Peterson finished second to Ek with a Class AAA qualifying point total of 181.15.
Peterson has some pretty lofty goals in his second year of competition.
“My goal is to get at least a 10,” Peterson said with a smile.
Peterson advanced through to the Class AAA semifinals last year and hopes to make it through one more round of dives this year.
“I’m trying to get prepared for the WPIALs. I made it through the first round last year. I want to get as close as I can to 250 (points in six dives),” said Peterson.
Coach Tammy Nedrow wants to add a dive or two to help Peterson with his goals.
“Coach wants me to do a forward 3½. I’m scared to do this. I’m definitely still learning,” explained Peterson. “All the dives are problem dives. It takes a lot of muscle memory.”
Peterson had high praise for Ek.
“When I see him, he intimidates me. He’s so good. It’s crazy,” complimented Peterson.
The Mustangs’ Joe Chisler qualified for the Class AA championship for the first time with his third-place point total of 162.20.
Uniontown sophomore Alex Eitner did not hit the Class AA qualifying total after finishing fourth with 138.75, but was satisfied given the board issues that were just recently resolved at Uniontown.
“I felt good about the first meet (in diving),” said Eitner. “I’d like to thank LH for letting us use their board.
“I feel I can bring (138 points) up to 150 with a degree of difficulty of nine.”
Eitner also competed in the pool, finishing fourth in the 200 IM (3:01.41). He was also on the Red Raiders’ 200 medley relay that finished second in 2:04.64.
“I did the breaststroke in the medley relay. I felt good about it this time around. It’s new to me,” said Eitner, adding, “The 200 IM, I felt terrible. I had an extremely slow time. I’m upset with myself.”
The Mustangs’ Jacob Johnson, Jonathon Lewis, Logan Kordich and Dylan Rice won the 200 medley relay in a qualifying time of 1:50.17. The same quartet won the 400 freestyle relay in a qualifying time of 3:43.88.
Johnson won the 50 freestyle in a qualifying time of 22.50 seconds, as well as the 100 backstroke in a qualifying time of 58.60 seconds. Lewis touched the wall first in the 500 freestyle in the qualifying time of 5:22.44, as well as qualifying the 100 breaststroke with his winning time of 1:07.66.
Connellsville’s Noah Barczyk won the 200 freestyle in a Class AAA qualifying time of 1:51.50. He also finished first in the 100 freestyle in a qualifying time of 50.36 seconds.
Uniontown’s Riley Gilleland was second in a Class AA qualifying time of 1:56.59. Gilleland won the 100 butterfly in 1:02.84.
The Falcons’ Adam Barczyk won the 200 IM in 2:19.20 and he then joined George Trimbath, Noah Barczyk and Trevor Anderson to win the 200 freestyle relay in 1:42.99.