Riverside Swimming Looking To Make Splash at WPIAL Championships

The co-op swimming team consisting of Ellwood City and Riverside athletes is off to the WPIAL Championships this weekend carrying their third consecutive undefeated Class-AA section title with them.

Class AA and Class AAA championship meets March 6-7 at Upper St. Clair High School.

Local athletes set to compete include senior Graham Kralic (50 freestyle), sophomore Sam Kline (100 freestyle), freshman Joe Roth (100 backstroke), junior Alex Roth (100 freestyle), and freshman Ryan Turner (100 freestyle).

The swimmers will also combine to participate in three relay qualifiers: 200 medley relay (Roth, Roth, Kralic, Turner), 200 freestyle relay (Roth, Kralic, Kline, Roth), and 400 freestyle relay (Roth, Turner, Roth, and senior Hayden Panek).

Last year, Riverside collected a WPIAL championship in the 200 freestyle relay and bronze in the 200-yard medley relay squad last year.

The boys had to overcome quite a bit of adversity during the season according to head coach Bill Valli. The team had zero preseason conditioning this year because of some repairs that needed to be made at the high school pool in the fall and later government shut down schools statewide for three weeks as part of COVID-19 measures.

The team did not really start to practice until January according to Valli.

“In a sport that is based on conditioning, the lack of early training really put our kids at a disadvantage,” said Valli. “Their competitiveness and tenacity coupled with the work they were able to put in during the last month paid off in spite of the disadvantages they faced.”

The WPIAL swim meet and the PIAA swim meet have been cut in half this season regarding numbers of competitors. There will be only one automatic qualifier from each district and an additional six spots will be filled in from around the state based on times.

“Our goal is to swim well at WPIALs and qualify for states but this will not be an easy task,” said head coach Bill Valli. “The boys are excited and optimistic about their chances.”

The PIAA Swimming and Diving Championships have been moved this year to Cumberland Valley High School from its traditional location at Bucknell University. 2A Girls & 2A Boys Swimming Championships are scheduled for Friday, March 19, 2021.

A substantial part of the continued success of the swimming program is the Riverside Aqua Club of Ellwood City (RACE). RACE is a feeder program for varsity swimming, offering swim lessons and competitive swimming opportunities for children of all ages.