PITTSBURGH — Knoch’s 200-yard medley relay teams took care of a lot of business on the first day of the WPIAL Class AA Swimming Championships Thursday at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool.

Both the girls and boys foursomes placed second and broke the school records in the event by going 1 minute, 51.53 seconds and 1:41.44, respectively.

The efforts earn both teams an automatic berth into the state meet.

The girls’ team included Abby Jones, Brooke Zukowski, Lindsey Fanton and Rachael Wittmer while the boys featured Matt Karenbauer, John Wilson, Derek Ekas and Noah Gumto.

“It’s been a great year for the kids,” said Knoch assistant coach Pete Pivaronas. “They worked extremely hard and work well as a team. Between boys and girls, this is the biggest team we’ve ever brought to WPIALs.”

Wittmer did not take her role in a school-record setting performance lightly.

“My brother (Austin, Class of 2015) was a good swimmer at Knoch and I always looked up to him,” said Wittmer, who swam a personal-best split time of 26.27 seconds to aid the effort. “This is the first record I’ve been a part of and it’s a dream come true for me.

“Coach (Rick) Hassler mixed and matched different girls in this event during the season, but this one was determined to be the fastest.”

The boys’ team shaved 3.68 seconds from its seed time, which had the Knights ranked second coming in. West Allegheny was the top seed and the Indians won the event at 1:40.26.

“We thought our time would be good enough to win, but everybody improves,” said Ekas. “Our goal was to at least maintain second place.”

Knoch’s boys used the same quartet to place third in the 200 freestyle relay (1:32.46).

Individual success did not elude either Knoch team.

Zukowski set another school record in the 200 IM with a second-place time of 2:07.25. Wilson did likewise for the boys, going 1:59.26 and placing third. Jones placed two spots behind Zukowski in the girls’ event.

Mars senior Joseph Folz knows he will be swimming individually at states after his personal-best time of 1:47.5 earned him a third-place medal in the 200 freestyle.

“I felt I took things too slow at the start of the race,” said Folz, who placed seventh in the event here last year. “I need to work on my turns and technique, but I feel with a good taper entering states, I can still drop a lot of time.”

Folz teamed with Tommy Hall, Andrew Pierre and Jimmy Pierre to finish fifth in the 200 freestyle relay (1:32.6).

In Class AA, the top four girls finishers and top five boys finishers automatically clinch a spot in the state meet.