Swimming to Pittsburgh
BUFFALO TWP — In a sense, Andrea McQueen's swimming career began in the Allegheny River and it led the Freeport senior to a spot on a Division I college program about 30 miles downstream.
McQueen, who managed two WPIAL gold medals over the last two seasons, will swim at the University of Pittsburgh.
"During my first couple of years of high school, I kept getting faster and my times kept dropping," said McQueen, who turned 18 last month. "I wanted the next challenge, which is to swim in college."
Pitt's women's team went 9-2 last season and placed fourth at the Big East Championships.
"Akron also showed interest in me," McQueen added. "But I'm a huge fan of Pitt and I've gotten some of my best times at (Pitt's Trees Pool)."
Her career-best in the 100-yard breaststroke, 1 minute, 7.39 seconds, came at the 2008 WPIAL Class AA title meet and earned McQueen her second gold medal.
The first came in the 100 freestyle her junior year.
In four years of competing at the WPIAL championships, McQueen was one of the most consistent swimmers in District 7. Her worst individual finish was a fourth-place effort in the breaststroke her freshman season.
The worst she placed in the 100 freestyle was second, and she did that three times.
The WPIAL meet performances earned McQueen four straight trips to the PIAA championships.
"I was surprised her freshman year that she was able to compete at the level she did," said Gregg McQueen, Andrea's father and high school coach. "But, from then on, you just came to expect it."
And it all started a few miles from the McQueens' home.
"We had a boat down on the Allegheny River," Andrea said. "I used to go down there and swim. I guess that's where it really started for me."
But the casual swimming during the summer months soon gave way to long practices in the dead of winter when she began swimming competitively at the age of 9.
When she got to ninth grade, she began practicing at Pine-Richland High because Freeport doesn't have a swimming pool.
"I'd go to school, come home and be at Pine-Richland for practice from 6 to 8:30 p.m. every weekday, unless we had an actual meet," McQueen said.
Over the last several years, McQueen, who will major in exercise science, also swam at U.S. sectionals, a precursor to Junior Olympic competitions.
McQueen will be one of many talented swimmers at Pitt, but she is ready to make a name for herself.
She'll soon be receiving detailed workouts that she will perform until enrolling at Pitt in August.
"I'm excited to just be a part of the program, lifting weights and all that," Andrea said. "I want to prove to them I can be the best I can be."
