Raiders' golden girls
PITTSBURGH - Their cup runneth over.
With two gold medals already in their pocket from Thursday, the Seneca Valley girls swim team added three more at the WPIAL Class AAA swimming championships Friday at the University of Pittsburgh's Trees Pool.
Stacie Safritt won the 100 freestyle and Kylie Gamelier won the 100 breaststroke before teaming up with Kelly Connolly and Rose Snyder to capture the district crown in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3 minutes, 34.29 seconds.
The performance caps an incredible run for Safritt, who won the 50 freestyle and swam a leg on the winning 200 medley relay squad Thursday, giving the senior four gold medals in the four events she competed in.
"Relay titles are special because you get to share the glory with three other people," said Safritt. "But winning individually, it means so much because it's something I have worked for over the last four years."
Safritt's time of 51.85 in the 100 freestyle broke the school record that was held by Amanda Smith, who now swims at the University of North Carolina.
The mark was also more than a full second in front of Safritt's nearest competitor, Katrina Streiner from Gateway.
"Her performance in the 50 freestyle (Thursday) was the reason I was so confident she'd win the 100," said Seneca Valley coach Tom Donati. "I could just see the confidence in her face."
Gamelier came in third in last year's breaststroke event, but turned in a personal best 1:05.87 Friday to grab the championship.
"My goal was to win," Gamelier said. "And I felt it was going to come down to me and Sarah (Dunleavy of Bethel Park, who finished second)."
The Raiders' 400 freestyle relay victory in the final girls event of the day gave the Raiders a second-place finish in the team standings with 190 points. Bethel Park took first with 220½ points.
"Last year we finished second," said Donati. "We got second again this year, but ended up scoring (24) more points as a team."
Connolly, a sophomore, took third place in the 100 freestyle at 54.01 and will head to the PIAA meet in the event.
On the boys side, SV's Scott Bowser finished second in the 100 breaststroke in 1:00.14 and also will move on to states as a sophomore.
"I believe Scott's time is one-tenth of a second from the school record," said Donati.
"I just wanted to get my personal best," said Bowser. "And I've got to give a lot of credit to (teammate) Ben Gutmann. He and I have been neck and neck all season and he really pushed me today."
Seneca's boys finished in 11th place in the team standings with 47 points.
Sarah Clouse had Butler's best performance in the two-day event as she took fifth place in the 100 breaststroke. Her time of 1:09.44 helped her move up 16 spots from her 21st-place finish a year ago.
Butler's girls took ninth place with a total of 62 points.
The PIAA Class AAA swimming and diving championships will be held March 18 and 19 at Bucknell University's Kinney Natatorium in Lewisburg.
