Tom Donati has seen his share of stars come through the Seneca Valley swimming program over the years.

Rose Snyder is on a fast track to join that list.

The sophomore will be swimming the 200 and 100 freestyle events, along with a leg on both the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays at the PIAA Class AAA championships, which begin Wednesday at Bucknell University's Kinney Natatorium.

Snyder was on the Raiders' 200 freestyle relay team last season, which placed 17th at the state meet.

"Last year, I was the weakest link on the relay," said Snyder. "I knew that to get back to states, I would have to work hard and do everything Coach told me to do."

"For her to be going in two individual events and two relays, that's great," said Donati. "Hopefully, she'll be able to get the jitters out of the way in the individual events and compete well."

Snyder is seeded 13th in the 200 freestyle at one minute, 55.93 seconds. She is slated 23rd in the 100 event (54.25).

She finished third and seventh, respectively in those events at the WPIAL championships.

But she is putting as much emphasis on the two relays as she is on her individual events.

"To me they're equal," Snyder said. "You're obviously looking for the personal satisfaction of doing well individually. But you also don't want to let your teammates down in the relays."

Joining Snyder on the 200 medley relay will be Lauren Bezier, Kelly Connolly and Elyse Dobrick. The quartet placed second at WPIALs with a finish of 1:49.48 and will head to states seeded sixth with that time.

"We're hoping to get in the top eight with our medley relay," said Donati. "And everybody but (senior Lauren Bezier) will be back for us next year."

Snyder, Dobrick and Connolly will be joined by Emily Wolfarth in the 200 freestyle event.

Connolly, a junior, will swim the 50 freestyle and 100 breaststroke, where she is seeded 11th and 14th, respectively.

Dobrick is ranked 11th in the state in the 100 butterfly and Wolfarth heads to Bucknell seeded 28th in the 500 freestyle.

Molly Evans will be the Butler girls' lone representative in the swimming events with a spot in the 200 individual medley and 500 freestyle.

The junior broke the school record at WPIALs in the 200 IM with a time of 2:11.45 and has a chance to do the same with the 500 freestyle at states.

"The (500) record is 5:12.30," said Butler coach Jeff Armstrong. "And Molly's been champing at the bit to get another shot at it."

Heading the list of local boys at the Class AAA meet will be SEneca Valley's Scott Bowser and Ben Gutmann, who finished second and third, respectively in the 100 breaststroke at the district meet.

Bowser has a very good shot at breaking the school record in the event – 1:00 by Tony Sunseri in 1992 – after posting a 1:00.76 at WPIALs.

Gutmann, a senior, will be making his first appearance at the state meet.

"Since it's my first time going, I'm trying to take everything in," he said. "My goal is to beat my personal record (1:01.11)."

"Those two have been pushing each other all year," Donati said of Bowser and Gutmann.

SV's Chris Baker will be swimming the 200 IM and the 100 butterfly following a fourth and fifth place perfromance, respectively at WPIALs.

Butler senior Matt Galante will close out his career with a spot in the 200 freestyle.

"It's nice for him to be going to states, especially in an event which he hardly ever swam before this year," said Armstrong. "I told him at the beginning of the season that, with his stroke, he would do well swimming the 200. And it's worked out for him."

Class AAA action for boys and girls will take place Wednesday and Thursday. For a complete schedule of events, log on to www.piaa.org.