Site last updated: Thursday, February 26, 2026

Log In

Reset Password
MENU
Butler County's great daily newspaper

WPIAL swimming championships: North Catholic’s Dom Davis wins gold in debut, Knoch’s Adrian Lavorina claims IM silver, more from Day 1

Knoch’s Adrian Lavorini swims in the boys 200-yard individual medley race in the WPIAL Class 2A Swimming Championships held Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, at the University of Pittsburgh's Joseph C. Trees Pool. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

PITTSBURGH — Dom Davis was eager to leave his mark in his first swim at the WPIAL Swimming Championships after having his freshman season wiped out by injury.

Winning a district title took care of that.

Davis, a sophomore at North Catholic competing for Mars through a co-op, won the Class 3A 50-yard freestyle with a time of 20.26 seconds Thursday at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool.

Related Article: WPIAL diving: Seneca Valley’s Ali Waters, Mars’ Marin Raible reach states with calm demeanors

North Allegheny’s Zach Totin was second (20.52) and top-seeded Nazar Zoukovski of Upper St. Clair (20.55) came in third.

“My goal was to swim my best time, and I did that,” said Davis, who guaranteed himself a spot in next month’s state meet with the win. “I could tell on the turn that (Totin) was right there with me.”

Davis injured his left shoulder while skiing in 2024 and had to wait until this past December to hit the water for the first time in a high school competition.

But he already had a wealth of experience swimming via the club scene and has qualified for junior nationals in back-to-back years in the 50 free while competing for Racer X Aquatics.

“It feels great to win,” Davis said. “It took a lot of hard work to get here. I lifted a lot of weights and ran cross country in the fall to stay in shape.

“I love the work ethic that swimming requires.”

Knoch’ Lavorini improves to silver

Three years ago, Knoch’s Adrian Lavorini began his individual WPIAL meet career by placing eighth in the Class 2A boys 200 individual medley.

On Thursday, he was runner-up in the event at 1:54.77, a personal-best time.

“I’ve definitely improved a lot,” Lavorini said. “I still have to work on my splits in the (backstroke), but all my other splits were good.”

Earlier in the day, Lavorini (breaststroke) teamed with Brady Bleicher (backstroke), Aedan Smith (butterfly) and Jacob Ruediger (freestyle) to turn in a third-place time of 1:40.72 in the 200 medley relay.

The foursome was seeded eighth coming in at 1:45.72.

“I knew we’d go much faster than our seed time,” Lavorini said. “With the atmosphere here at Pitt, we always go faster at this meet.

“We all swam our best splits, and our time was not far from the school record.”

Mars’ Heynes stays positive
Mars’ Preston Heynes takes 8th place in the boys 200-yard freestyle race in the WPIAL Class 3A Swimming Championships held Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, at the University of Pittsburgh's Joseph C. Trees Pool. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

If you can see it, you can achieve it.

That mindset worked for Mars senior Preston Heynes, who entered Thursday’s meet seeded 17th in the Class 3A boys 200 freestyle.

“I was visualizing the race all week and kept seeing the same time — 1:44,” said Heynes, who must have felt a case of déjà vu when he looked up at the timing board following the event.

It read 1:44.66, good for eighth place and a medal. The time shaved over five seconds off his seed time.

Heynes has qualified for districts all four years, and earned a medal last year as part of the Planets’ 200 medley relay. But Thursday’s effort was the first time he placed individually at districts.

Related Article: What’s the secret sauce for successful student sections? Creativity, sure, but rivalries and sense of community help

“That’s my best time in that event,” Heynes said. “I’m overjoyed. I can’t tell you how happy I am to medal in 3A at WPIALs.”

Mars coach Karen Guise shared Heynes’ enthusiasm.

“He didn’t have the best seed time but swam an amazing race,” she said. “I’m very excited for him to do this as a senior.”

Seneca Valley sees relay success
Seneca Valley’s Riley Skwortz swims the breaststroke in the girls 200-yard medley relay in the WPIAL Class 3A Swimming Championships held Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, at the University of Pittsburgh's Joseph C. Trees Pool. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

Seneca Valley girls’ 200 medley relay team was distinctive in that it included senior Audrey Wolfe, junior Ava Walker, sophomore Riley Skwortz and freshman Kyra Reinhart.

The quartet earned a medal, placing eighth with a time of 1:52.24 in Class 3A.

Related Article: 6 Butler County girls swimmers and divers to watch in 2025-26 PIAA swimming season

“We have a lot of interchangeable parts with the medley relay,” SV coach Brian Blackwell said. “It was pretty much last minute when we decided who would be swimming it, but it turned out to be the same girls who got the seed time (1:51.89).”

Wolfe and Reinhart also helped the Raiders place third in the 200 freestyle relay (1:40.06) with Sasha Myers and Maddie Tomaszewski.

WPIAL swimming results
Knoch’s Brady Bleicher swims the backstroke race of the boys 200-yard medley relay in the WPIAL Class 2A Swimming Championships held Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, at the University of Pittsburgh's Joseph C. Trees Pool. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

Following are results from the WPIAL Swimming Championships, which began Thursday at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool. The top eight in each event earned a medal.

Class 3A

Boys

200 freestyle: 8-Preston Heynes (Mars) 1:44.66

50 freestyle: 1-Dom Davis (Mars) 20.26; 8(tie)-William Feath (Seneca Valley) 21.68

200 freestyle relay: 8-Mars (Conner Liu, Brandon Szuch, Preston Heynes, Dom Davis) 1:29.38

Girls

200 medley relay: 8-Seneca Valley (Kyra Reinhart, Riley Skwortz, Ava Walker, Audrey Wolfe) 1:52.24

200 freestyle relay: 3-Seneca Valley (Kyra Reinhart, Audrey Wolfe, Maddie Tomaszewski, Sasha Myers) 1:40.06

Class 2A

Boys

200 medley relay: 3-Knoch (Brady Bleicher, Adrian Lavorini, Aedan Smith, Jacob Ruediger) 1:40.72

200 IM: 2-Adrian Lavorini (Knoch) 1:54.77; 6-Jacob Ruediger (Knoch) 1:57.31

200 freestyle relay: 8-Knoch (McCale Buser, Ryan Karwoski, Aedan Smith, Jacob Ruediger) 1:33.94

Girls

200 medley relay: 7-Freeport (Rylee Freshcorn, Mackenna Dorian, Hannah Altman, Paige Lithgow) 1:53.95

Related Article: 7 Butler County boys swimmers to watch in 2025-26 PIAA swimming season
Dom Davis. Submitted photo
View and purchase Eagle photos at photos.butlereagle.com

More in Sports

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter

* indicates required
TODAY'S PHOTOS