Kiski Area’s Leah Kunkle enjoyed the chance to celebrate her WPIAL Class 3A girls 100-yard breaststroke gold medal won Feb. 27 at Pitt’s Trees Pool.
But not too long after that, it was back to work with the knowledge there was more to be had at the PIAA championships at Bucknell University.
“It was a pretty cool couple of days,” said Kunkle, who swam to a winning time of 1 minute, 5.02 seconds at WPIALs and is the 10th seed for her preliminary swim Wednesday.
“But it is a quick turnover, just a week and a half to get ready.”
Kunkle joined the Fox Chapel girls 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays and Foxes freshmen Delaney O’Toole (50 free and 100 backstroke) and Ellie Lange (200 individual medley) in bringing home WPIAL championships as part of a highly successful two days for A-K Valley Class 3A competitors at Pitt. Now it’s time for the local contingent to make a mark at states.
The Class 3A meet kicks off with preliminary heats Wednesday morning in the 200 medley relay, 200 free, 200 IM, 50 free, 100 butterfly and 200 free relay.
Thursday prelims will feature the 100 free, 500 free, 100 back, 100 breast and 400 free relay.
The top 16 from each boys and girls preliminary both days will return for the evening session of consolation and championship finals.
Kunkle said she was pleased with her “pretty perfect” 100 breast swim at WPIALs, but she hopes the added work in the pool balanced with proper rest will help her drop more time. She is only 10 hundredths of a second away from the seventh seed.
“I am very confident in myself and my training,” she said. “There are definitely some things to tweak. I know there are some very fast girls I am going up against. I don’t look at the seeds too much. I am just focused on my race. I am excited for the competition. Anything can happen just like at WPIALs where any of those girls could’ve won the title.”
Kunkle, swimming at states for the third time, knows the feeling of swimming in the evening session. She was part of Kiski Area’s Class 2A state runner-up 400 free relay at the 2024 championships while swimming to 16th twice individually.
She also hopes to return for the evening session in the 200 IM where she is the 18th seed.
O’Toole, meanwhile, again will be the hunted as she makes her PIAA debut.
The Foxes freshman was a calm and powerful force at WPIALs in winning four gold medals.
She is the top seed in the 100 back (54.13) and the second seed in the 50 free (22.97) to defending champion Molly Workman, a senior from State College.
Fellow Foxes freshman Ellie Lange also is the hunted as she is the top seed for the 200 IM after her title-winning 2:03.33 at WPIALs. Lange also seeks a state medal in the 500 free (5:00.31) as the sixth seed after winning bronze at WPIALs.
Junior Charlotte Rusche hopes to move up the PIAA ladder in the 200 free after taking 11th overall last year.
The WPIAL runner-up is seeded third for her Wednesday prelim heat (1:51.93) and will share the pool in the heat with Foxes sophomore Maren Shelkey-Bray.
All three Fox Chapel girls relays are top-eight seeds with the 400 free relay of Lange, Rusche, O’Toole and sophomore Nico Ressler at the top (3:27.38).
Fox Chapel and North Allegheny finished either first or second in all three relays at WPIALs. The Foxes’ 200 medley relay gold-medal time of 1:43.94, produced by Lange, O’Toole, and juniors Cameryn Brindza and Josie Stanczak, puts them as the No. 3 seed for Wednesday. North Allegheny (1:44.82) is the fifth seed.
With the PIAA’s circle seeding, where the top seeds are spread out over the final three heats, it can create some interesting pairings.
In the girls 200 free relay, North Allegheny and Fox Chapel are the top seed and fourth seed, respectively, after finishing 1-2 at WPIALs.
The second and third seeds, Upper Dublin and Wilson, will swim in separate preliminary heats, and the seeding puts the Tigers and the Foxes quartet of Stanczak, Rusche, sophomore Tuuli Airik and junior Norah Kovach next to each other in the fourth and final heat.
Individually, Stanczak is in medal contention as the 12th seed for the 100 butterfly (56.86), Brindza is 14th in the 100 back (57.96) and Rusche is seeded 15th in the 100 free (52.42).
Fox Chapel will have a total of 20 individual and relay preliminary swims over the two days at Bucknell, and junior Gosha Pitsov hopes to make an impact in Class 3A boys diving at 12:40 p.m. Wednesday.
He is the No. 15 seed for his PIAA debut after placing fourth at WPIALs on Feb. 21 at North Allegheny.