2019 PENNSYLVANIA CLASS 3A BOYS & GIRLS STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- March 15th-16th, 2019
- Bucknell University, PA
- Short Course Yards, Prelims-Finals
- Results Listings
The 2019 PIAA Class 3A State Championship Meet occurred over a two-day period, contesting the 200 medley through the 100 fly (and adding in the 200 free relay), while swimming the rest of the events the next day.
North Penn come into the girls meet looking to defend their title from last year’s meet, while North Allegheny return as the defending champions on the boys side behind their famed 400 free relay national high school record. Three state records were broken throughout the course of the meet.
Girls Meet
To make it a two-peat, the North Penn Knights won their second straight PIAA Class 3A State Championship team title, amassing a final score of 243 to out-pace second place Upper Dublin by 77 points.
Mount Lebanon’s 200 medley relay squad, comprising of Hannah Morelli (27.13), Maddie Dorish (28.33), Trinity Ward (24.29) and Sophia Donati (23.29), jumpstarted the meet with a final time of 1:43.04 to claim the event win. Finishing a little over a second behind them was North Penn’s team at 1:44.27.
Of note, Upper Dublin’s 200 medley relay was DQ’d in prelims – they headed into the meet seeded first with a 1:42.80.
Abbie Amdor of Upper Dublin had a phenomenal meet to end her high school career. The senior first won the 200 free in a swift 1:46.66 by almost two seconds, then scorched her mark as the only competitor under 50 seconds in the 100 free, taking the win with a 49.32.
Speaking of ways to end a career, Fox Chapel freshman Zoe Skirboll certainly started her career with a bang, dipping below 2:00 to take the victory in the 200 IM in a 1:58.75. Skirboll would later be narrowly out-touched in the 100 breast by junior Laura Goetter of Butler; the two posted times of 1:01.13 and 1:01.23.
Governor Mifflin’s quartet of Courtney Hubric (23.58), Rebecca Brown (22.70), Connar Melcher (23.52) and Emma Steckiel (23.17) claimed a commanding victory in the 200 free relay, recording a final time of 1:32.97 ahead of North Penn’s runner-up time of 1:34.32.
Anna Kalandadze, a senior representing Lower Merion, became the only competitor in the field to break 4:50 in the 500, registering a 4:48.96 to easily take the win.
Upper Dublin’s Meghan Demartile also had an exceptional freshman debut, touching the wall at 53.73 to earn her first individual state title.
Avenging their disqualification in the heats of the first relay, Upper Dublin’s Molly (52.19) and Elle Braun (50.90), Aly Breslin (50.10), and Amdor (49.11) fired on all cylinders to win the 400 free relay in a combined time of 3:22.30. North Penn went 3 for 3 in runner-up relay finishes, taking second with their 3:24.75 – further distancing themselves from the competition in the team race.
Other Event Winners:
- Gateway junior Olivia Livingston, the current state record holder in the event, won the 50 free in a time of 23.00.
- Senior Trinity Ward, who swam the fly leg of Mount Lebanon’s 200 medley relay, cemented herself as the division’s best flyer. She won the 100 fly with a time of 54.19.
- A large chunk of North Penn’s points came from their 1st through 4th place sweep in the 1m diving event (read more about PIAA’s unique selection procedure here). Finishing atop the podium was Paige Burrell, who tallied a total of 492.20 points.
Top 5 Teams:
- North Penn – 243
- Upper Dublin – 166
- Governor Mifflin – 135
- Avon Grove – 127
- Mount Lebanon – 112
Boys Meet
Despite losing two members of their legendary free relay, North Allegheny dominated the team standings – registering a total of 279 points to win their third consecutive PIAA Class 3A State Championship. Finishing second was North Penn at 196 points, marginally ahead of Lasalle College’s 191 for third.
The only relay that North Allegheny didn’t win was the 200 medley relay, which came down to a photo finish between them and Upper St Clair. Beyond their close race, the event was home to a plethora of fast splits.
Jack Fitzpatrick duked it out with North Allegheny’s Richard Mihm on the backstroke leg, with the two scorching times of 22.61 and 22.70. Sophomore phenom Josh Matheny followed up Fitzpatrick’s leg with a 24.10 on the breaststroke leg, which was notably rivaled by Upper Dublin breaststroker Matthew Jensen’s 24.11. Although Upper St Clair had the weaker back half, Reese Samuel (23.08) and Ryan Senchyshak (20.88) ultimately brought home the win in a final time of 1:30.67 to North Allegheny’s 1:30.70.
Other noteworthy splits include Matt Brownstead‘s 19.06 anchor leg for State College, and North Penn’s Sean Faikish‘s 22.30 backstroke lead-off.
North Allegheny senior Jack Wright dropped a bomb in the 200 free, swimming a blistering 1:35.04 to top the field by over three seconds.
The three swimmers who broke 23 leading off their team’s 200 medley relays also went 1-2-3 in the 200 IM. Juniors Faikish and Mihm came into the wall together to post times of 1:44.88 and 1:44.97, while Fitzpatrick took third in 1:47.70.
Matt Brownstead, a State College junior, broke the legendary David Nolan’s state record in the 50 free, clocking a solid 19.55 to break the eight year old state record of 19.58. He later won the 100 free with a 43.71 to beat out four guys who dipped under 44 point: Jack Wright (43.81), Matthew Jensen (43.89), and Kimani Gregory (43.98).
Brendan Burns, our #2 recruit in the class of 2019 and Hoosier commit, picked up two individual wins in the 100 fly and 100 back. In the former, he replaced his old state record with a 46.79; in the latter, he won in 46.95 ahead of Fitzpatrick’s 47.67.
In the final individual event, Josh Matheny broke Brendan Hansen’s 19 year old state record in the 100 breast, stopping the clock at 52.52.
Although the team title had long been secured for North Allegheny, the team of Mihm (43.88), Branko Kosanovich (44.89) John Ehling (46.80), and Jack Wright (44.23) posted a commanding win in the 400 free relay as the only team to break three minutes. Their final time of 2:59.80 easily secured the win over North Penn’s second place time of 3:02.69.
Other Event Winners:
- Mihm dueled with senior Matt Bonnell of Abington in the 500 free – the junior emerged, though, as the victor in the end as the two hit the pads at 4:23.48 and 4:23.81, respectively.
- North Allegheny boasted all sub-21 splits to claim the 200 free relay title. The team of Kosanovich (20.98), Joel Songer (20.95), Joshua Galecki (20.77) and Jack Wright (19.78) recorded a combined time of 1:22.48.
- In the 1m diving event, Emmaus junior Brendan McCourt raked up 542.75 points to take the state title.
Top 5 Teams:
- North Allegheny – 279
- North Penn – 196
- Lasalle College – 191
- Upper Dublin – 147.5
- Upper St Clair – 134
19.55 is crazy fast for a HS Junior, and great to see Matt’s 100 free is also rapidly improving. Is 19.55 currently the fastest 50 time for the class of 2020?
Not definitive, but next-best that I can find is Adam Chaney at 19.73
And I don’t recall splits faster than 19.06 for any current prep. I imagine that split ranks pretty high all-time as well.
It was also announced that the lead off swimmer in the girls 200 free relay, Heather MacCausland from Downingtown East, broke the state 50 free record of 22.73 set last year by Olivia Livingstone, with a 22.67.
How is this a 3a state meet, these times overall are really fast
Wanna sprite – different states have different classification systems. In Pennsylvania, 3A is the ‘biggest schools’ and usually the fastest/deepest meet in the state.
Ok that makes sense
The top end quality is there though not necessarily the depth in 3A for a state the size of PA. A lot of the talent gets split to Easterns and it is better to rank the top times across 2A, 3A and Easterns to get the real picture of HS times in PA.
4 guys under 44 is seriously impressive… wow