Swimming: West Allegheny senior enjoys last go-round

Nicholas Tolomeo, on the West Allegheny Swim Team:

Most of the swimmers responsible for the West Allegheny girls swimming team's back-to-back WPIAL Class AA team titles began swimming with veteran coach Bob Miller when they were in the second grade.

By comparison, senior Ashley Niznik is a late bloomer -- she didn't start until the seventh grade.

"She came out for the middle school team that year and we saw she had some talent," Miller recalled. "So we said, 'Hey, do you want to join the Aqua Club? We encouraged her and she came out. After her first year we saw there were some possibilities."

Those possibilities soon turned to realities.

"By the start of her second year, things just started clicking," Miller said.