By Todd Hummel
LEWISBURG -- The first day of the PIAA Class AA state swimming championships proved to be productive for the local district swimmers. Three earned medals, while two others earned all-state honors.
Danville junior Kelsey Williams won her second career medal in the 200 individual medley, finishing fourth, while Selinsgrove's Tyler Long won his first state medal, finishing fifth in the 200 freestyle. Lewisburg's Allison Friery made her first-ever appearance in a state final, winning an eighth-place medal in the 50 freestyle.
By virtue of their times in the consolation finals, Line Mountain's Michelle Giordani earned all-state honors in the 200 freestyle, while the Lewisburg team of Friery, Emily Maxwell, Gwen Stefan and Maggie Storm earned all-state honors in the 200 freestyle relay.
Williams finished fourth in her race, one place higher than her finish from a year ago. Williams's time of 2:08.21 was her best of the year.
"I'm really happy. That was my best time of the season," Williams said. "The first two strokes are my best, but the breaststroke is my weak point, but I held on pretty well."
Long has struggled in his career at times with the 200 free, so he was pretty happy with medaling in the event.
"The past years I've swam the 200 pretty horribly, so it was nice to swim my best time in the morning and come out in the evening and swim faster," Long said.
The 200 race was very tight. Long's fifth-place time of 1:44.09 left him less than a half-second from fourth.
"I swam my best time. I swam my race as good as I could have, so it can't get much better," Long said. "You always know it's going to be close. When you take a breathe, you take a peek to see where everyone is."
In a tight 50 free final, Friery finished eighth, but just a second behind the winning time of 23.18. She swam her best time of 24.37 seconds.
"I was happy that I was guaranteed with eighth," Friery said. "It was my best time, so I'm happy about that."
Both Giordani and the Lewisburg relay team shook off disappointing mornings to grab all-state honors, by finishing faster in their consolation heat than the last qualifier for the final. Giordani swam a 1:57.24 in the morning preliminaries of the 200 freestyle.
"I was a little disappointed (I didn't make the final), because I knew the time I swam in prelims could have been a little better," Giordani said.
Giordani bounced back to finish second in the consolation round with a 1:55.96 to earn all-state.
"It's my best time ever, so I'm really happy," Giordani said. "I wanted to keep my pace and finish strong."
Giordani shook off a disappointing District 4 meet as well where she finished second to Maddie Thompson of Jersey Shore. Giordani bettered Thompson's time twice on Friday.
"I was disappointed at districts, I'm really glad I came back to swim my best time at the state meet," Giordani said.
She's hoping her finish on Friday propels her to further heights in her final scholastic season. "I really hope I make it to the final next year, that's my goal," Giordani said.
Friery and her teammates swam their fastest time of the year in the preliminaries of the 200 freestyle relay, but missed the final by nine hundredths of the second. Lewisburg won the consolation final in 1:40.39 to earn all state honors.
Other area swimmers competed on Friday in the consolation final. Storm finished 11th overall in the butterfly in 58.86, also earning all-state status. Sammy Koons of Danville finished 16th in the 200 freestyle in 1:59.84.
Emily Maxwell finished 30th in the 200 individual medley in 2:21.55. Lexi Cole of Danville finished 25th in the butterfly in 1:01.7, while Michelle Delgado of Selinsgrove was 27th in 1:02.7.
On the boys side, Zack Haney of Danville finished 14th in the 200 freestyle in 1:47.48. Logan Metzger of Lewisburg finished 17th in the same event with a time of 1:48.18. In the 200 individual medley, Nathan Witmer of Warrior Run finished 21st in 2:03.29, while Matt Bason of Danville was 27th in 2:05.23 and Mike Jones of Mifflinburg finished 32nd in 2:10.55. Matt Reddell of Danville finished 23rd in the 50 freestyle in 22.59. The Danville 200 freestyle relay team finished 17th in 1:32.07.
