Title repeat pursuit, earlier starts, more for D-10 fans to know before the PIAA swim meet
Cathedral Prep's boys swimming and diving team need look no further than Wednesday's opening event of the PIAA meet for a good omen.
Make that a great omen.
The Ramblers seek to repeat as the state's best Class 2A program over the first two days of the four-day meet at Lewisburg.
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The Class 3A portion, which will include qualifiers for the McDowell Trojans, will run Friday and Saturday at Bucknell University's Kinney Natatorium.
Prep was the state's 2A boys team titlist for its 2019 and 2022 meets. The Ramblers also won the 200-yard medley relay each of those years.
Wednesday's top seed for that event? Prep, thanks to its District 10-record time of 1 minute, 35.27 seconds.
Even better for the Ramblers, three gold medalists from last season's championship quartet are expected to start. Senior Mitchell Bradford (backstroke), sophomore Matthew Hinman (breaststroke) and senior Aidan Levis (butterfly) should account for the event's first three legs.
Colin Troutman, another sophomore, is Prep's probable freestyle starter. He took over that anchor leg from Charles Agresti, who graduated.
Bradford, son of former Edinboro University football coach Wayne Bradford, also is seeded second going into Thursday's 100 backstroke competition. His time of 50.61 only trails the 49.40 for Joseph Roth, a star junior for District 7 Riverside.
Former Victors coach returns as Rambler
Mike Doyle was Prep's coach each year it finished first in the PIAA 2A boys team standings.
That will be one major difference for the Ramblers if they make claim to that trophy a third time over five years.
Doyle resigned to take over as athletic director for the entire Catholic Diocese of Erie. There was little to no drop off, though, when it came to his replacement.
Sonya Whitman, who coached Villa Maria Academy's aquatic program over the last 11 seasons of its existence, was Doyle's heir. The diocese closed the West Eighth Street school last summer and made Prep a coed campus.
Whitman now coaches the school's boys and its inaugural girls team. The Bradford native, who swam across Lake Erie in 2007, was on Kinney's deck when the former Victors won the PIAA's 2A girls team championships in 2019 and 2021.
Haley Palmer was a significant reason for each of those titles. Now a senior and first-year Rambler, her best odds at medals this meet are as an individual in the 50 freestyle (23.82) and as the anchor for their 200 free relay (1:38.55).
Palmer, a Cleveland State recruit, is seeded third in each event.
Pierce brothers among McDowell's qualifiers
Initials will be required ahead of the last names for three McDowell Trojans who compete during the meet's 3A action Friday and Saturday.
Freshman Deacon Pierce, sophomore Camden Pierce and senior Nicolin Pierce will appear for the final time as varsity teammates. The sons of noted Erie triathlete Dan Pierce will comprise the last three legs of the Trojans' 200 free relay.
Chris Zhou is expected to swim the first leg for that foursome. Zhou, a senior, also qualified for states in the 50 free.
Nicolin Pierce was an individual qualifier for the 100 backstroke and Camden Pierce in the 200 free.
Lukas Rau, who won the district's 3A boys diving meet, rounds out the McDowell boys bound for Lewisburg.
Four of the Trojans' five female qualifiers will line up in the meet's final event, the 400 free relay. Havana Austin should anchor Kara Hoffman, Ava Kubeja and Samantha Sebulak.
Austin also qualified for the meet as the district's victor in the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke.
McDowell sophomore Anna Rosswog will make her PIAA debut as the district's large-school diving champ.
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Fox highlights Fairview's diving trio
The PIAA 2A girls one-meter springboard competition will run Wednesday afternoon, followed by the 2A boys on Thursday.
No district school has more entrants in that specific competition than Fairview. The Tigers qualified junior Aari Fox (boys) and Elena Veres and Katie George (girls) in those respective starting fields of 24.
Of those three, Fox and Veres qualified as the district's champs.
Of those two, Fox is the only one who can claim top-eight state medals for consecutive meets. He finished fifth a year ago off Bucknell's boards.
Corry also advanced Aiden Knapp to states in the boys field and Sylvia Elmquist for the girls when it was determined their scores were high enough for at-large berths.
This week's four diving competitions will run significantly faster than previous meets. Before, there were 11 rounds, with a semifinal cut after the first five and a championship cut after eight.
However, the PIAA, citing a decline in the number of overall divers in recent years, decided to limit this year's competition to six on a trial basis.
D-10 standings: 2022-23 District 10 boys and girls swimming/diving standings
PIAA schedule also streamlined
District fans who have attended past state swimming meets also will notice earlier start times to each session this year. There also will be less down time between sessions.
Each, though, means the the last championship session is scheduled to conclude by 8:30 p.m. On three of the four days.
Contact Mike Copper at mcopper@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNcopper.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: PIAA swimming/diving meet: District 10 athletes, teams aim for medals
