Grant Regule and Zachary Totin were members of last year's North Allegheny 200-yard freestyle relay that took fourth at the PIAA Class 3A swimming championships at Bucknell University.
They returned Friday evening, this time teaming with senior Gus Miller and Mason Shantz for a shot at state gold medals.
From Regule's leadoff leg to Totin bringing it home as the anchor, the Tigers quartet was on point.
It swam to a season-best 1:22.50 in the championship heat for the win.
"We won WPIALs, and I guess we were expected to win here, but we knew it was going to take a lot of hard work to be ready to win this title," Totin said. "I was just so hyped to get going and finish it off."
Regule started the relay off with a 20.38 50-free split.
Miller, who had just set a school record in taking third in the 100 butterfly (48.67), followed with a 20.37.
Mason Stantz swam 20.92 before Totin clinched the win with a split time of 20.83.
"I had complete faith in my teammates that they would keep this going after I was done," Regule said. "I want to praise God for giving us the gift today. It's been a dream since freshman year to become a state champion. To do it with these guys and have everyone working well together, it's awesome."
North Allegheny came to WPIALs as the top seed after swimming 1:23.01 to win the WPIAL title two weeks ago at Pitt.
The relay's time was slightly elevated (1:23.27) in the preliminaries, but they took advantage of one more chance to go faster.
"I have to give a shoutout to Gus and Zach for bringing it back after their 100 fly swims, and we got gold," Regule said.
The North Allegheny 200 free relay was one of two state titles won by WPIAL swimmers Friday.
Fox Chapel senior Sarah Pasquella won the other. She hoped to go faster in the girls 200 free.
While she was a hair slower than her time in winning the WPIAL title (1:48.79), her 1:48.84 was good enough to give her a coveted state gold medal.
"To hear those words 'You are a state champion' come out of someone's mouth, it is just amazing," said Pasquella, who finished third in the 200 free last year.
"I am just over the moon. This has been my goal for four years now. To finally say that I am a state champion, my dream has come true. I am very happy.
"When I was on the block, I was thinking about what I had to do, and I had a lot of energy. I dove in and did what I do best. I was hoping to get a best time, but I was able to go fast enough."
Pasquella and North Allegheny's Claire Bacu, the WPIAL runner-up and fourth seed for the event at states, were right beside each other in the finals, and Bacu was right behind Pasquella at the wall in second (1:49.15).
Bacu swam faster than her WPIAL time of 1:50.90.
"It was great to have such talented swimmers beside me to push me and bring the best out of me," Pasquella said. "I am really happy for Claire and her being able to get best times today."
Pasquella will go after another state gold medal Saturday as the No. 2 seed behind Pine-Richland senior Sarah Shaffer in the 100 breaststroke.
Sylvia Roy had a silver medal placed around her neck in the 50 free the past two PIAA championship meets.
The Mt. Lebanon senior was hoping to up that to gold in her final 50 swim at states Friday evening.
But State College junior Molly Workman had something to say about that.
For the second year in a row, Workman edged Roy out at the wall to claim the PIAA title. This time, Workman won with a time of 22.44.
Roy, who came in as the No. 1 seed after claiming her third 50 title at WPIALs two weeks ago (22.57), swam to a runner-up time of 22.86.
"Obviously, it's not too exciting to come here to states and add time from WPIALs," Roy said. "But I don't think I am too mad about it. I am never in this pool, and it is a different environment. To be honest, I was pretty far behind Molly, so there wasn't too much else I could do."
Friday's race was the third time Roy raced Workman at states.
Roy, with a 22.93, bested Workman's 23.14 when the two were in the championship heat together in 2023. Roy was second, and Workman placed third.
"It's been nothing but healthy competition with her," Roy said. "I saw her race in the prelims, and she was so fast. She is great motivation when I am next to her like I was (Friday)."
Roy will return to individual competition Friday as the top seed in the 100 backstroke. She is the defending champion.
"I am not going to dwell on (the 50 free) too much," she said. "(Saturday) is my bigger day."
The North Allegheny girls ended Day 1 fourth in the team standings with 82 points. District 1's Upper Dublin is in the lead with 121 points, while Wilson from District 3 is second (120), followed by District 1's Hatboro-Horsham in third.
The Tigers began the swimming finals with 23 points off of third- and seventh-place finishes in diving from Juliet Hood and Maggie Lapina, respectively.
Fox Chapel is seventh with 59 team points.
The North Allegheny boys are in the lead after Day 1 with 119 team points, 21 ahead of Upper Dublin and 24 clear of third-place LaSalle College. Upper St. Clair is fourth with 92 points.
Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at [email protected].