After just missing the qualifying time last year, the boys 200-meter freestyle relay team is ready to compete at WPIALs.

The team consists of sophomore Matteo Cuenca, junior Tarik Usanovic, and seniors Brayden Kuch and Tanner Zalar. The alternate is junior Nathan Loshelder.

This marks Cuenca’s first time qualifying for any WPIAL event. He acknowledges that it didn’t sink in right away that the relay team had hit the WPIAL qualifying time.

“After you swim a relay, you’re pretty tired and kind of dizzy from going all out,” Cuenca said. 

The reality hit him slowly.

“You see Tarik coming into the wall, you look up at the timer, look back at him, then back at the timer,” Cuenca said, “When we saw 1:37, it was overwhelming. Everyone was cheering. It felt great.”

Heading into that Feb. 9 meet, the team knew they were close. Their previous 1:39 swim showed they were within reach, especially considering Cuenca felt he hadn’t delivered his best race that day.

“We were on pace the previous meet. I felt confident I could drop time,” Cuenca said.

Team members said hitting the qualifying time was far from guaranteed.

“The time was very fast, and having everyone in the relay swim fast enough for us to qualify at the same time was a little challenging,” Zalar said. 

Last year, the team missed qualifying by just 0.03 seconds, a margin small enough to sting long after the season ended.

“The entire team was extremely grateful that we qualified for WPIALs,” Zalar said. 

Relay events depend on perfect timing, not just in exchanges, but in performance. Every swimmer has to peak at once. 

With limited opportunities throughout the season to post a qualifying time, missing even one chance made the pressure higher each meet.

Usanovic, meanwhile, has also qualified for two other WPIAL events: the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle races. During the offseason, Usanovic said knew he needed to work on his starts and speed.

“I improved from last year by working on my starts to make them faster and generally working on my sprint speed,” Usanovic said.

To prepare for WPIALs, Usanovic has been working on his freestyle sprinting.

“The only thing I will do differently to prepare for WPIALs is focus completely on freestyle sprinting,” Usanovic said.

The hard work paid off for the team as they are really excited going into WPIALs.

“We’re hype. It’s an amazing feeling, and we worked so hard the whole season,” Kuch said.

With shorter, more sprint-focused sessions, the team is tapering physically while sharpening mentally. 

“The team is excited, and we are having WPIAL practices, which are not very long or hard,” Zalar said, “The practices are fun and motivating, and we are mentally preparing ourselves for the event.”

The WPIAL meet is on Thursday at the University of Pittsburgh.