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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&#8217;s PIAA Swimming Championships at Bucknell University. The 37-year veteran coach will lead a Spartans&#8217; team that boasts nine participants at this year&#8217;s Class 3A state meet.&#8220;I hope all of my athletes are ready to do their job,&#8221; Tribendis said. &#8220;It&#8217;s nothing out of the ordinary. This state meet is no different than any other.&#8221;Due to the condensed schedule because of this week&#8217;s snow, all four sessions will be timed finals &#8211; 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 &#8211; a 400-free relay that qualified for Lewisburg.Josh Zawatski offers the Spartans&#8217; best chance at Tribendis&#8217; last state medal to go on his long r&#233;sum&#233;. 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&#8217;s two relays.&#8220;The sad thing with swimming, like track, is that you train all year for the main event,&#8221; Tribendis said. &#8220;It&#8217;s about getting ready for the big race and getting relaxed when it&#8217;s your turn.&#8221;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&#8217;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&#8217; Caroline Byron claimed back-to-back gold medals in 2004 and 2005.Wyoming Seminary has the top seed time in the boys&#8217; 200 medley relay. The Blue Knights&#8217; 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&#8217;s Jarod Anderson by seven-tenths of a second.Dallas&#8217; Annalise Cheshire offers the WVC&#8217;s best chance in the girls&#8217; 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.&#8220;What we do is taper for 13 days and repeat the same practices,&#8221; Tribendis said. &#8220;The last two days will have little effect on us. We&#8217;re prepared and anticipated for the championships.&#8221;<ins>For other sports stories, <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/category/sports" target="_blank">click here</a>.</ins><style>
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<div class="neCaption">WVW coach Frank Tribendis will be stepping down at the end of this season. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/web1_TTL031816Swim1.jpg</photo0><caption0>WVW coach Frank Tribendis will be stepping down at the end of this season. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger file photo | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Jay MonahanFor Times Leader</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>PIAA Swimming Prelim Psych Seeds2A GirlsBerwick &#8211; Sydney Lloyd (200 Free, 22nd); Becca Decker (100 Free, 31st)Dallas &#8211; 200 Free Relay (10th); 400 Free Relay (4th); Annalise Cheshire (50 Free, 6th; 100 Free, 15th); Melissa Leonard (200 Free, 24th); Abby Zolner (500 Free, 18th; 100 Fly, 17th)Holy Redeemer &#8211; 200 Medley Relay (13th) 200 Free Relay (4th); Margaret Walting (100 Breast, 7th; 50 Free, 14th); McKenna Zeller (100 Back, 18th)Wyoming Seminary &#8211; 200 Medley Relay (18th); 200 Free Relay (8th); 400 Free Relay (4th); April Kupsky (200 IM, 16th; 500 Free, 17th); Tara Kupsky (200 IM, 7th; 100 Fly, 7th); Haley Thier (100 Fly, 19th; 100 Back, 20th)3A GirlsHazleton Area &#8211; 400 Free Relay (24th); Marina O&#8217;Hara (100 Back, 31st)Wyoming Valley West &#8211; Alexis Ivanitch (100 Breast, 24th); Chelsea Mackiewicz (50 Free, 31st)2A BoysBerwick &#8211; Chris Michael (100 Breast, 27th)Dallas &#8211; 200 Medley Relay (17th); 400 Free Relay (17th); Mikail Krochta (200 IM, 19th; 100 Back, 14th); Troy Reinert (100 Fly, 26th)Holy Redeemer &#8211; Nick Dubinski (100 Breast, 7th); Adam Mahler (200 Free, 20th; 100 Fly, 7th)Tunkhannock &#8211; 200 Free Relay (15th); Alex Bushre (50 Free, 26th)Wyoming Seminary &#8211; 200 Medley Relay (1st); 400 Free Relay (5th); Matt Bean (100 Back, 13th); Garrett Pall (100 Fly, 27th); Marcos Rico (200 IM, 5th; 100 Breast, 1st); Yonah Wasik (200 IM, 21st; 100 Back, 25th); Stanley Zaneski (50 Free, 3rd; 100 Free, 4th)3A BoysHazleton Area &#8211; Jorge Moncayo (200 IM , 31st; 100 Fly, 16th)Wyoming Valley West &#8211; 200 Medley Relay (20th); 400 Free Relay (23rd); Logan Fluegel (100 Fly, 20th; 100 Back, 31st); Zac Rosencrans (100 Breast, 32nd); Josh Zawatski (50 Free, 24th; 100 Free, 12th)</factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @tlsports.</shirttailMeta></div>

Wyoming Valley West’s Frank Tribendis heads to final states meet