All of the meets, invitationals and practices have concluded.
Top times have been recorded, and the heats have been assembled.
Hundreds of swimmers are set for the WPIAL Class 3A and Class 2A championships Thursday and Friday at Pitt’s Trees Pool.
How many records will be set?
WPIAL champions will be crowned as several former and defending champions hope to again find themselves atop the medal podium.
The top eight finishers in each event will be awarded medals, but only the WPIAL champion again will earn an automatic bid to the PIAA championships set for March 11-14 at Bucknell University.
The remaining entries to the state meet will be determined based on times recorded at each district or regional meet throughout the state.
The Class 3A timed finals will be Thursday and Friday at 9:45 a.m. with the Class 2A meet to start at 3 p.m. both days.
Ten swimmers who have previously won WPIAL titles are back hoping to add more gold to their resumes.
Dani Hinkson, senior, North Allegheny
Hinkson will swim with hopes of capturing a third Class 3A girls championship in the 200-yard individual medley. Last year, she won the 200 IM with a time of 2 minutes, 7.72 seconds on Day 1 and came back on Day 2 to earn a seventh-place medal in the 100 backstroke. Hinkson went on to take 10th in the 200 IM at the PIAA championships while placing 16th in the 100 back. She is switching things up this year with a move from the 200 IM to the 100 butterfly where she is seeded third. Hinkson also is seeded fifth in her return to the 100 back.
Amber Klingensmith, junior, Norwin
Klingensmith is the defending champion in the Clas 3A girls 100 fly (56.34), and she will go for a repeat title as the fourth seed in a hotly contested finals heat against Hinkson and the likes of North Allegheny senior Evan Ogden and Upper St. Clair freshman Catherine Miller. Klingensmith also took third in the 100 back at WPIALs last year and enters this year’s championships at Pitt as the top seed in the event.
Ava Komoroski, junior, Peters Township
Komoroski will go after her second WPIAL Class 3A girls title in the 100 free after outracing the field to the wall last year in a winning time of 51.68. She went on to place 12th in a competitive group of swimmers at states. Komoroski also finished as the WPIAL runner-up to Mt. Lebanon’s Sylvia Roy in the 50 free before taking ninth in the event at states. She leads the field as the top seed in the 100 free Friday while earning the No. 2 seed in Thursday’s 50 free behind Fox Chapel freshman Delaney O’Toole.
Nazar Zoukovski, senior, Upper St. Clair
The Arizona commit didn’t let being the hunted in the Class 3A boys 100 free last year deter him from defending his 2024 title with a winning time of 45.38. He went on to claim fifth in the event at states. He will go after a three-peat in the 100 free Friday as the No. 3 seed behind Upper St. Clair senior Ben Whitehead and Mars sophomore Dom Davis. Zoukovski also was last year’s WPIAL runner-up in the 50 free to current Tennessee freshman McClellan Clark before placing third at states ahead of Clark (fifth). He is this year’s 50 free top seed.
Claire Bacu, senior, North Allegheny
Bacu has been at or near the top of the standings at WPIALs for four years and is expected to be there again Thursday and Friday. The Brown University commit is the two-time defending Class 3A girls 500 free champion and is seeded first (4:57.44) in the event Friday with one of three times under five minutes this season. The distance specialist also is the top seed in Thursday’s 200 free (1:50.92). She finished second to Fox Chapel graduate and Michigan freshman Sarah Pasquella in last year’s 200 free finals heat at both WPIALs and states.
Chris Heese, senior, Latrobe
Heese, a Swathmore College swim commit, won his first WPIAL championship last year by taking the Class 3A boys 100 breaststroke title in a time of 55.94. He went on to place 11th in the event at states. He heads up one of the smaller event fields in boys Class 3A at WPIALs (16 entries) as the 100 breast No. 2 seed (57.91) Friday behind Mt. Lebanon junior Rinzen Sherpa (56.48). Heese also is the No. 3 seed for Thursday’s 50 free (21.05) behind Zoukovski and Davis. He placed fourth in the 50 free last year.
Ava Jochims, junior, Shady Side Academy
Jochims made an immediate WPIAL splash as a freshman in 2024 with a first place in the 500 free and a runner-up finish to Hampton’s Lainey Sheets in the 200 IM. She returned to WPIALs last year and was twice golden, besting the field in the 500 free (4:54.22) and the 200 IM. Her time of 2:00.09 in the 200 IM set a WPIAL record. She was runner-up in the 500 at Bucknell as a freshman but came back to win it all last year. Jochims boasts the best girls Class 2A times this season in the 200 IM (2:02.83) and 500 free (5:04.94) and is the top seed for both.
Sam Cavanaugh, senior, Northgate
There was nobody better than Cavanaugh in the 200 IM at last year’s WPIAL boys Class 2A championships. The Bucknell commit took gold in a time of 1:52.95, a half-second better than Mt. Pleasant graduate and Pitt freshman Joseph Gardner. But Garder would edge Cavanaugh for the title at states. Cavanaugh also took third at WPIALs last year in the 500 free (4:39.80) and then placed runner-up to Mt. Pleasant grad and St. Bonaventure (N.Y.) freshman David Mutter at the PIAA meet. Cananaugh is the top seed for the 200 IM on Thursday and 500 free on Friday.
Joshua Reed, junior, Indiana
Reed stood at the top of the podium in the boys 50 free (21.38) and on the runner-up step in the 100 free (47.29) at last year’s WPIAL boys Class 2A championships. He then took second at states in the 50 free (21.28) and third in the 100 free (46.85). Reed struck gold at Bucknell as the lead leg of the winning 200 free relay with seniors Preston Kessler, Matthew Blystone, and Joey Margita. Reed returns to Trees Pool on Thursday as the top seed in the 50 free (21.18) and at the head of the pack Friday in the 100 free (47.55).
Lainey Sheets, senior, Hampton
Sheets heads into her final WPIAL meet a six-time individual medalist. That includes a pair of gold medals as a sophomore in both the 200 IM (2:03.02) and 100 back (55.30). Last year, the Duquesne commit switched her first-day event to the 100 fly and finished runner-up (55.40) to Freeport graduate and Duquesne freshman Kira Schrecongost (54.85). Sheets remained in the 100 back and placed second (55.56) to Mt. Pleasant graduate and UConn freshman Kiersten O’Connor. Sheets and Schrecongost then repeated their 1-2 WPIAL finish at states, and Sheets took third in the 100 back at Bucknell. She will go for WPIAL gold Thursday as the top seed in both the girls Class 2A 100 fly and 100 back.