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A titan of the pool will make his final rounds on the pool deck.
Wyoming Valley West coach Frank Tribendis will hang up his stopwatch after this weekend’s PIAA Swimming Championships at Bucknell University. The 37-year veteran coach will lead a Spartans’ team that boasts nine participants at this year’s Class 3A state meet.
“I hope all of my athletes are ready to do their job,” Tribendis said. “It’s nothing out of the ordinary. This state meet is no different than any other.”
Due to the condensed schedule because of this week’s snow, all four sessions will be timed finals – a departure from the typical preliminary and finals format. Class 2A will compete on Thursday and Friday. Class 3A is set for Saturday and Sunday. Diving was rescheduled to March 25-26.
During his tenure that spans four decades, Tribendis has overseen dozens of conference titles, district championships and state medalists. He brought a pair of state championships to Edwardsville when Corey Welch won two PIAA gold medals in the 200 IM and 100 back at the 2001 championships.
Wyoming Valley West dramatically won the District 2-4 regional championship earlier this month on the last race – a 400-free relay that qualified for Lewisburg.
Josh Zawatski offers the Spartans’ best chance at Tribendis’ last state medal to go on his long résumé. Zawatski, a junior, is seeded 12th in the 100 free event with a seed time of 47.09 seconds. He will also compete in the 50 free and the team’s two relays.
“The sad thing with swimming, like track, is that you train all year for the main event,” Tribendis said. “It’s about getting ready for the big race and getting relaxed when it’s your turn.”
The Wyoming Valley Conference will be looking to get its first state champion since the last time snow reshuffled the championships a decade ago. Bishop Hoban’s Matt Kolojejchick was the last WVC swimmer to take the top spot at the podium when he won the 50 free in 2007. The conference has not had a girls champion since the Argents’ Caroline Byron claimed back-to-back gold medals in 2004 and 2005.
Wyoming Seminary has the top seed time in the boys’ 200 medley relay. The Blue Knights’ 1:36.12 is a full second faster than No. 2 Clearfield. Marcos Rico, a foreign exchange student from Spain, holds the fastest time in the 100 breast. His 57.26 second mark leads Big Spring’s Jarod Anderson by seven-tenths of a second.
Dallas’ Annalise Cheshire offers the WVC’s best chance in the girls’ side. She looks to reclaim another state medal seeded sixth in the 50 free.
With the snow keeping swimmers away from the water for the past two days, Tribendis does not anticipate that it will pose problems for state participants.
“What we do is taper for 13 days and repeat the same practices,” Tribendis said. “The last two days will have little effect on us. We’re prepared and anticipated for the championships.”
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