PITTSBURGH - Stacie Safritt had been part of a WPIAL championship relay team, but an individual title proved elusive.

Not anymore.

The Seneca Valley senior finished first in the 50-yard freestyle at the Class AAA swimming championships Thursday at the University of Pittsburgh's Trees Pool.

Safritt won with a school-record time of 23.86 seconds, just over two-tenths of a second less than the girl who kept her from winning last year's event, Gateway's Katrina Streiner.

"I could see on the turn that I had a bit of a lead on her," said Safritt. "I just kept telling myself that I had to beat her."

"The 50 isn't Stacie's strongest event," said Raiders coach Tom Donati. "(Streiner) was seeded first, but Stacie swam a great race."

Safritt had been close to individual WPIAL gold before. Two years ago, she finished third in the 100 freestyle and second in the 100 backstroke before settling for runner-up in the 50 freestyle last season.

"To finally come out a winner, it's awesome," she said.

The day couldn't have started off any better for the Raiders, as the quartet of Safritt, Mandie Huffman, Elyse Dobrick, and Kelly Connolly defended the program's 200-medley relay title with a mark of 1:48.83.

Senior Kylie Gamelier was originally scheduled to swim the butterfly leg of the event, but Donati replaced her with sophomore Elyse Dobrick.

Donati wanted Gamelier to swim the 200 and 400 freestyle relays, but swimmers are permitted to compete in no more than two relay events so the SV coach needed a replacement for her in the medley event.

Dobrick proved a worthy choice.

"The thing was, I had to make the switch with confidence," said Donati. "I actually decided on it two weeks ago."

"A few of us were a bit doubtful about the change," said Dobrick. "But it ended up paying off."

The Raiders also were defending champs in the 200 freestyle relay, but the team of Connolly, Rose Snyder, Lauren Bezier and Gamelier will head to states with a third-place finish (1:39.70) instead.

Gamelier qualified for the PIAA meet in the 100 butterfly, finishing second with a time of 57.96.

The Raiders girls will head into today's action in third place in the team standings with 94 points, behind North Allegheny's 95 and Bethel Park's 158½.

Drew Snyder's fifth-place finish in the 50 freestyle (22.04) was the top performance by Seneca Valley's male competitors.

Butler's Molly Evans had a strong showing in the 200 individual medley with a mark of 2:14.63, good for sixth place.

The Golden Tornado girls 200 medley relay of Ellen Crummy, Sarah Clouse, Jessica Vernon and Samantha Harris and 200 freestyle relay of Harris, Brittany Vogel, Clouse and Evans both finished in 10th place.

Matt Galante's 14th-place time of 22.67 in the 50 freestyle was the top effort from Butler's boys.

The Class AAA swimming championships continue from 4 to 6:30 p.m. today at Trees Pool.