Menear, Shahan top seeds in PIAA swim meet
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Ella Menear reacts to setting a pool record at Upper St. Clair High School after she captured the 200-yard IM during the WPIAL Class AA swimming championships. Menear clocked in at 2:04.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Ian Shahan poses with the two gold medals he won during the WPIAL Class AA swimming championships. In addition to defending his title in the 100-yard butterfly with a new pool record of 49.62, Shahan tied Neshannock’s Conner McBeth for first place in the 50 freestyle. Both swam WPIAL record times of 20.36.
Some swimmers were already on the Bucknell University campus, while others were in transit when the word came down the Class AA portion of the 2020 PIAA Swimming Championships was going to be shut down because of concerns with the coronavirus.
Many of those same swimmers make a return to the Class AA state meet today when the competition gets underway at Cumberland Valley High School in Mechanicsburg.
The meet will run a similar schedule to the WPIAL Championships with two heats in each individual event and four heats in the three relays.
The girls meet begins at 10:45 a.m. with the 200 medley relay and closes with the 400 freestyle relay around 2:30 p.m.
The boys meet starts with the 200 medley relay at 5:30 p.m. and the long day of swimming ends with the 400 freestyle relay around 9 p.m.
Both the girls and boys competitions will be broadcast live on PCN TV.
Mapletown’s Ella Menear won two gold medals at the WPIAL Championships and those times have the sophomore the top-seeded swimmer in the 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke. Menear is the only girl to crack 2:05 (2:04.54) in the 200 IM and 55 seconds (54.58) in the 100 backstroke entering the state meet.
California sophomore Anastasia Georgagis swims in the second heat of the 100 breaststroke with a seed time of 1:06.60.
In the boys meet, Belle Vernon’s Ian Shahan is top seeded in both the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly, although the senior gained entry into the speed event with an at-large bid after tying Neshannock’s Conner McBeth in the WPIAL final.
Shahan, McBeth, and New Hope-Solebury’s John Devaney (20.98) are the only swimmers in the 50 freestyle with a qualifying time under 21 seconds. Shahan’s time of 49.62 seconds in the 100 butterfly is the only qualifying time under 50 seconds.
Belle Vernon’s Sam West (200 freestyle, 1:47.67; 100 freestyle, 48.15), 200 freestyle relay (1:29.73), and 400 freestyle relay (3:16.59) will also be swimming in the state meet.