Mon Valley YMCA swimmers heading to state championships

The local Mon Valley YMCA swim team once again showcased its talents at the Pa. YMCA West Districts to qualify for the state championships this weekend at Morgantown’s Mylan Park Aquatic Center.

In all, seven swimmers from the Y will be moving on to compete at the state competition from Friday to Sunday, which is being hosted by the Uniontown Area YMCA.

Representing the Mon Valley YMCA this weekend will be Korben Andrews (age 17), Capri Cox (12), Caleesi Despot (10), Brady Malekovich (16), Josh Novotnak (12), Ethan Rahr (16) and Gaige Watson (16). Malekovich and Watson swim at Belle Vernon Area High School, Andrews and Rahr swim at Ringgold High School, Despot goes to Madonna Catholic in Monongahela, Cox goes to California Academy of Learning Charter School and Novotnak is homeschooled but lives in the West Mifflin Area School District.

Mon Valley YMCA coach Liz Sprowls, who also coaches Ringgold High School’s swim squad, is proud of her squad’s determination and success this year.

“We train five days a week at the Y,” Sprowls said. “They’ve been here day in and day out since September, and they were here the whole summer season prior to that, so really we’ve been working towards this goal since last May. They’ve put the time in and been motivating each other, and we’re really proud of them as individuals and as a team.”

Andrews, Malekovich, Rahr and Watson qualified for the 400 freestyle relay, 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay. The group finished fourth in the district meet in the 400 freestyle relay, with Sprowls admitting that they surprised her and themselves with their strong performance. They also qualified with at-large bids in the 200 medley relay and the 200 freestyle relay.

Despot swam eight events at the district meet and qualified for six at the state level by placing in the top-six. Those include the 100 breaststroke, 100 IM, 200 IM, 50 fly, 100 freestyle and 200 freestyle.

Cox qualified for four events at the state level and Novotnak made it to three more. Cox will compete in the 100 fly prelims, 200 fly prelims, 100 freestyle prelims and 200 IM prelims while Novotnak will swim in the 200 backstroke prelims, 200 breaststroke prelims and the 200 IM prelims.

“Each of them are very coachable,” Sprowls said. “They have put a lot of trust into not just me but all of the coaches from our team and are always willing to do anything that we ask. They’re always willing to do something challenging even if it’s really going to be rough. The younger kids have also put in time doing dryland workouts this whole year, which was something that we weren’t as scheduled with until this year.

“The older boys are working with us and on their high school teams, so they’ve been putting in a lot of time as well. They’ve been grinding this whole season, and they’re all great kids to work with.”