The USC Swimming and Diving Teams have just completed a very successful dual meet season with both teams finishing with a won-loss record of 7-3. Next up is the WPIAL Championship competitions, starting with our divers who will compete this Saturday, February 25^th at North Allegheny High School.

The WPIAL diving competition will start with the boys at 9:30 a.m. The Panthers will be represented by Sophomore Kobe Yuyi, who finished the season ranked 16^th in the WPIAL in his first year competing for USC.

The boys competition will be followed by the girls, with the competition starting at 1:15 p.m., also at North Allegheny. Senior Addison Burnette (currently ranked #10 in the WPIAL) will be joined by her sister, Freshman Delaney Burnette (ranked #24), as they seek to score points for the Panthers and punch their ticket to the PIAA Championships at Bucknell, March 17-18. Last year Addison qualified for the state meet, where she finished in 13^th place overall in the state.

Best of luck to our 3 Panthers divers as they compete in the WPIAL Championships this weekend!

Once the WPIAL diving competition is done, our attention turns to the swimming championships, which will be held at Trees Hall on the Campus of the University of Pittsburgh March 2-3. The competition starts at 9:45 a.m. both days.

This year the Panthers had 20 swimmers qualify for WPIALs, including 9 girls and 11 boys. The top returning point scorers for USC are Juniors Kaitlyn Connors and Amanda Aidar. Kaitlyn will be looking to repeat as champion in the 100 freestyle and she will also be competing in the 50 freestyle, an event she won as a Freshman in 2021. Amanda qualified for states in both the 200 IM and 100 butterfly last year and she is looking to finish in the top 3 of both those events again this year. They are joined by Kendell Drew, another PIAA qualifier from 2022 who is looking to improve upon her 7^th place WPIAL finish from last year. In addition to our 3 states qualifiers from last year, the USC girls will be represented by Senior Blaire Gillespie (100 fly, 100 breast), Juniors Freja Kile (200 free, 500 free), Clara Senchyshak (200 free) and Evie Sullivan (100 breast), Sophomore Maren Davis (200 IM) and Freshman Lauren Mittleider (200 free, 500 free).

On the boys side, the Panthers are coming off a season where they were WPIAL runners-up (to eventual state champion Seneca Valley) in the team scoring. That team featured 6 senior swimmers who qualified for the state meet. This year’s team has rebounded impressively, qualifying 11 boys for the WPIAL Championships, led by Freshman Nazar Zoukovski, who is currently ranked #3 in the WPIAL in the 200 IM and #2 in the 100 freestyle, the events in which he will compete next week. Nazar will be joined by his brother, Matvey (100 freestyle), who is a Senior co-captain of the team. Additional qualifiers looking to score points for the team include Senior co-captains Colby Bernard (100 fly, 100 back) and Alex Petkov (200 IM, 100 breast). They are joined by Juniors Whit Burns (50 free, 100 breast), Matthew Fibbi (200 free, 500 free), Pavel Schabanow (200 IM, 100 back) and Max Shipley (200 free, 100 free). The Sophomore class is represented by Liam Tomb (100 fly, 100 breast) and Griffin Tomsheck (200 IM, 100 breast). Rounding out our competitors in the boys meet is Freshman Ben Whiteford, who will compete in the 100 fly and 100 back.

The season will conclude with the PIAA Championships at Bucknell University on March 17-18. The final qualifiers for the state meet will be released on Sunday, March 5. Best of luck to all of our USC swimmers and divers at the upcoming WPIAL Championships!

The Boys and Girls Swimming and Diving teams took on the Hawks at Bethel Park High School and both teams prevailed, raising their respective records to 6-1 for the season. The meet got off to a great start as once again the USC divers proved to be too much for the competition. The girls had a strong meet taking the top three spots. Addison Burnette took first with Delaney Burnette securing her spot at WPIALs with a 196.90 and second place. Mia Foster completed the scoring with her third place finish. Both Kobe Yuyi and Carter Richie dove very well, with a second and fourth place finish, respectively. Congratulations to all our divers!

On the swimming side, the team overwhelmed their competitors, claiming victory in 15 of the 22 swimming events contested. The highlight for the USC swimmers was Kaitlyn Connors achieving the “WPIAL Sweep” (qualifying for the WPIAL Championships in all of the individual events) by virtue of her victory in the 100 breaststroke in the WPIAL qualifying time of 1:09.42. She joins teammate Nazar Zoukovski as among the handful of swimmers in Western PA to complete the sweep. Additional event winners for the Panthers include Amanda Aidar (200 free, 100 back), Blaire Gillespie (100 free), Griffin Tomsheck (200 IM), Nazar Zoukovski (50 and 100 free), Ben Whiteford (100 back) and Alex Petkov (100 breast).

Detailed results can be found here.

Details of our WPIAL qualifiers can be found here.

The Panthers’ next meet is Thursday, February 2. The team will take on Peters Township at home as we recognize our 7 seniors on Senior Recognition night. The meet starts at 5 p.m.

The Boys and Girls Swimming and Diving teams both raised their records to 5-1 on the season with convincing wins Wednesday night over South Fayette at the USC high school natatorium.

The meet got off to a great start with all of the Panthers’ divers registering season-high scores. The girls swept the top 4 spots, led by Senior Addison Burnette with 212 points. She was followed by Freshmen Bella Meyer (172.35) and Delaney Burnette (170.25). Senior Mia Foster was right behind with 163.40. On the boys side, it was a very tight competition with the top 3 boys separated by less than a point. Fortunately, the Panthers came out on top with Sophomore Kobe Yuyi taking first place with a score of 151.70, followed closely by Junior Carter Richie in second with a score of 150.85. Great job to all of our divers!

Once the swimming portion of the competition started, the Panthers kept the ball rolling with victories in most of the swimming events. For the girls, event winners included:

• 200 medley relay (Kendell Drew, Blaire Gillespie, Amanda Aidar, Freja Kile)
• 200 free relay (Blaire Gillespie, Kendell Drew, Freja Kile, Kaitlyn Connors)
• Kaitlyn Connors – 200 free and 100 back
• Amanda Aidar – 200 IM and 100 breast
• Kendell Drew – 50 free
• Freja Kile – 100 free

The boys event winners were:

• 200 medley relay (Colby Bernard, Griffin Tomsheck, Max Shipley, Ben Whiteford)
• 200 free relay (Pavel Schabanow, Hasan Alhajhusain, Max Shipley, Matvey Zoukovski)
• 400 free relay (Max Shipley, Colby Bernard, Whit Burns, Nazar Zoukovski)
• Nazar Zoukovski – 200 free
• Whit Burns – 200 IM
• Griffin Tomsheck – 50 free
• Matvey Zoukovski – 100 fly
• Max Shipley – 100 free
• Colby Bernard – 500 free
• Ben Whiteford – 100 breast

The teams’ next meet is Thursday, January 26^th versus section rival Bethel Park at Bethel Park High School.

Saturday was a great day for the girls and boys swimming & diving teams as they defeated strong Seneca Valley teams by identical scores, 102-84. Senior Addison Burnette got things started with a win on the diving board. Double event winners include Amanda Aidar, Kaitlyn Connors, Max Shipley and Nazar Zoukovski. With the wins both teams raised their season records to 3-1. The team’s next meet is this Thursday at Trinity.

The Panthers girls and boys swimming and diving teams had their first meet of the season last night and both teams picked up where they left off last year with resounding victories over Quaker Valley. The girls team won by a score of 101 to 80 while the boys were victorious by a 91 to 63 margin. Way to go USC swimmers and divers!