Ellwood, Riverside Athletes Advance to PIAA Competition

Although the winter sports season has largely concluded, local athletes are still experiencing the post-season in swimming and wrestling. Over the weekend, two Ellwood and five Riverside athletes qualified for the PIAA competition. Both schools are in Class AA.

Correction: [Riverside sophomore Dean Kralic also qualified for the swimming PIAA.]

Taylor Petrak- Ellwood City Swimming

Ellwood City may not have a swimming pool or swimming team but that doesn’t slow down junior Taylor Petrak, who competes individually and practices at other schools’ pools.

At the WPIAL competition last Thursday and Friday at the University of Pittsburgh, Petrak won the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 23.33, .29 seconds better than her time last year, a significant amount considering the second place winner finished in 23.46 seconds.

Petrak also placed second in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 50.33, almost a second faster than her time last year. In addition, she broke the WPIAL record of 50.52 set last year. However, she is not the new record holder as the first place finisher, Emily Zimcosky of Geibel Catholic finished with a time of 50.08. Zimcosky had set the 2015 record.

Petrak advances to the PIAA on March 16 through 19 at Bucknell University in Lewisburg. Last year, Petrak won the 50-yard and placed third in the 100-yard.

Dean Kralic, Erica King and 200-yard relay team- Riverside Swimming

For boys swimming, sophomore Dean Kralic qualified in the 100-yard butterfly by claiming the fourth spot. The top four spots automatically advance.

For girls swimming, junior Erica King qualified for states in two events- one as an individual and one in a relay, so she’ll be traveling with three fellow qualifiers. In the 500-yard freestyle, King placed fourth with a time of 5:12.27.

King joined junior Alana Nulph, freshman Meghan Rosendale and senior Kelly Krechowski to win the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:40.53.

They’ll be joining Petrak to swim at Bucknell next week.

Tyler Alberts- Ellwood Wrestling

Junior Tyler Alberts placed fourth in the 113 pound weight bracket at the Southwest Regional tournament held last Friday and Saturday. The top six advance to the state competition at Hershey this Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Alberts placed second at the WPIAL championship held the weekend of Feb. 27.

As a sophomore Alberts placed third in the WPIAls, sixth in the Southwest Regional and fought to a second consolation round at the PIAA.

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