Andrew Pierre

PITTSBURGH — Mars junior Andrew Pierre entered the WPIAL Swimming Championships still searching for his first district title.

After spending two days at the University of Pittsburgh's Trees Pool, he has two Class AA crowns to his credit.

Pierre won the 200-yard freestyle on Thursday, then topped the field in the 500 freestyle Friday thanks to a time of four minutes, 45.5 seconds.

“It's nice to win, but I didn't drop time like I was hoping to,” said Pierre, who owns the school record in the event with a 4:42.93 achieved at the state meet. “But it's still really satisfying for me to come out of this with two first-place finishes.”

Mars coach Todd Slobodnyak agreed.

“Two WPIAL titles, that has to taste pretty sweet for him,” he said.

“I started swimming the 500 in eighth grade,” added Pierre. “At that point, I had never swam anything that long before, but it turned out to be my main event that year.”

Andrew Ivory had no letup on the second day of districts. He finished third in the breaststroke with a school-record time of 59.86. Mars' previous best was 1:00.24, set by Chris Georgiadis in 2014. The effort also sends Ivory to the state meet. He got there in the 200 IM with a runner-up finish on Thursday.

“We've been changing his strategy, the way he thinks about each stroke,” said Slobodnyak. “He's been putting in the work, 100 percent in every practice.”

Class AAA

Owen Blazer had his heart set on a WPIAL title, but admits that a silver medal and a ticket punched to the state meet isn't a bad consolation prize.

Seneca Valley's sophomore swam the 100 backstroke in a personal-best time of 50.14 seconds, or .86 seconds behind top-seeded Andrew Zhang of North Allegheny.

“Even though I didn't win, I'm definitely not disappointed,” said Blazer. “The race was a blur. I was just trying to nail my turns. In (Thursday's 200 medley relay), I was swimming the backstroke and I took a big breath at one of the turns and a kid was able to move ahead of me.

“I knew if I could nail my turns today, I could drop a lot of time.”

Blazer did just that, trimming his personal best by 1.08 seconds.

Butler's Alex Deemer placed third in the 500 freestyle, guaranteeing him a spot at states.

He said Thursday that he preferred the 200 freestyle (in which he placed fourth).

“You have to stay composed in the 500,” he said after swimming it in a time of 4:37.23. “You can't worry about the other swimmers, just swim your own race.

“Practice between now and states, it will be pretty light,” he added. “I'll be working to get the little things down, preparing to execute.”