Seneca Valley girls earn 3rd place finish at WPIAL Class 3A swimming championships

March 01, 2024 Last Updated: March 02, 2024 12:59 PM Sports

Goal Met

PITTSBURGH — While its performance the day before wasn’t quite what it had in mind, Seneca Valley’s girls team never lost hold of its position at the WPIAL Class 3A swimming championships on Friday, leaving the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool with a third-place finish.

Seneca Valley's Addy Molinero swims in the girls 500-yard freestyle event during the WPIAL swim meet at Trees Pool on Friday. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (3/1/2024)

“I feel like we weren’t going as fast as we thought we would be,” sophomore Morgan Baker said of the team’s showing on Thursday, during the first half of competition. “Today, we came back with better attitudes.”

Baker and classmate Sasha Myers both medaled in the morning’s first event — the 100-yard freestyle — coming in eighth- and fifth-place, respectively.

“That usually sets the mood for the rest of the meet,” Baker said. “We didn’t go as fast as we wanted to, but the fact that we still dropped time was exciting and helped hype us up.”

Senior Bella Kling later added a sixth-place effort in the 100 backstroke and freshman Katie Bookwalter earned fifth in the 100 backstroke.

“I loved the excitement and the energy we brought on deck today,” Kling said. “We were really focused on, ‘Shake off the nerves and race because you love to race. Push each other, push yourselves because you love it.’

“It was a celebration of all our hard work.”

Baker, Kling, and Myers joined junior Alissa Wilson in a 400 freestyle relay that posted the fifth-best time (3:35.88) at the district meet. The finishes added up to 220 team points for the Raiders, behind only North Allegheny’s 477.5 and Fox Chapel’s 295. Seneca Valley sat in the third spot for the entirety of the two-day-long meet.

“I just love to see us succeed as a unit,” Kling said. “While, yes, it’s individual races, we are a team. We are united and there’s nothing more exciting than knowing the girl next to me – who’s my teammate — also achieved her goal. We did all of it together.”

Along with her sixth-place swim in the 100 butterfly Thursday, Kling’s similar finish Friday marked her first time netting an individual medal.

“It was a long-running goal of mine, between yesterday and today,” she said. “I had some season-bests today and yesterday.”

The Raiders’ time in the 400 freestyle relay was nearly identical to their seeding mark. The finish wasn’t enough to break the program’s all-time effort, but the consistency was a positive.

“We were trying to get the other record — the varsity record — so it was kind of disappointing,” Baker said. “The fact that we still were close to our best, we were happy.”

In the team competition, Mars (48 points) came 14th out of 24 teams. Butler (22) finished 18th. On the boys side, the Golden Tornado (53.5) were 13th of 22 crews, while Seneca Valley (48) was right behind.

Getting Better

Butler seniors Noah Collins and Keaton Matteson and junior Jackson Morgus all improved on their seeding times in the boys’ 100 freestyle. Morgus and Raiders junior Tyler Snow bettered their previous finishes in the 100 backstroke.

Golden Tornado senior Ben Grossman did the same in the 100 breaststroke and Seneca Valley’s 400 freestyle relay — consisting of Caden Stahl, Colin Stevens, Braden Rubinosky, and Snow — was at its fastest, as well.

Girls

Butler, Mars, Seneca Valley

100 freestyle: 5-Sasha Myers (SV) 53.49, 8-Morgan Baker (SV) 54.01

100 backstroke: 6-Bella Kling (SV) 58.70

100 breaststroke: 5-Katie Bookwalter (SV) 1:05.59

400 freestyle relay: 5-Seneca Valley (Morgan Baker, Bella Kling, Alissa Wilson, Sasha Myers) 3:35.88

Boys

Butler, Seneca Valley

No medalists

Seneca Valley's Brynn Flatt swims in the girls 500 yard freestyle event during the WPIAL swim meet at Trees Pool on Friday, March 1. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (3/1/2024)

Seneca Valley's Addy Molinero swims in the girls 500 yard freestyle event during the WPIAL swim meet at Trees Pool on Friday, March 1. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (3/1/2024)

Seneca Valley's Alissa Wilson swims in the girls 500 yard freestyle event during the WPIAL swim meet at Trees Pool on Friday, March 1. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (3/1/2024)

Seneca Valley's Addy Molinero swims in the girls 500 yard freestyle event during the WPIAL swim meet at Trees Pool on Friday, March 1. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (3/1/2024)

Seneca Valley's Alissa Wilson swims in the girls 500 yard freestyle event during the WPIAL swim meet at Trees Pool on Friday, March 1. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (3/1/2024)

Seneca Valley's Brynn Flatt swims in the girls 500 yard freestyle event during the WPIAL swim meet at Trees Pool on Friday, March 1. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (3/1/2024)

Seneca Valley's Elle Alexander swims in the girls 100 yard backstroke event during the WPIAL swim meet at Trees Pool on Friday, March 1. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (3/1/2024)

Seneca Valley's Brynn Flatt swims in the girls 500 yard freestyle event during the WPIAL swim meet at Trees Pool on Friday, March 1. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (3/1/2024)

Seneca Valley's Elle Alexander swims in the girls 100 yard backstroke event during the WPIAL swim meet at Trees Pool on Friday, March 1. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (3/1/2024)

Mars' Reaga Connelly swims in the girls 100 yard backstroke event during the WPIAL swim meet at Trees Pool on Friday, March 1. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (3/1/2024)

Seneca Valley's Addy Molinero swims in the girls 500 yard freestyle event during the WPIAL swim meet at Trees Pool on Friday, March 1. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (3/1/2024)