Knoch's John Wilson, above photo, and Brooke Zukowski, below, compete in the 100-yard breaststroke fi nals at the WPIAL Swimming Championships Saturday at the University of Pittsburgh's Trees Pool. Both Knight swimmers won WPIAL titles in the event. Zukowski is a two-time champion while Wilson earned his first championship.

PITTSBURGH — The WPIAL Class AA breaststroke belonged to Knoch High School Saturday at the University of Pittsburgh's Trees Pool.

Sophomores Brooke Zukowski and John Wilson captured the girls and boys title with times of 1 minute, 4.59 seconds and 59.38, respectively.

Both efforts were personal-best and school-record times.

Shortly after both races had finished, Knights' coach Rick Hassler was still shaking his head.

“That was unbelievable,” he said. “My heart is still pounding.”

Zukowski successfully defended her title from last year, when she earned the crown with a time of 1:05.05.

“It's definitely exciting to win again,” Zukowski said, “but my time was way more important to me. I told myself before the race, “Just swim your best and do what you need to do.”

Zukowski did not know of the lead she held during the event.

“I could not see anything. My goggles were so fogged up.”

She has been swimming competitively for 10 years. She used to compete for the Allegheny Valley YMCA, but has since moved on to the Butler YMCA team.

“I have met so many great friends through swimming,” she said. “I have a lot of fun with them.”

For Wilson, it was his first district title. He placed fifth in the breaststroke here as a freshman.

“My goal entering this season was to finish first or second at WPIALs,” he said. “When I looked up (at the board) after the race and saw that I had improved my time and won, I was super-excited. I don't even know how to explain it.”

In the girls' breaststroke, Knoch's Abby Jones was second while Austin Wittmer finished third in the boys' race.

“All those kids are workaholics,” Hassler said. “They are the first ones in the pool and the last ones out. They do the weight training, they do everything it takes to get better.”

There is no secret to the success of Knoch's top swimmers, according to Wilson.“There's not much of an offseason when it comes to swimming, at least not for us,” he said.Freeport senior Bria Otwell earned her second runner-up of the championships, taking second in the 500 freestyle while teammate Zoe Pawlak received a medal after placing eighth in the 100 freestyle.The duo then joined Kaitlyn Nicholas and Riley Farneth to finish eighth in the 400 freestyle relay.Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic's Brooke Carmazzi was eighth in the breaststroke.In Class AAA girls, Seneca Valley's Abby Parsons broke the school record in the 100 backstroke with a fifth-place time of 57.02. She also helped the Raiders take seventh in the 400 free relay. That team included Sophia Gaguzis, Kassi Grumski and Hannah Fernandes.Reed McDonough, Andrew Ivory, Joseph Folz and Jimmy Pierre were fourth in the Class AA boys 400 free relay for Mars, just missing an automatic berth into the state meet.“We thought coming in that we could take third,” said Planets' coach Hans Bergh, “but we can't complain about the effort.”Mars' Francis Folz was fourth in the 100 freestyle while Joseph Folz grabbed a medal by placing seventh in the 500 freestyle.The Class AAA boys meet saw Seneca Valley's Mike Palaski (seventh in 100 freestyle) and Spencer Tretter (fifth in 500 free) earn medals as did Butler's Tukker Uniatowski (seventh in breaststroke).

Following are results from the WPIAL Swimming Championships, which concluded Saturday at the University of Pittsburgh's Trees Pool. Butler County swimmers who guaranteed themselves a spot at the upcoming state championship meet appear in bold. The top eight in each event earned a medal.Class AAAGirls100 freestyle: 1-Morgan Soulia (North Allegheny) 50.75500 freestyle: 1-Kathryn Painter (Norwin) 4:53.52; 14-Kassi Grumski (Seneca Valley) 5:17.33100 backstroke: 1-Jacquelyn Du (North Allegheny) 53.59; 5-Abby Parsons (Seneca Valley) 57.02100 breaststroke: 1-Ann Juneau (North Allegheny) 1:03.27400 freestyle relay: 1-North Allegheny 3:27.3; 7-Seneca Valley (Abby Parsons, Sophia Gaguzis, Kassi Grumski, Hannah Fernandes) 3:38.05Boys100 freestyle: 1-Brian Lovasik (North Hills) 45.02; 7-Mike Palaski (Seneca Valley) 47.26500 freestyle: 1-Matt Dinunzio (Central Catholic) 4:30.2; 5-Spencer Tretter (Seneca Valley) 4:36.88100 backstroke: 1-Kevin Liu (Upper St. Clair) 49.17100 breaststroke: 1-Casey Melzer (North Allegheny) 56.26; 7-Tukker Uniatowski (Butler) 59.61; 9-Alex Wigton (Butler) 1:00.02400 freestyle relay: 1-Upper St. Clair 3:04.8; 14-Butler (Joey Deemer, Alex Wigton, Max Merhaut, Tukker Uniatowski) 3:22.25Class AAGirls100 freestyle: 1-Emily Zimcosky (Geibel Catholic) 50.52; 8-Zoe Pawlak (Freeport) 53.84; 16-Lena Clerici (CWNC) 56.85500 freestyle: 1-Bailey Bonnett (Highlands) 4:56.73; 2-Bria Otwell (Freeport) 5:07.31100 backstroke: 1-Sabrina Bowman (St. Joseph) 57.79100 breaststroke:1-Brooke Zukowski (Knoch) 1:04.59; 2-Abby Jones (Knoch) 1:06.28; 8-Brooke Carmazzi (CWNC) 1:09.32400 freestyle relay: 1-Shady Side Academy 3:35.17; 8-Freeport (Bria Otwell, Riley Farneth, Kaitlyn Nicholas, Zoe Pawlak) 3:52.59Boys100 freestyle: 1-Matt Ramsey (Hampton) 47.52; 4-Francis Folz (Mars) 48.03500 freestyle: 1-Jarod Kehl (West Allegheny) 4:36.3; 7-Joseph Folz (Mars) 5:01.43; 9-Jimmy Pierre (Mars) 5:04.05; 16-Matt Karenbauer (Knoch) 5:15.51100 backstroke: 1-Logan Palochak (Hopewell) 52.19; 12(tie)-Tyler Ben (Freeport) 59.87100 breaststroke:1-John Wilson (Knoch) 59.38; 3-Austin Wittmer (Knoch) 1:00.87; 16-Andrew Ivory (Mars) 1:06.37400 freestyle relay: 1-Quaker Valley 3:12.62; 4-Mars (Reed McDonough, Andrew Ivory, Joseph Folz, Jimmy Pierre) 3:23.3- See more at: http://beedit.sx.atl.publicus.com/article/20150223/SPORTS03/702239871&NoCache=1#sthash.MABxskaB.dpuf