WPIAL swimming: Cornell’s Pickett, Chamberlain bring home medals on Day 1

A pair of Cornell High School swimmers captured medals Thursday in the opening day of the WPIAL Swimming Championships at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool.

Noah Pickett, the top seed among Class 2A swimmers in the 100-yard butterfly improved on his seed time of 52.48 seconds but came up just short and placed second with a time of 52.35.

Pickett finished eight-hundredths of a second behind winner Connor Sutterlin of Hampton, who finished in 52.27.

Also bringing home the hardware for Cornell was Mimi Chamberlain, who placed fifth in the 200 individual medley in 2 minutes, 12.82 seconds. Chamberlain was seeded fourth.

The opening session of the Class 3A meet also took place Thursday and both meets will conclude with sessions today starting at 9:45 a.m. for Class 3A swimmers and 3 p.m. for Class 2A competitors.

Cornell’s Drake Barr placed 16^th in the 50 freestyle with a time of 23.7. The Raiders’ 200 medley relay team of Pickett, Barr, Chris Pickett and Sam Bleakley wound up 17^th in 1:51.27.

Also competing Thursday in the Class 2A meet was a contingent from Carlynton. Allie Glass, Paitynn Wright, Chloe Baum and Evey Fahnestock teamed to finish 11^th in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:47.15.

Fahnestock also swam in the 50 free and finished just one spot out of medal contention, placing ninth with a time of 24.98 – two-tenths of a second behind eighth-place finisher Jamie Kociela of Franklin Regional.

In the Class 3A girls meet, Moon’s Mimi Munnell, Anya Muralidharan, Addi Munnell and Gabby Donnelly competed in two events Friday. The group finished 14^th in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:56.56 and placed 15^th in the 200 free relay in 1:45.94 – more than a second faster than its seed time.

Addi Munnell finished 13^th in the 100 butterfly in 1:00.82 and 34^th in the 50 free in 26.15.

Mimi Munnell also swam two individual events in addition to the two relay events, finishing 19^th in the 100 butterfly in 1:01.75 and 22^nd in the 200 IM in 2:18.05.

For Montour, Anastasia Ulintz competed in the 200 IM, where she placed 23^rd with a time of 2:20.12, and the 200 free, where she also placed 23^rd in 2:20.12.

Ulintz also joined Alana Tonkin, Caitlyn Dettling and Julia Trevenen in the 200 medley relay, where they finished 20^th with a time of 1:58.30 .

The Spartans’ 200 free relay team of Tonkin, Dettling, Dalia Trevenen and Julia Trevenen placed 19th with a time of 1:48.89.

On the boys side, Moon’s 200 free relay group of Logan Ellis, Evan Slawuta, Anthony Demarco and Bailey wound up in 14^th place with a time of 1:31.66.

Bailey also competed in the 50 free Friday and wound up 14^th with a time of 22.04 .

Ellis wound up 37^th in the 50 free in addition to his relay duties.

The Tigers’ 200 medley relay team of Slawuta, Demarco, Ellis and Noah Bogatay placed 19^th in its event, clocking a 1:52.47.