Mars senior Andrew Pierre has his sights set on winning two more medals this week at the WPIAL Class AA Swimming Championships. Pierre is the last of his nine siblings to swim in the district meet for the Planets.

ADAMS TWP — Andrew Pierre may be last in one respect, but is most certainly not least.

This week's WPIAL Class AA Swimming Championships will be the Mars senior's last district meet.

Prior to him, all nine of his siblings swam for the Planets, including five sisters and four brothers.

“It's been pretty awesome to follow in their footsteps and contribute to the program,” said Pierre. “My brothers, Tom and Jimmy, were part of the Mars team that won a state (team) title in 2014.”

Andrew Pierre has done just fine in representing his family in the pool. He earned three combined WPIAL medals in individual events by placing in the top eight as a freshman and sophomore before earning two district titles last year in the 200 and 500 freestyles. In the latter event at states last March, he swam a school record four minutes, 42.23 seconds while placing fourth.

He will swim in both events this week at WPIALs.

Pierre, who has committed to swimming at the United States Naval Academy, has clear goals Thursday and Friday.

“My goal is 1:42 in the 200 and 4:39 in the 500,” he said. “Winning would be nice, but the most important thing for me is to better my times.”

Aside from personal-best times and medals, swimming has offered important lessons to Pierre.

“Most of all, it has taught me perseverance,” he said. “No matter how hard a practice can feel or how slow you might be in a meet, you have to keep pushing hard. Even a slow day will help you in the end.”

Sam Schirra, a Penn Township resident and Aquinas Academy junior, will be competing in the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly.

North Catholic's girls continue an upward trend.

Just three years ago, the program sent four swimmers to the district meet. That was followed by six swimmers in 2017 and eight last year when the Trojanettes earned 11 total medals and placed third in the WPIAL team standings.

Ten Trojanettes qualified for this year's event.

“I think it's due to us talking about it, spreading the news around school that the swimming team is doing well,” said sophomore Brittney Carmazzi, who will swim the butterfly and backstroke this week. “Other girls see what we're doing and they think it's something they'd like to try.”

T.J. Barry has been North Catholic's head coach for four seasons.

“Our coaches push us and they know how to make it fun,” added Carmazzi. “T.J. just wants us to do our best. Hopefully, it will pay off.”

Following are the Butler County swimmers who will be competing in the WPIAL Class AA Championships, set for Thursday and Friday at the University of Pittsburgh's Trees Pool.GirlsKnoch, Freeport, North Catholic200 medley relay:Knoch (Abby Beilstein, Claire Lindsey, Lindsey Fanton, Madison Gumto); Freeport (Ariana Clark, Alexis Schrecongost, Madison Moretti, Isabella Parks)200 freestyle:Knoch — Abby Beilstein; Freeport — Madison Moretti200 individual medley:Knoch — Lindsey Fanton, Claire Lindsey; Freeport — Alexis Schrecongost50 freestyle:Freeport — Brooke Welling, Isabella Parks100 butterfly:Knoch — Lindsey Fanton; Freeport — Ariana Clark100 freestyle: Freeport — Madison Moretti, Brooke Welling500 freestyle:Knoch — Abby Beilstein200 freestyle relay:Knoch (Amelia Walls, Rachel Shoemaker, Heather Wittmer, Madison Gumto); Freeport (Brooke Welling, Madeleine Miller, Paige Semanko, Isabella Parks)100 backstroke:Freeport — Ariana Clark100 breaststroke:Knoch — Claire Lindsey; Freeport — Alexis Schrecongost400 freestyle relay:Knoch (Abby Beilstein, Heather Wittmer, Madison Gumto, Lindsey Fanton); Freeport (Brooke Welling, Ariana Clark, Madison Moretti, Alexis Schrecongost)North Catholic Qualifiers — Ainsley Bissett, Brittney Carmazzi, Maddy Dietrich, Julia Kocsis, Emma Kunzmann, Lily Lamb, Cate Lord, Riley Orr, Emily Paul, Katie RavasioBoysKnoch, Freeport, MarsNorth Catholic200 medley relay:Knoch (Zach Wilson, Matt Cummings, Michael Phillips, Braden Zukowski); Mars200 freestyle:Mars — Andrew Pierre, Aiden Wolf, Zach Leachman200 individual medley:Knoch — Braden Zukowski, Matt Cummings, Zach Wilson, Michael Phillips; Freeport — Carver Clark100 butterfly:Mars — Hayden Silsby100 freestyle:Knoch — Caden Traggiai, Lachlan King500 freestyle:Mars — Andrew Pierre, Aiden Wolf, Zach Leachman200 freestyle relay:Knoch (Zach Wilson, Caden Traggiai, Braden Zukowski, Matt Cummings); Mars100 backstroke:Knoch — Zach Wilson, Caden Traggiai100 breaststroke:Knoch — Matt Cummings, Braden Zukowski, Michael Phillips400 freestyle relay:Knoch (Ethan Wymer, Lachlan King, Caden Traggiai, Michael Phillips); MarsNorth Catholic Qualifiers — Zachary Baker, Ben Capozzi, Thomas Kunz, Julian LaPietra, Kyle Maziarz, Kirk Mitchell, Anthony Ravasio