By Todd Hummel
LEWISBURG — It would take a lot for a four-time state champion not to be the lead news from Wednesday’s first day of the PIAA Class AAA girls swimming championships at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium.
But after Samantha Pickens of Franklin Regional grabbed her fourth diving gold medal earlier in the afternoon, junior Danielle Siverling of Downingtown East and freshman Emily Cameron of Warwick almost did just that.
Siverling broke the state record in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:47.49, and then Cameron, in the very next race, ripped off a 1:59.0 in the 200 individual medley to break a state record that left her just .31 seconds short of the National High School Federation record for the event.
Pickens was the prohibitive favorite heading into the diving, but felt a little pressure looking to become a four-time state champion.
“I was pretty confident coming into today, but I also didn’t want to be that person that didn’t get the fourth state title in her senior year,” Pickens said.
She won easily, scoring 503.1 points, beating the runner-up Rachel Mumma of Cedar Cliff by 50.4 points, but she still wasn’t completely happy because Pickens was looking to break the state record of 517.2 points set by Jennifer O’Brien of Penn Hills back in 1997,
“Going into the whole season that was what I wanted (the state record), so I was a little disappointed,” Pickens said. “Just because of judging, I didn’t think I was doing as well, but my coaches thought I did better (than at the District 7 meet) and they know me best.”
Siverling was the top seed for the 200 freestyle, but thought she didn’t have much of a chance at the PIAA record of 1:48.18 set by Jamie Malandra of Parkland in 2008.
“I really wanted the meet record, but my best time was this morning in the preliminaries (1:49.24),” Siverling said. “So I thought it was a long shot.”
So no one was more shocked than Siverling when she looked at the clock and saw her time of 1:47.49.
“I really, really wanted to go for it. I was trying not to let any of my competitors get into my head and race my own race. I wanted to stay focused on my race,” Siverling said. “I was really excited when I got out of the water; I was so filled with adrenaline.”
Cameron was the favorite in the 200 individual medley despite the return of last year’s state champion and PIAA-record holder Mikelle Masciantonio of Emmaus, but Cameron’s first PIAA final didn’t get off to a rousing start. With all of the swimmers on the blocks, Cameron noticed the touch pad in her lane was off.
“I looked down; I saw the touch pad was off, so I was thinking ‘do I let it go? or do I make an announcement about it?” Cameron said. “So I was like ‘wait, wait.’ I didn’t want to slip on my turns, so I said something. It did throw me off a little bit, but I said to myself, ‘You know what? You have to keep going.’ ”
Cameron shook it off quickly, putting together the fastest splits in every stroke. Her time of 1:59.0 broke Masciantonio’s record of 2:00.83 set last year and left her just short of New Yorker Julia Smith’s NFHS record of 1:58.29.
“I am absolutely thrilled (with that time), when I hit the wall and looked up, I was speechless, I didn’t know what to do,” Cameron said. “These past two weeks at school I’d get an adrenaline rush every time I thought about this race. I was so excited.”
There were four other gold medalists crowned on Wednesday, with Katelyn Miller of Hershey involved in two of those. The junior swam the anchor leg of the winning 200 medley relay team for the Trojans, and then followed it up an hour later with the gold in the 50 freestyle. The Hershey relay team of Yurie Nakano, Carolyn McCarty, Samantha Surfus and Miller finished in 1:44.65, a length ahead of Wilson. Miller won the 50 free by outtouching Melanie Busch of William Tennent High School at the wall. Miller won in 23.51, while Busch finished in 23.55.
Zina Grogg of Moon Area claimed the state title in the 100 butterfly in 55.63, beating Nakano, who finished in 55.68. Wilson bounced back from losing the first relay of the day to claim the gold in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:35.24, almost a second quicker than Emmaus.
