One sweet medley
Butler freshman Goettler breaks 200 IM record
By Derek Pyda
Eagle Staff Writer
PITTSBURGH — Laura Goettler walked into the University of Pittsburgh's Trees
Pool Thursday morning hoping to lock up a bid to the state meet.
She came out of it with so much more.
Butler's freshman phenom swam her way to victory
in the Class AAA girls 200-yard individual medley with a district-record time
of 2 minutes, 1.78 seconds.
Goettler sliced 7½ seconds off of her seed time,
taking down defending champion Abby Hay of Peters Township in the process. The
latter finished in second place with a time of 2:03.06.
“I didn't expect this at all,” Goettler said
after receiving her first-place medal. “I was going for a 2:04, so this is a
really nice surprise.”
Goettler's best event is the breaststroke, which
is the third leg in the individual medley.
“What we were thinking coming in was to have
Laura be more aggressive than usual in the first two strokes (butterfly and
backstroke),” said Golden Tornado coach Dave Bocci. “She needed to hang with
her (Hay) and she was able to do that.”
Hay held a slim lead as both swimmers
transitioned to the breaststroke and that's when Goettler hit another gear. She
opened up a sizeable lead and held onto it through the fourth and final stroke,
the freestyle.
“I just tried to focus on swimming like I have
been in practice,” said Goettler. “My adrenaline was running high and it
carried me through the race.”
Goettler's effort bettered the previous WPIAL
standard of 2:01.92, achieved by Mt. Lebanon's Kaitlynn Orstein in 2004.
“Sometimes, words can't describe what you see,”
said Bocci. “This means everything for the school, the athletic department,
Laura's family. Her win wasn't so much about execution as it was about just
wanting it more. It was amazing.”
Goettler earned her spot at the state event in
remarkable fashion.
“It feels pretty good,” she said. “It's probably
going to take a while for this to sink in.”
Hoping to join Goettler in the PIAA meet at
Bucknell University later this month is Seneca Valley junior Sophia Gaguzis,
who went a personal-best 1:53.32 in the 200 freestyle to place fourth. Only the
top three spots are guaranteed to advance, but Gaguzis' effort could fall in
the top 16 non-automatic qualifying times from across the state.
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Butler
freshman Laura Goettler swims the girls 200-yard individual medley during her
record-breaking victory Thursday, March 2, 2017, at the WPIAL Swimming
Championships. |
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“I was
talking with my coach (Brian Blackwell) and he thinks I've got a pretty good
shot,” said Gaguzis, who was seeded eighth (1:58.41) in the event coming in.
She finished sixth in the event here last year.
“I wanted to improve my
time and get a higher place on the award stand and I did that.”
Gaguzis later teamed with
Hannah Fernandes, Alyvia Meanor and Marleah Schlick to place fifth in the 200
freestyle relay.
Fernandes took home a medal
by taking eighth in the 50 freestyle.
Boys
Seneca Valley freshman Owen
Blazer had a record-breaking performance in his first WPIAL meet. His 7th-place
time of 51.99 in the 100 butterfly knocked Eric Martin's 52.1 from SV's record
board. The standard had stood for 21 years.
“I was swimming a 53 high,”
Blazer said. “I started lifting weights and was able to drop two seconds off my
time. If it's good enough for states, we'll see.”
Butler's Alex Deemer broke
his older brother Ryan's school record in the 200 freestyle, swimming the event
in 1:43.45.
“The old record was
1:44.1,” said Bocci. “And Joe Deemer was sixth in the 100 butterfly (51.8). I
feel very confident that can get him to states.”