compete in the Olympics . Dowd , who now lives in North Carolina , won state titles in breaststroke in both 1974 and 1975 and qualified for the 1976 Montreal Olympics , where she competed in the women ’ s 200-meter breaststroke . During those days , the girls ’ team practiced at the Sewickley YMCA , and sometimes at the North Park Pool .
“ We were winning state titles , and we didn ’ t even have a pool ,” Dowd says with a laugh . “ I remember the intensity of competing on that team . We were all very close .”
Former teammate Laurie ( Potter ) MacMillan agrees . She competed with the team in the mid-1970s and still holds state records in the 100-yard butterfly .
“ Swimming back then was quite a different scenario than it is today ,” says MacMillan , who swam in college and has coached the high school team where she now lives in North Carolina . “ Even though we didn ’ t have a pool , NA provided us with a great environment to swim in .”
Semler started coaching the team after Dowd and MacMillan had already moved on to college , but had plenty of opportunities afterward to guide future teams through multiple state championship wins . His first state championship came with the 1984 girls ’ team , the same year
that the team won the National Dual Meet title . He also relishes the girls ’ 1997 state title , which was the last of a seven-year run that included five state titles , as well as the 2010 boys ’ state title , which was the second consecutive championship win for the boys .
“ We had a miserable first session , leaving us wondering if we could even finish in the top three teams , and they came back that evening with an amazing turnaround , leading us to a championship ,” says Semler of the boys ’ title .
Over the past few decades , numerous NA swimmers have qualified for the Olympic trials , and many have gone on to swim for NCAA Division I teams . Moving forward , the team ’ s stream of success will be hard to topple : North Allegheny Varsity Swimming is the only one out of any WPIAL sport to have earned five consecutive wins on both girls ’ and boys ’ teams , says Wenzel . And the team is on its way to try to collect yet another state title ; as of press time , it had just finished a perfect season with a win at North Hills High School , with the boys smashing four pool records along the way .
“ We ’ re hoping for a repeat win , of course , but more than anything , we ’ re always striving for excellence ,” says Wenzel . “ The rest seems to take care of itself .” n
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