Leah Kunkle was confident.
The Kiski Area junior knew her ability to swim well in the 100-yard breaststroke at Friday’s WPIAL Class 3A championships at Pitt’s Trees Pool.
But she also understood how talented the others in her heat were and what she needed to do to win gold.
All of those strategies and hopes came to fruition for a WPIAL championship. Kunkle was seventh in the 100 breast last year. This year, nobody was better.
Kunkle swam to a winning time of 1 minute, 05.02 seconds, a half second ahead of runner-up Tori Tieppo, a senior from North Allegheny.
“That race was so crazy from start to finish,” said Kunkle, who took fifth in the 200 individual medley Thursday. “In my first pullout, I could hear everyone swimming, and I was still underneath the water. But at the first wall, I was with the entire group, and I knew I just had to keep going.
“When I hit the wall, I was like, ‘Oh my God!’ Everyone in my heat are incredible swimmers, and I was so nervous going into it knowing that any of them could’ve won it. We are all so close and competitive. I got my Futures cut today. That was a main goal, but this also will give me a lot of energy and motivation as I prepare for states.”
Alle-Kiski Valley girls captured three WPIAL Class 3A titles out of the five Friday swims.
Fox Chapel freshman Delaney O’Toole had nothing but gold around her neck over the two days of competition. She anchored the Foxes’ winning 200 medley relay and won the 50 free Thursday. On Friday, she captured the 100 backstroke and then anchored the first-place 400 free relay with freshman Ellie Lange, sophomore Nico Ressler and junior Charlotte Rusche.
O’Toole’s time of 54.13 in the 100 back is a school record, surpassing the previous mark held by 2023 graduate Talia Bugel (55.1).
“I was pretty tired, but I still felt good in my race,” she said. “It was a good race, and I was excited when I finished. There was such good competition, but I was just focused on my own race and not anybody else. I knew I had trained at a high level all season, and I was ready.”
Lange, Ressler, and Rusche were fast in their splits and put Fox Chapel in position to win. O’Toole passed North Allegheny’s Julia Tengowski at her first turn with 75 yards to go. She touched the wall first, and the Foxes had gold in a time of 3:27.38, one second and change ahead of North Allegheny.
“They are some of my best friends, so it was great to be able to do it again with them,” O’Toole said. “We all had a great meet with a lot of fast times. I am excited to see what we can do at states.”
The Fox Chapel girls finished the two days with five overall titles and numerous other top-eight medals. Lange finished with three titles: the two-relay golds and her win Thursday in the 200 IM.
But North Allegheny again was too strong. The Tigers’ wins, medals and superior depth led them to an 18th straight title with 495 points. Fox Chapel scored 357 points, good for second for the fifth year in a row.
Lange came in as a top-three seed in Friday’s 500 free with one of the three WPIAL cuts under five minutes. North Allegheny senior and Brown commit Claire Bacu and Tengowski were the others.
And those three finished in the top three spots: Bacu first (4:54.88), Tengowski second (4:55.47) and Lange third (5:00.31). It was Bacu’s third WPIAL 500 title.
“Everyone had a great day yesterday, and that energy definitely carried over to today,” Lange said. “I wanted to help keep that going. The 500 (swim) wasn’t my best, but I felt pretty good. My technique felt pretty good, but there is still room for improvement. The competition is just so strong.”
Lange stood on the 500 medals podium with teammates Nico Ressler (fifth) and Maren Shelkey-Bray (sixth).
Rusche and Foxes junior Josie Stanczak both bumped up in the final heat of the girls 100 free. Rusche was seeded sixth but finished fifth in 52.42. Stanczak came in seeded eighth, but she rose to sixth (52.45).
Junior Cameryn Brindza scored points for the Fox Chapel girls with a fourth in the 100 back (57.96).
Class 2A
Deer Lakes’ Tucker Beers made his WPIAL debut last year as a freshman and placed 17th in the 200 free and 500 free.
He appreciated a different view of his Trees Pool surroundings this year. That view came from near the top of the medals podium.
Switching up his individual swims, Beers started out this year’s WPIAL experience 11th in the 100 fly Thursday, but he made the most of his return to the pool Friday, moving up the ladder to third in the 100 back with a time of 55.02.
He came in seeded ninth (58.22), won the second of three heats then waited to see how many in the fastest heat would go slower. Six did, and he had a bronze medal put around his neck.
“I had the confidence I could go fast and get a time that would get me into the top eight,” Beers said. “I was ready. There are so many great guys in that event. I am excited to go to states and see if I can go even faster.”
It was the first of several successful swims for VND swimmers in Friday’s second session.
Knoch closed out its WPIAL meet with a pair of school records.
Senior Adrian Lavorini capped his WPIAL individual career with the best 100 breast time in program history. His 57.99, which placed him third, was almost 4 seconds faster than his seed time and has him positioned well for states in two weeks. He also is sitting well for states in the 200 IM after taking second to Northgate’s Sam Cavanaugh on Thursday.
“I was very happy with my (100 breast) swim,” he said. “That was my best time by almost a full second. There are things I can improve on for states.”
Only the WPIAL champion in each event automatically qualifies for the PIAA championships set for March 11-14 at Bucknell. The remaining qualifying spots are determined based on times recorded at each district or regional meet. The PIAA is expected to release the qualifying lists for states Sunday afternoon.
Lavorini came back and set a personal best with his 100 free leadoff split in the 400 free relay, and senior Aedan Smith, sophomore Brady Bleicher, and freshman McCale Buser followed to help the Knights quartet take sixth with a school record 3:22.33.
“We all went personal bests,” Lavorini said. “That was awesome. The team did great. Hopefully, we will have two more weeks of practice to work on going faster. There were a lot of individual best times both days.”
Bleicher added a fifth in the 100 back (55.60).
The Knoch boys finished fourth in the team standings with 173 points behind champion Northgate (229), Indiana (209) and Shady Side Academy (180).