Moniteau's Trettel joins PIAA meet
CLAY TWP — Making states and making history were one in the same for Baily Trettel.
Representing Moniteau High School, the sophomore won a pair of titles at the District 9 Class AA Swimming Championships, held Friday and Saturday at Clearfield High School.
She captured the girls 100-yard butterfly with a time of 59.52 seconds and the backstroke with an effort of 59.82 and will become the first Moniteau swimmer to compete at the PIAA Championships later this month.
“My biggest goal was to swim my best times,” said Trettel, “but I also wanted to get to the state meet.”
With each PIAA district guaranteed only one spot at the state event, Trettel knew that winning at Clearfield was the only way to ensure an extended season.
She initially punched her ticket Friday with her win in the butterfly, three seconds in front of Bradford's Julia Moini.
“I felt really good during that event,” Trettel said. “The first 50 (yards) was close, but we do a lot of endurance work with my club team and I knew I could pull away in the second half.”
Since Moniteau does not have a swimming team, Trettel travels to Deer Lakes High School to work with the Racer X Aquatics club team.
All of the hours of training and travel culminated when Trettel saw her name atop the scoreboard.
“It was very exciting,” she said. “All of the other swimmers on my club team are from the WPIAL and a lot of them are going to states, too. We aren't on the same (high school) team, but going out and competing with them, it's going to be a great experience.”
Trettel won Saturday's backstroke, edging top-seeded Mackenzie Lucas of Bradford.
The former competed in just two high school events this season prior to swimming at districts. The first was an invitational held at Clearfield.
“It wasn't terrible, but I didn't do as well as I wanted,” Trettel said. “I swam at a meet between Butler and Knoch later in the season and dropped a lot of time in both events.”
Trettel said the relationships she has formed through club swimming have stoked her interest in the sport.
“We're all competitive and we all want to swim at states,” she said. “It's a good environment.”
Two other Moniteau swimmers, Josie Reott and Sydney Reott, who train with Butler's YMCA team, also competed at the District 9 event. Josie placed second in the breaststroke and Sydney sixth in the backstroke.
