By Todd Hummel
LEWISBURG — It would be hard to top the night the Buerger brothers of North Allegheny High School had on Wednesday night at the PIAA Class AAA boys swimming and diving championships at Kinney Natatorium.
Jonathan Buerger won two golds, claiming the 200 freestyle race and swimming a leg on the winning 200 freestyle relay team, while his brother Matthew claimed a silver in the 200 individual medley on the first night of competition.
“(Matt) has always been second in line to me,” Jonathan Buerger said. “It was great to see him step up. He’s going to be a great one.”
Unless you count Emmaus senior Ryan Stahley, who took home two golds and a silver medal himself.
Stahley anchored the winning 200 individual medley relay team and won the 50 freestyle, before wrapping up his evening with the leadoff leg on the silver-medal winning 200 freestyle relay team.
“At this point, it’s about putting out what you can,” Stahley said after being asked if he was worried about running out of energy.
Stahley got the evening off to a great start, when the Green Hornets were locked in a tight battle with Wilson in the 200 medley relay. Stahley got the baton with his team trailing Wilson, but ripped off a split of 20.16 in his freestyle leg, faster then what he would swim later in the night to win the gold in the 50 freestyle. Emmaus won in 1:32.34, a slower time than their PIAA-record 1:32.07 set earlier in the morning.
“I have to get in the right mind set and get my game face on and go as fast as I can,” Stahley said.
Jonathan Buerger was up next, looking to improve on his third-place finish from a year ago in the 200 freestyle. Unionville’s Shane Austin went out quickly, building a lead on Jonathan Buerger.
“I got a little nervous on the first 50, but that’s how I swim my race. I knew Shane (Austin) would take it out fast,” Jonathan Buerger said.
“But I still was a little nervous when he had that lead.”
Jonathan Buerger took control of the race over the final 100 yards of the race, taking over the lead in the third leg and then pulling away late to win in 1:38.08, over a second quicker than Austin.
“In that third 50, I just took it to (Austin),” Jonathan Buerger said. “Once I got him, I knew I had him now and I just had to step it up and finish it off.”
Wilson junior Nate Savoy ruined the chances of the Buerger family to claim three golds in the 200 individual medley race, when he won in 1:48.93, beating Matthew Buerger by two seconds.
“I was kind of stunned by that time. That was great,” Savoy said. “I’m a back stroker and from looking at my splits this morning, I thought that was a little lacking, so I concentrated on that part of the race.”
Stahley went looking for his second gold medal of the evening next in the 50 freestyle, despite being the second seed. In a race that is always close, Stahley won in 20.44, while Dain Bomberger, the top seed from the preliminaries, finished second in 20.6.
“I was pretty sure I won the race, but I had to look up at the clock to make sure,” Stahley said.
In the 200 freestyle relay, Stahley gave Emmaus the early lead, but strong second legs put both North Allegheny and Mount Lebanon ahead of the Hornets. Emmaus, the top seed, was able to recover for second place, but never got past the final two North Allegheny swimmers, Jonathan Du and Kostya Borisov. North Allegheny won in 1:24.21.
In a tightly contested 100 butterfly, Kyle Dudzinski of Upper St. Clair won in 49.04, besting West Chester Henderson’s Andrew Kosic (49.41) and Sam Wilshire of Mount Lebanon (49.58). It was Dudzinski’s second gold of his career. He looks to defend his 100 backstroke title today.
