SV diver Clerkley, swimmer Xu runner-ups at PIAA meet
LEWISBURG — There is no shame in finishing second.
Seneca Valley junior Isaiah Clerkley took runner-up honors in 1-meter diving while Raider senior Haihan Xu did likewise in the 100-yard breaststroke Saturday at the PIAA Class 3A Boys Swimming and Diving Championships, hosted by Bucknell University.
Both were victimized by stellar performances by the opposition.
Clerkley had the lead in 1-meter diving before Brady Stanton of North Penn took his final dive of the competition.
“He (Stanton) pretty much needed a perfect dive to get past Isaiah and he produced one,” SV diving coach Nancy Laslavic said. “He had to score 51 points there to win it. He made an outstanding dive.
“That took nothing away from Isaiah’s performance. He put together a number of excellent dives and was leading all the way through.”
Stanton’s gold medal-winning score was 306.30. Clerkley took second with a 302.95. Raider teammates Jeremiah Laslavic (267.33) and Sam Hersick (229.25) wound up fifth and 12th, respectively.
“I’d prefer to go last because you know what you have to do,” Clerkley said. “Still, I’m very happy with my performance. I improved a lot this year in technique, higher dives and with consistency.
“Now my goal next year is to win it.”
Xu entered the PIAA meet coming off a WPIAL championship in the 100 breast, swimming a school-record 54.92 at that meet. He swam a 55.21 in the state final Saturday, coming up short against Conestoga’s Jake Wang. The latter swam a 53.92 to defend his state title in the event.
The two swam in lanes next to each other.
“I could see where he was, but I wasn’t swimming the race based on that,” Xu said. “I was concentrating on my own stroke, doing what I had to do. I got thrown off a little bit at states last year because I got too caught off in our team’s run at the championship.
“I learned from that. It was a good race. He just got the better of it.”
Xu also placed fourth in the 200 individual medley and swam a leg of the Raiders’ 200 medley relay that placed sixth at the state meet. He did not win an individual state title in his high school career, but won four individual WPIAL crowns and was a part of three winning relays at WPIAL meets.
“What stood out for me in my career was swimming the anchor leg of a relay and catching somebody to win,” Xu said. “That happened at the WPIAL meet and I was pretty proud of that.”
“Haihan was great all season, had a great career,” SV swim coach Brian Blackwell said. “He was outstanding individually and in relays. He gave everything he had today.
“We had a tremendous group of swimmers come through our program over the past few years. Haihan was a big part of that.”
Xu will go on to swim at Cornell University.
“I’m looking forward to swimming with all of those high-level athletes every day,” he said.
Besides diving, Clerkley was a gymnast for 14 years. He did not compete in that sport this season after suffering a herniated disc in his back last summer. He was only cleared to begin partial training in November.
“I’m proud of how far I was able to come back from that,” Clerkley said.
The Raiders’ Connor Seeley finished 12th in the 100 backstroke with a time of 51.43 seconds. Seneca Valley’s boys finished sixth in the team standings with 113 points.
North Penn won the boys meet with 212 points.
