It was a good day to be a Panther at the Westmoreland County Coaches Association swimming championships.
The Franklin Regional boys (Class 3A) and girls (Class 2A) won team titles Saturday at Derry.
The other team champions were the Latrobe girls (3A) and Mt. Pleasant boys (2A).
The Panthers boys took gold with a score of 365. Hempfield came in second with 295, and Latrobe was third with 254.
“We had a lot of kids who really stepped up today,” Franklin Regional coach Dan Taylor. “Some of the kids who are used to swimming those individual events, like Thomas Westerman, Magdalena Hull and Scarlett Zolnak on the girls side and Peter Ducruet in the breaststroke, they all did a really good job.”
Westerman opened his day by taking first in the 200 free with a time of 1 minute, 43.18 seconds.
Hempfield’s Owen Busch (1:47.32) came in second, and Joey Roos, a Burrell student swimming in a co-op for Kiski Area, was third with a 1:50.54.
“It felt good, Westerman said. “We didn’t really rest that much coming into today’s event, but it was a good swim and I was happy with it. I didn’t quite get out to the start I wanted to, felt a little off, but the back half of the race was better.”
Then Westerman broke the second record of the day, swimming a 4:38.72 in the 500 free. His time bested the mark set in 2024 by Mt. Pleasant’s David Mutter (4:39.24).
“This felt better than the 200 free, feels good to get the record,” Westerman said. “I was shooting for it, knew I was close coming in. My real time is a bit faster, so I tried to be as close to that as I could. I didn’t get any individual golds last year, so this feels nice.”
Roos placed second with a time of 4:57.31, and Damien Muro of Valley placed third (4:58.68)
In the 100 breast, the Panthers’ Ducruet (1:02.69) took first.
Teammate Lucas Oates placed second (1:03.63), and Hunter Altschaffl of Hempfield placed third (1:03.89).
Ducruet had been to the WCCAs all four years, but this was his first individual gold.
“I feels awesome to finally get it done as a senior,” Ducruet said. “It’s a grind, and now we’re just past the midseason point, so to pop times like this is really special.”
The pair also medaled in the 200 IM, with Oates finishing second (2:02.81) and Ducruet third (2:04.32).
The Panthers girls earned gold with 352 points. Mt. Pleasant finished second with 251, and Derry was third with 203.
Franklin Regional’s Hull took first in the 200 free with a time of 1:55.85, shaving nearly a full second off her seed time.
Her teammate, Scarlett Zolnak, placed third with a time of 200.39. Megan Shusteric of Belle Vernon (200.01) came in second.
Hull took home a second gold in the 500 free (5:15.94).
Shusteric took second in the event with a 5:19.07, and Delaney Race of Penn-Trafford placed third (5:25.03).
The Panthers’ Zolnak took first in the 100 back with a time of 59.73.
Derry’s Alexa Darazio came in second (1:00.96), and Adelle Brown of Norwin (1:02.57) came in third.
“I’m very happy to get gold and grateful for it,” said Zolnak. “I felt pretty good going into the event. I was trying to keep my tempo up and had a pretty good strategy.”
Franklin Regional’s Anna Tomasic won gold in the 50 free (24.32) and 100 free (53.87).
“It feels awesome, and I feel really great to be here,” said Tomasic. “We have an amazing team, and it’s been fun. You always have nerves going into a race like this.”
In the 100 free, she beat out Josie Nikolic of Belle Vernon, who placed second (54.61), and third-place finisher Remi Detschelt (55.02) of Norwin.
“It feels great to win both races, and I’m very grateful,” Tomasic said. “I think the day went well. It’s like the beginning of the season where we’re just racing. It’s been going all right.”
In the relays, Franklin Regional nearly swept all three races in the girls and boys events.
“These boys and girls work really hard, so this is a tribute to what they do in practice,” said Taylor. “They’ve been doing it all season, so I’m proud of the work and this is the payoff.”
The Panthers took first in the girls 200 medley relay with a time of 1:52.20. Latrobe and Mt. Pleasant tied for second (1:52.30) and Norwin came in third (1:53.36).
The girls then took gold in the 200 free relay (1:40.05). Norwin (1:41.86) came in second, and Latrobe (1:43.31) finished third.
The Panthers posted a time of 3:36.51 in the 400 free relay to beat out Mt. Pleasant (3:46. 24) and Penn-Trafford (3:46.73).
Franklin Regional’s boys took the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:38.28, and in the 200 free relay, they placed second (1:29.09).
Latrobe came in second (139.27) in the medley but first in the 200 free (1:28.01). Hempfield claimed third (141.90) in the 200 medley, and Mt. Pleasant was third in the 200 free (1:32.74).
The Panthers boys claimed first in the 400 relay with a time of 3:19.48, while Norwin came in second (3:24.37) and Hempfield took third (3:25.07).
“We’re looking to the end of the season, and this was a really good tuneup to see where we are and see what we need to work on between now and the end of the season,” said Taylor. “We’re excited.”
Latrobe’s Chris Heese set a WCCA record in the 200 IM.
He posted a time of 1:54.34 to take gold and eclipse the record set by Franklin Regional’s Aiden Bunker (1:54.48) in 2023.
“I didn’t think I had a shot at the record at all,” said Heese. “The whole team is basically sick, as am I, so I didn’t expect that at all. I was surprised, so it’s pretty awesome. I wanted to break my school record, which is (five-tenths of a second) faster, but still a great time.”
Heese earned another gold in the 100 backstroke (51.58).
Owen Busch of Hempfield finished second (52.97), and Andrew Silvis of Franklin Regional came in third (53.25).
“This is pretty awesome,” Heese said. “We’re now going to get ready for WPIALs.”
Heese’s teammate, Charlie Thomson, claimed two golds. His first came in the 100 fly where he swam a 51.34.
He narrowly beat Aaron Burdell (51.64) of Penn-Trafford and Aidan Samuels (53.44) of Norwin.
“I was really worried about Samuels in Lane 2, and I didn’t even see Burdell in Lane 4, so I didn’t even see how close it actually was, which I think helped me out,” said Thomson.
Thomson then bested the field in the 100 free (47.64).
“Even though we haven’t been feeling well as a team, I felt a lot better after swimming the fly,” said Thomson. “Getting that out of the way helped and was a good warmup for the free, which I didn’t think I was going to swim as well. I’m happy to see the fruits of my labor.”
The Latrobe girls took home the 3A championship with 278 points. Penn-Trafford scored 245 for second, and Norwin was third with 227.
“We’re small, have only nine girls on the roster, so to come in and race well, it shows their drive to swim at a championship level,” Latrobe coach Grey Arrigonie said.
The Mt. Pleasant boys took home the 2A title with a score of 232. It was a testament to how talented the team still is after losing four Division I recruits and longtime head coach Sandy Felice after last season.
Belle Vernon placed second with 124 points, and Greensburg Salem was third with 100.
Mt. Pleasant’s Gunnar Probst (21.54) took first in the 50 free.
Belle Vernon’s Brady Malekovich (21.68) placed second and Aaron Burdell (21.86) of Penn-Trafford third.
“I felt confident. I’ve been swimming very well,” said Probst. “I was nervous. knew we had some tough competition coming into this event, but it feels good to have a good race.”
“I’m very excited for our kids, they’ve worked very hard,” said new coach Macy Probst. “We did lose a large group of kids last year. But we still have a lot of talent, a lot of WPIAL and state returners. It’s nice to see them continue that success despite the turnover.”
In a battle of two of the best breaststrokers in the county, Southmoreland’s Allison Stinnet (1:05.32) clipped Kiski Area’s Leah Kunkle (1:06.60) to take first in the 100 breast.
Mt. Pleasant’s Lainey Brown came in third with a time of 1:08.77.
“I knew it was going to be a close race, and I just wanted to push myself the best I could and get a good time,” said Stinnet. “That time got me a higher seed for WPIALs, so I’m exited to see if I can beat it at WPIALs.”
Said Kunkle: “It stinks getting second, but I wasn’t completely disappointed in the outcomes. I did very well in dropping times. I dropped two seconds off my WPIAL times and haven’t been able to touch that time since WPIALs, so a good day for me.”
The two have faced off against each other a lot over the years, so the race was just another friendly competition.
“We’re friends in and out of the pool,” said Stinnet. “She’s going to go far and is an amazing person to compete against.”
Said Kunkle: “I love Allison so much. She’s so talented. Today we were talking about recruitment. She’s definitely helping me with that, branching out and emailing coaches, so that’s been nice.”
In the 200 IM, Norwin’s Amber Klingensmith pulled off an upset, racing to a 2:09.18 to edge favorite Kunkle (209.95).
Kunkle trailed through the first two legs of the race, overtook Klingensmith in the second leg of the breaststroke but fell behind at the end in the freestyle. Latrobe’s Beth Cratty finished third with a time of 218.02.
“I was a little nervous coming down to the end of the race,” said Klingensmith. “I knew that her breaststroke was faster than mine and would have been a struggle, but I had confidence that I could keep up with her in the freestyle.”
Klingensmith also took gold in the 100 fly (57.19).
Aidah Holm of Franklin Regional swam a 58.96 and Derry’s Alexa Darazio came in third with a 59.32.