Seneca Valley's Daniel Simoes does the butterfly during the 200-yard individual medley Thursday night against Butler during the first meet in the Raiders' new pool.

JACKSON TWP — Seneca Valley opened its brand new aquatic center in style.

With a 186-109 victory over Butler Thursday night, the Raiders' boys swimming and diving team (10-0, 6-0) capped a perfect run in Section 2-3A.

SV recently defeated North Allegheny, which had not lost a section meet since 2007. The Raiders' win Thursday means the Tigers will not be rewarded with a section championship plaque for the first time in over 30 years.

Many people may be surprised at how well SV's boys have done so far this season, but for coach Brian Blackwell, his swimmers are simply meeting expectations.

“We've had a few younger kids swim times that were a bit unexpected, but most of our swimmers are where we thought they'd be,” he said. “This was a great way to open this place up.”

SV made it a clean sweep of the Golden Tornado as the Raider girls placed first in every event in a 223-87 decision.

The new aquatic center has room for eight lanes instead of the usual six, allowing for more swimmers in each event, hence the inflated team scores.

SV junior Daniel Simoes won the 200-yard individual medley and contributed to the winning 200 freestyle relay team.

“I'm really proud of our team this year,” he said. “We've had good teams in the past, but I've never seen so much motivation and dedication from everybody.

“We're looking forward to a new era. We're making history and it's really exciting to do it with this team and these coaches.”

Haihan Xu won the breaststroke for the Raiders and swam a leg on both the 200 medley and 200 freestyle teams.

“We had a lot of swimmers improve their times tonight,” said Blackwell. “The new pool had something to do with that. New blocks and this pool is deeper, which allows for the water to settle quicker and that can lead to better times.”

Seneca Valley will meet North Allegheny again, but on an even bigger stage — the WPIAL Championships March 7 at Upper St. Clair High School.

The Tigers have won three straight district team titles and eight of the last nine. But they should have legitimate competition for the crown this season.

“I think Upper St. Clair has a shot, too,” said Simoes. “It's probably going to come down to the three of us.”

Butler (4-3) earned six wins in the boys meet, including double winners Sam Deemer (200 freestyle, backstroke) and David Bocci (50 freestyle, butterfly).

Bocci became the first WPIAL swimmer this season to break 50 seconds in the butterfly, finishing in 49.82.

“We had some really good swims, we just got out-manned tonight,” said Butler coach Dave Bocci.

In the girls meet, SV's Ria Dietz improved her times in the butterfly (57.65) and backstroke (58.15), both ranked in the top five in the WPIAL. She won both races Thursday.

“She's been able to swim really fast at the end of the season the last few years,” said Blackwell. “She was coming off an injury, but is getting more aggressive.”

The Raider girls improved to 9-1 overall and 5-1 in section meets. Butler fell to 2-5.

The Golden Tornado are done until the WPIAL meet while Seneca Valley hosts Obama Academy and West Allegheny on Saturday.

<b>Seneca Valley 223, Butler 87</b><b>200 medley relay:</b> 1-Seneca Valley (Ria Dietz, Edie Sawyer, Kendall Craig, Peri Gaguzis) 1:45.71<b>200 freestyle:</b> 1-Cara Della Toffalo (SV) 1:59.24<b>200 individual medley:</b> 1-Kendall Craig (SV) 2:06.80<b>50 freestyle:</b> 1-Kristen Bedell (SV) 25.49<b>1-meter diving:</b> 1-Ashley Felitsky (SV) 266.25<b>100 butterfly:</b> 1-Ria Dietz (SV) 57.65<b>100 freestyle:</b> 1-Kendall Craig (SV) 53.27<b>500 freestyle:</b> 1-Peri Gaguzis (SV) 5:06.76<b>200 freestyle relay:</b> 1-Seneca Valley (Kristen Bedell, Peri Gaguzis, Bella Stefanowicz, Kendall Craig) 1:40.19<b>100 backstroke:</b> 1-Ria Dietz (SV) 58.15<b>100 breaststroke:</b> 1-Edie Sawyer (SV) 1:04.28<b>400 freestyle relay:</b> 1-Seneca Valley (Abby Perry, Bella Stefanowicz, Bella Kling, Emma Kreber) 3:47.67

<b>Seneca Valley 186, Butler 109</b><b>200 medley relay:</b> 1-Seneca Valley (Connor Anderson, Haihan Xu, Gavin Blazer, Zach Lozowski) 1:38.32<b>200 freestyle:</b> 1-Sam Deemer (B) 1:44.56<b>200 individual medley:</b> 1-Daniel Simoes (SV) 1:56.62<b>50 freestyle:</b> 1-David Bocci (B) 22.10<b>1-meter diving:</b> 1-Trevor Elliott (SV) 277.75<b>100 butterfly:</b> 1-David Bocci (B) 49.82<b>100 freestyle:</b> 1-Ben Borvendeg (B) 46.25<b>500 freestyle:</b> 1-Matthew Stevens (SV) 4:53.79<b>200 freestyle relay:</b> 1-Seneca Valley (Daniel Simoes, Gavin Blazer, Haihan Xu, Kevin Donaldson) 1:27.80<b>100 backstroke:</b> 1-Sam Deemer (B) 53.19<b>100 breaststroke:</b> 1-Haihan Xu (SV) 58.77<b>400 freestyle relay:</b> 1-Butler (David Bocci, Sam Deemer, Gideon Goettler, Ben Borvendeg) 3:14.46