By DEAN DELLAMALVA JR.
MVI Sports
The Belle Vernon boys and girls swim teams both picked up wins Thursday night in the pool against Steel Valley in Section 5-2A while Ian Shahan continued to build his legacy.
The Leopard boys remained unbeaten in beating the Ironmen 45-26. Shahan, an Army – West Point recruit, and Sam West each picked up two first-place finishes for the Leps (7-0, 5-0). Steel Valley only brought three swimmers on the boys side giving several unopposed victories to Belle Vernon.
Nevertheless, it was a solid effort according to Leopards coach Rob Reda, as his team continues to build toward the WPIAL championships.
“We had some hard practices this week and the team responded nicely,” Reda said. “We have one more week to go so hopefully we’ll get some faster cuts and get some more automatic qualifiers this last week.”
Shahan had already qualified for the 200 freestyle when he stepped onto the block for the race. However, Shahan raised the bar by breaking the BVA school record with a time of 1:45.25. The previous record was set in 2010 by Brendan Lacey at 1:45.70.
“Good for him, it’s awesome. I know he wanted (the record) and he’s been trying to get it,” Reda said. “He just missed it last year. But it is nice that he got it this year. Even though we have missed some time in December, he was able to do it.”
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