Hoping to make a splash
King leads local contingent of swimmers into PIAA meet
Lily King already has 25 gold medals in WPIAL and PIAA swimming competition and she鈥檒l attempt to add a few more to that haul Wednesday and Thursday.
The Mount Pleasant senior leads a large group of area competitors into the PIAA Class AA Swimming and Diving Championships at Bucknell University鈥檚 Kinney Natatorium.
King will take aim at gold in the 100 and 200 freestyle as well as in the 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay and goes into each of those events with the fastest seed times. King, who already holds the state record in the 100 freestyle, has six individual and four relay gold medals to her credit so far in state competition.
Mount Pleasant leads the way among the local contingent in individual qualifiers with five boys (David Mutter, Joseph Gardner, Gunnar Probst, Cody Fusco and Seth Painter) and four girls (King, Kiersten O鈥機onnor, Riley Shinsky and Lainey Brown).
Belle Vernon is next in line with two boys (Tim Reda and Brady Malekovich) and two girls (Megan Shusteric and Josie Nikolic), while Laurel Highlands has two boys (Kasey Mahoney and Lincoln Metheney) and one girl (Addie Ciez).
Uniontown has one boy (Wyatt Dean) and one girl (Hannah Foster), Southmoreland has one girl (Allison Stinnett) and Albert Gallatin has one girl (Caylee Psenicska).
Psenicska is one of three local freshmen to reach the PIAA meet, along with Metheney and Nikolic, and will compete in the 500 freestyle in which she is seeded 17th and the 100 butterfly (24th). She earned a sixth-place medal in the 500 freestyle at the WPIAL meet.
鈥淚 expected to qualify for the WPIALs from the beginning,鈥� Psenicska said. 鈥淕oing to the meet I was just trusting that I put enough work in throughout the season that I would have a good shot for states. I knew if I went out there and pushed myself I could do it.
鈥淎fter the 500 I was very shocked to see I had dropped nine seconds. I was very happy that I improved all the way up to sixth.鈥�
Psenicska doesn鈥檛 have a favorite event.
鈥淚 consider them pretty even. I enjoy both of them,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut throughout the season I swam almost everything.鈥�
Albert Gallatin doesn鈥檛 have a swimming team so Psenicska competed at Laurel Highlands meets during the regular season.
鈥淚 enjoy it because they basically said they would adopt me,鈥� Psenicska said. 鈥淚 love all the coaches and the kids are great. I鈥檝e grown up with pretty much all the kids there, I鈥檝e been swimming with them ever since I was little. We all support each other. Plus (LH coach) Bob McCombie is my Y coach. He鈥檚 great, I love him.鈥�
Psenicska swims under McCombie for the YMCA UNTY club team. She鈥檚 excited for her first PIAA meet.
鈥淚鈥檝e never been there but I remember even as a little kid just coming home from school and getting so excited to figure out how the older kids on my club team did,鈥� Psenicska said. 鈥淪o it鈥檚 really nice to accomplish that goal and get there as a freshman.
鈥淢y goal is just to do my best. It would be great to drop again and it鈥檇 be great to make finals.鈥�
One of those LH swimmers who welcomed Psenicska in was Mahoney, a junior who qualified in the 100 breaststroke (third) and 200 IM (11th).
This is Mahoney鈥檚 second trip to the state meet. He earned a fifth-place medal in the 100 breaststroke last year.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 an advantage because I鈥檝e been there before and understand the meet atmosphere and know what to expect when it comes to the meet aspect,鈥� Mahoney said. 鈥淢y goals for this year are to get the All-American time in the 100 breast, which is :55. I also want to make a final for the 200 IM.鈥�
Mahoney鈥檚 seed time in the breaststroke is 57.15. His teammates Metheney (30th) and Ciez (28th) both qualified in the 500 freestyle. Ciez is also the first alternate in the 200 IM (32nd).
Uniontown鈥檚 Wyatt has the sixth best seed score in diving and Foster is 28th in the breaststroke.
In addition to King, Mount Pleasant鈥檚 Mutter (100 butterfly, 500 freestyle) and O鈥機onnor (50 freestyle and 100 backstroke) enter the state meet with the top seed time in two different events while Gardner is first in the 100 breaststroke and second in the 200 IM.
Also qualifying in two events for Mount Pleasant are Fusco in the 200 (18th) and 500 (19th) freestyle and Shinsky in the 50 (21st) and 100 (18th) freestyle. Probst is sixth in the 50 freestyle, Painter is 31st in the 100 butterfly and Brown is 11th in the 100 breaststroke. Lucas Poole is the third alternate in the 100 butterfly (34th).
Each of Belle Vernon鈥檚 four swimmers has qualified in two events, Reda in the 200 freestyle (10th) and 100 breaststroke (18th), Malekovich in the 50 (14th) and 100 (19th) freestyle, Shusteric in the 200 (20th) and 500 (21st) freestyle and Nikolic in the 50 (16th) and 100 (19th) freestyle. Ava Bosetti is the third alternate in the 100 breaststroke (33rd).
Stinnett also has qualified in two events for the Lady Scotties. She鈥檚 second in the breaststroke and seventh in the 200 IM.
The Lady Vikings鈥� top-seeded relay teams consist of O鈥機onnor, Brown, Maddie Barrick and King in the 200 medley relay and Shinsky, Barrick, Brown and King in the 400 relay. Mount Pleasant鈥檚 Shinsky, Brown, Barrick and O鈥機onnor also qualified with the second seed time in the 200 freestyle relay.
The Vikings foursome of Painter, Gardner, Mutter and Probst have the top seed time in the 200 medley relay. Mount Pleasant鈥檚 Fusco, Quinn Heinnickel, Probst and Gardner are sixth in the 200 freestyle relay while Fusco, Poole, Painter and Mutter are 11th in the 400 relay.
Belle Vernon has four relay teams qualified for the state meet with Derek Milkovich, Reda, Gaige Watson and Malekovich in both the boys 200 medley (29th) and 400 freestyle (24th) and Nikolic, Bosetti, Shusteric and Grace Newbould in both the girls 200 medley (20th) and 400 freestyle (15th).
Uniontown鈥檚 girls 200 medley relay team of Joss Rutter, Foster, Addy Martin and Grace Trimmer is the third alternate (35th).