Georgiadis adds to Planets' gold
PITTSBURGH — Chris Georgiadis admits it was not a perfect swim, but it did yield something he's strived for — WPIAL gold.
Mars' junior won the Class AA boys 200-yard individual medley thanks to a finish of one minute, 57.34 seconds. Though it was 2.77 seconds better than his nearest foe — Laurel's Noah Donovan — it was also over seven-tenths of a second slower than his personal-best effort of 1:56.6.
“I'm not happy with the time, but winning a WPIAL title makes up for everything,” he said. “I really thought that the race would be closer than it was.”
“Chris is not tapered yet,” said Mars coach Heidi Brandon. “Considering that, I thought every stroke in his IM was solid today.”
Placing two spots behind Georgiadis was his teammate, junior Tommy Pierre, who managed to make states with a finish of 2:01.91.
The duo teamed with Reed McDonough and Francis Folz to place third in the 200 medley relay. Folz added a seventh-place finish in the 200 freestyle.
Knoch's Austin Wittmer was rewarded for his showing in the 200 freestyle, three times over.
His performance of 1:47.04 was not only a personal-best, it also was good for a fifth-place medal and a trip to the PIAA event.
“Coming in, I wanted to get my best time and make the state meet,” said Wittmer. “I was able to do both.”
“It's exciting because Austin is a hard-working kid,” said Knights' coach Rick Hassler. “You look at all the time he's put in, he deserves this.”
Ian Lindsey broke Knoch's school record in the IM and placed sixth. The standard now stands at 2:02.71.
Lindsey, Wittmer, Nathan Walls and Skylar Roth set a new school record in the 200 medley, placing seventh at 1:44.39.
Class AAA
Ryan Deemer was nearly speechless after his swim in the 200 freestyle. He placed fifth in the event with a time of 1:44.11, breaking Butler's school record that had stood for 21 years.
“Wow, that's all I can say right now,” said Deemer, a junior. After taking a moment to gather his thoughts, he reflected on the race. “I thought I started out slow and my last turn was slow, but I was strong at the end. My coach (Dave Bocci) is confident that my time will be good enough to get to states.”
“Ryan did exactly what he needed to do,” Bocci said. “He stayed cool and when he needed to make his move, he made it.”
Note: Class AA will automatically send its top five boy finishers in each event to the state meet. In Class AAA, that number is three. Swimmers who finished outside those guaranteed spots will need to have their time fall within the 16 fastest non-automatic times across the state.
