MORGANTOWN — When Morgantown senior McKenna Moore learned she advanced to the 100 butterfly final during Thursday’s WVSSAC State Swimming Championship preliminaries, she didn’t have much time to celebrate.
Just a few minutes later, she was back in the pool for the 500-free — and then again for the 200-free relay.
While back-to-back-to-back races would often demand more of an athlete than they have to give, Moore handled the challenge with determination, advancing to finals in both her individual events and the relay.
“It’s definitely stressful. Having to cool down and warm up at the same time and go back for the 500 was a lot — it was a lot of pressure to make sure my body was ready and I had things in order,” she said.
Moore recorded a sixth-place finish in the 100-butterfly (1:01.29) and fifth-place in the 500-free (5:31.13). She was joined by Irina Stanescu, Rainey Block and Kate Blosser in the 200-free relay, where they finished fifth (1:47.65).
The prelims proved a trial run for Moore, who will attempt the same feat today in the finals.
“Maybe I could do a little better and prep myself a little bit more,” she said.
Joining Moore in the finals on the boys’ side is Carson Gresak, who advanced with a sixth-place finish in the 50-free (23.37). He also finished 12th in the 100-free to advance to the consolation race.
“Carson can focus like no other. When he has a goal, he puts his mind to it and block off everything else,” Morgantown coach J.C. Pettit said.
“He really is a person who can focus on what needs to be done and he did that today.”
Joining Gresak in consolation races will be Stanescu in the 200-IM with a seventh-place finish (2:25.99) and Preston Householder in the 500-free with a ninth-place finish (5:22.98).
Also advancing to consolation races will be the boys’ 200-medley relay with a 11th-place finish (1:54.14), the boys’ 200-free relay with an 11th-place finish (1:41.67), and the girls’ 200- medley relay with a eighth-place finish (2:05.02).
Across the board, all Mohigans swimmers finished the day with personal bests, which Pettit attributes to a mindset amongst the team unlike any other he has previously seen.
“Their work ethic is like none I’ve ever seen. They come in on deck on evening and they are all business. They know that their goal is to peak this time of the year, and they’ve worked toward it,” he said.
