The Beat Goes On For USC Swim Teams

For members of the Upper St. Clair swim teams the day began before sunrise with a two-hour training session before school began. Then after school yet another long training session. All this before Thursday's 6 o'clock meet against Chartiers Valley.

The meet itself would be more about preparation than anything else for Upper St. Clair. The best swimmers would take most of the night off after getting their work in earlier in the day. Resting.Waiting. Preparing for next Thursday's meet at undefeated Peters Township, one that will likely decide who takes the section title.

"That's a meet you don't want to miss," Chet Dudzinski said.

Dudzinski's son Kyle is the star of the Upper St. Clair swim team. Kyle swam a leg of the boys 4 x 50 yard medley relay then called it a night. Actually, he spent the rest of the night by the side of the pool cheering his teammates. The elder Dudzinski doubles as an announcer at the home meets. It's not a prerequisite to have a gold medal champion for a son to be an announcer, he just kindly offers his assistance.

Upper St. Clair had Chartiers Valley beat on points fairly early in the meet. Once that happens, as part of good sportsmanship, they turn the scoring into exhibition style. The boys winning 62-26 Thursday night, and the girls winning 52-46 really aren't indicative of what went on here.

One of the best parts about swimming is that the competition doesn't always have to be against another school. Swimmers are trying to qualify for specific events in the WPIAL Championships in March. Some are trying to beat their own best times. Others are getting a chance to swim on a big stage for the first time, since their coach isn't worried about garnering every single point to be had.

"The best part of swimming is it's an individual sport as well," Panthers coach Charles Lersch said.

It's sort of the competition within the competition.  A lot of these swimmers first look  to the board to see their time before looking beside themselves to see if they even won the race. It's the game within the game of swimming, but it never trumps team work and team goals.

Before intermission, Upper St. Clair freshman Billy Zou beat his own best time for the boys 50-yard freestyle. He bested his previous time of 26.42 seconds by lowering it to 25.68. It's still well short of the 23.50 seconds he would have needed to qualify for the WPIAL championships, but that's the type of accomplishments you see at a meet like this.

"He could shave off 1 second or he could shave off 4 seconds in the next four years," coach Lersch said.

It's hard to tell how the maturation process works with such athletes. It's so dependent on the amount of time the swimmer is willing to put  in the pool and in the weight room. Not every high school swimmer dreams of being an Olympic gold medalist. They might have other hobbies they enjoy just as much.

Other highlights Thursday night included USC's Charlie Mosca qualifying for the WPIAL championships in the 100-yard butterfly. His time of 57.49 seconds beat the 58.90 requirement. USC's Nathan Novak also beat his career best by almost 3 seconds finishing the 500-yard freestyle in 5:27.22.

Up next for Upper St. Clair is serious business at Peters Township. With the section title most likely on the line, you can expect to see a lot of good times on the scoreboard, and fans having a good time as well. A long year of hard work goes into preparing for matches like this. Watching how it all plays out makes for good theatre.