Butler sophomore Laura Goettler swims in the 200 individual medley at the WPIAL Class AAA Swimming Championships at the University of Pittsburgh's Trees Pool Thursday. Goettler won gold in the event for the second straight year.

PITTSBURGH — The much-awaited WPIAL Class AAA girls 200-yard individual medley showdown between Laura Goettler and Torie Buerger proved a bit anticlimactic.

Goettler, Butler's sophomore star, led from start to finish, successfully defending her crown from last year by winning with a time of two minutes, 2.49 seconds.

North Allegheny's Buerger, who entered the event ranked No. 1 in the district, placed a distant second at 2:03.84.

Goettler had a decent lead when both swimmer's transitioned to the event's third stroke, the breaststroke.

“Laura is tremendous in the breaststroke. It's her best event,” said Golden Tornado coach Dave Bocci. “Often times, the swimmer who is the better breaststroker wins the (IM).”

One thing eluded Goettler despite her district title. She fell short of her WPIAL meet record of 2:01.78, set last year. When she finished Thursday's race, she did not immediately know her time because the scoreboard at the University of Pittsburgh's Trees Pool was not working.

“When I got out of the pool, the official told me my time,” said Goettler. “There was a bit of frustration because breaking my record was one of my goals. I was a little surprised I won by as much as I did because I felt coming in that I would have to break the record to win.”

Bocci was nonetheless pleased with the effort.

“I was confident she would win today,” he said. “We're looking beyond this meet to states. We want to get Laura to the finals of the 200 IM (top eight) at states. That is something she did not do last year. She feels comfortable in the pool right now.”

Boys

Several swimmers missed out on automatically qualifying for states with a top-three finish, but have a very good chance of getting there by having their times fall within the top 16 non-automatic times from across the state.

Butler junior Alex Deemer is one of them. He placed fourth in the 200 freestyle with a finish of 1:42.08.

“I'm getting to states,” he said with confidence after receiving his medal. “My time will stack up well with the other times around the state.

“The 500 (freestyle) is my best event ranking-wise, but I enjoy the 200 more. It's more of a race. That 500 gets pretty long.”

Another swimmer on the verge of a PIAA berth is Seneca Valley sophomore Owen Blazer, who placed fourth in the butterfly at 50.66. He swam the backstroke leg of SV's 200 medley relay, which placed fourth in 1:36.05, a school record time.

The quartet, which also involved Christian Sawyer, Connor Quiggle and Jake Lee, entered the meet seeded third.

“We all swam well and we're happy with the time,” said Sawyer. “Our last few practices included a lot of sprint work, turns and technique. It was a good way to prepare.”

“If everything falls in line with the way it usually does, we'll get to states,” said SV coach Brian Blackwell.

Following are results from the WPIAL Swimming Championships, which began Thursday at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool. The top eight finishers in each event earned a medal. Those who automatically qualified for the state meet (top three in Class AAA and top four in AA) appear in bold.Class AAAGirls200 medley relay: 5-Seneca Valley (Marleah Schlick, Edie Sawyer, Julia Listwak, Alyvia Meanor) 1:49.23200 individual medley:1-Laura Goettler (Butler) 2:02.49, 8-Megan Smith (Mars) 2:10.87200 freestyle relay: 7-Seneca Valley (Kendall Craig, Alyvia Meanor, Marleah Schlick, Bella Stefanowicz) 1:39.64Boys200 medley relay: 4-Seneca Valley (Owen Blazer, Christian Sawyer, Connor Quiggle, Jake Lee) 1:36.05200 freestyle: 4-Alex Deemer (Butler) 1:42.08100 butterfly: 4-Owen Blazer (Seneca Valley) 50.66200 freestyle relay: 8-Seneca Valley (Owen Blazer, Max Bredl, Jake Lee, Connor Quiggle) 1:27.39Class AAGirls200 medley relay:4-Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic (Emma Kunzmann, Brooke Carmazzi, Brittney Carmazzi, Julia Kocsis) 1:52.5200 freestyle: 6-Brittney Carmazzi (CWNC) 2:01.17, 7-Ainsley Bissett (CWNC) 2:02.16200 individual medley:4-Brooke Carmazzi (CWNC) 2:13.05, 6-Julia Kocsis (CWNC) 2:14.75, 7-Lindsey Fanton (Knoch) 2:15.31100 butterfly:2-Brittney Carmazzi (CWNC) 58.51, 3-Meredith Cummings* (Shady Side Academy) 58.67, 8-Julia Kocsis (CWNC) 1:00.59Boys200 medley relay: 7-Knoch (Zach Wilson, Braden Zukowski, Matt Karenbauer, Michael Phillips) 1:41.82200 freestyle:1-Andrew Pierre (Mars) 1:44.15200 individual medley:2-Andrew Ivory (Mars) 1:59.23, 3-Matt Karenbauer (Knoch) 2:00.92100 butterfly:3-Matt Karenbauer (Knoch) 52.38200 freestyle relay: 6-Knoch (Matt Karenbauer, Michael Phillips, Braden Zukowski, Zach Wilson) 1:32.4*Butler County resident