PITTSBURGH - A year ago, Seneca Valley’s boys swimming and diving team came painfully close to winning a WPIAL team title, falling just 1 1/2 points shy of champion Upper St. Clair.

For the Raiders who returned this season, there was only one appropriate response — shed the burden that comes with unfinished business.

Highlighted by three championships on Thursday, SV entered the final day of Class 3A competition Friday at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool with a commanding 65 1/2 point lead over North Allegheny for district bragging rights.

There was no letup in the Raiders’ effort as Daniel Simoes won the 100-yard freestyle and Haihan Xu captured the breaststroke. Those performances helped SV clinch its first district team title in 47 years well before swimmers took to the blocks for the final event, the 400 freestyle relay.

The quartet of Kevin Donaldson, Gavin Blazer, Zach Lozowski and Simoes closed the meet in style, winning the event in three minutes 5.26 seconds.

The team championship came with an undeniable dominance. The Raiders won six of the 11 events during the two-day meet. SV tallied 333 1/2 points, leaving Upper St. Clair a distant second with 266.

“The boys really wanted to come in here and put on a good show,” said SV coach Brian Blackwell. “They stepped up these last two days.”

The Raiders began talking about winning here immediately after last year’s meet.

“We were very vocal about it, talked about it almost every single practice,” said Xu, who won the breaststroke with a school-record time of 55.12. “We used winning as a team to motivate each other and it’s a feeling of relief to get it done.”

Simoes’ victory in the 100 free saw him break his own school record at 45.30, .17 seconds faster than his previous standard.

“I’m really focused on states this year,” said Simoes, a senior, but this was my last trip to WPIALs and I wanted to go all out.

“My second-best event (behind the 200 IM) is actually the butterfly, but I tried doing both of them in the same day here a couple of years ago and it didn’t go too well for me. I needed to find another event.”

The Raiders had been staked to a lead in the team standings before the swim meet began. At last Saturday’s district diving championship meet, SV totaled 62 points as Isaiah Clerkley, Jeremiah Laslavic, Sam Skeen and Sam Hersick placed second, third, fourth and fifth, respectively, with each qualifying for the state meet.

Winning swim titles for the Raiders Thursday were Donaldson in the 200 freestyle, Xu in the 200 IM and the 200 freestyle relay team of Simoes, Blazer, Lozowski and Xu.

By claiming the district team crown, the 2022 Raiders achieved something only the 1975 squad can match in school history.

“We went to the SV Hall of Fame banquet a few years ago when that team was inducted,” Blazer said. “This means everything to me.

“We worked toward something bigger than ourselves and I got to do it alongside my best friends.”

Class 2A

Just a few years ago, North Catholic’s boys were struggling with low numbers on their roster.

Now the Trojans are proud of the number “3”, as in third place in the WPIAL team standings.

Over the two days of the district championship meet, North earned eight medals, highlighted by second-place finishes in the 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relays.

The latter occurred Friday, with Matthew Littleton, John Lamb, Jackson Kress and Julian LaPietra combining for the runner-up effort.

The Trojans finished with 198 points, placing behind Riverside (205) and champion Hampton (233).

“Everyone swam great and a lot of our swimmers dropped time,” said North coach Joella Baker. “That’s all you can ask for.

“I’m very proud of the team and hopefully, we’ll be taking a lot of them to states.”

Only the WPIAL champion in each event is guaranteed a spot at the state meet, scheduled later this month at Bucknell University in Lewisburg. At-large bids will be based on time compared to results from across the state.

Freeport senior Alexis Schrecongost was the defending champion in the breaststroke, but finished in second place behind Indiana’s Peyton Scott.

After receiving her silver medal, Schrecongost was upbeat. She had turned in a school-record time of 1:04.56, well over a second faster than her previous best time. The effort almost assures her of a berth to the state meet.

“I couldn’t have done anything better today,” she said. “I’m really confident entering states, but need to push myself even more.”

Following are Butler County swimmers who earned a medal by placing in the top eight at the WPIAL Swimming Championships, which concluded Friday at the University of Pittsburgh's Trees Pool.

Class 3A

Girls

100 backstroke: 4-Ria Dietz (SV) 57.18

Boys

100 freestyle: 1-Daniel Simoes (SV) 45.30; 3-Kevin Donaldson (SV) 45.76; 4-Ben Borvendeg (B) 46.24

100 backstroke: 8-Connor Seeley (SV) 52.70

100 breaststroke: 1-Haihan Xu (SV) 55.12; 7-Gideon Goettler (B) 58.90

400 freestyle relay: 1-Seneca Valley (Kevin Donaldson, Gavin Blazer, Zach Lozowski, Daniel Simoes) 3:05.26

Class 2A

Girls

100 freestyle: 4-Alexis Schrecongost (F) 53.87

100 backstroke: 6-Caitlyn Brennan (F) 1:02.50

100 breaststroke: 2-Alexis Schrecongost (F) 1:04.56; 5-Giona Lavorini (K) 1:05.57

Boys

100 freestyle: 3-Julian LaPietra (NC) 47.05

500 freestyle: 7-Caden Traggiai (K) 4:50.42

100 backstroke: 3-Jackson Kress (NC) 52.27

100 breaststroke: 4-John Lamb (NC) 1:01.10

400 freestyle relay: 2- North Catholic (Matthew Littleton, John Lamb, Jackson Kress, Julian LaPietra) 3:13.81