State champs!
LEWISBURG — A brand new state championship banner will soon be hanging on the wall inside Mars High School's Gymnasium.
The Planets' boys swimming team, which features just six total members, scored 153 points and out-performed District 3's Trinity (134) Friday and Saturday at Bucknell University to claim the PIAA Class AA crown.
“It was the greatest feeling, especially for me and Chris (Georgiadis) because we are seniors,” said Tom Pierre, who contributed a sixth-place effort in the 500-yard freestyle.
The team's other swimmers include Francis Folz, Reed McDonough, Jimmy Pierre and Joseph Folz.
It is the third state team title in school history, following girls cross country (1976) and girls soccer (2011).
“Our boys got the spotlight,” said Planets' coach Heidi Brandon. “It shows we have a well-rounded program and I think it could create more interest in swimming at Mars.
“Coming into the meet, we thought we had a good shot at taking runner-up,” added Brandon. “But as the meet wore on, we realized we could win it all.”
Entering the meet's final event, the 400 freestyle relay, the Planets needed an eighth-place performance to clinch the team title. But the quartet of Reed McDonough, Tom Pierre, Georgiadis and Francis Folz closed the season by winning a state championship with a time of three minutes, 12.57 seconds. Southern Lehigh placed second, a half second behind Mars.
“Winning the relay and team title was the best way to close the meet,” said Tom Pierre. “We have not lost that event in any meet since last year and knew we had a great shot to win it.”
“Two legs into it, we were behind Salisbury (by almost three seconds),” said Francis Folz, “but we knew that they had put their best swimmers in for the first half of the race. We just had to finish strong.”
Salisbury placed third in the event.
Earlier on Saturday, Francis Folz had earned a fourth-place medal in the 100 freestyle. That was good for 15 points toward the team total.
Mars received a bit of motivation just before the preliminary round on Friday. Jack Muehlheuser, a 2012 Mars graduate now swimming at Georgetown University, surprised the current Planets.
Muehlheuser won a state title in the 100 backstroke as a senior, helping the five-member Mars team place second in the state that year.
“The boys were so excited when Jack showed up,” said Brandon, who was assisted this season by Erik Bergh, Hans Bergh and Darryl Brandon.
“We had no idea he was coming,” Tom Pierre said. “It pumped us up.”
“To stand up there with that first-place (team) trophy, it was magnificent,” said Francis Folz.
Grove City's Tom Somora placed sixth in the 100 breaststroke, taking home a medal.
Girls
Slippery Rock's Abigail Parsons managed quite a leap on Saturday. The sophomore entered the 100 backstroke seeded 26th, but took 3.76 seconds from her seed time and placed fifth in the state with an effort of 57.61.
Also earning medals in the girls' meet were Knoch's Brooke Zukowski (fourth in 100 breaststroke), Mars' Taylor Hockenberry (sixth in diving) and Freeport's Bria Otwell (eighth in 500 freestyle).
Following are the Knoch, Mars, Freeport, Slippery Rock and Grove City swimmers and divers who scored team points by placing in the top 16 at the PIAA Class AA Championships Saturday at Bucknell University. The top eight in each event earned a medal and appear in bold.Girls1-meter diving:6-Taylor Hockenberry (M) 369.4500 freestyle:8-Bria Otwell (F) 5:06.96100 backstroke:5-Abigail Parsons (SR) 57.61100 breaststroke:4-Brooke Zukowski (K) 1:05.72Boys100 freestyle:4-Francis Folz (M) 47.04; 11-Austin Wilson (GC) 48.38500 freestyle:6-Tom Pierre (M) 4:44.56100 breaststroke:6-Tom Somora (GC) 1:00.64; 11-Chris Georgiadis (M) 1:00.8; 15-John Wilson (K) 1:02.56400 freestyle relay:1-Mars (Reed McDonough, Tom Pierre, Chris Georgiadis, Francis Folz) 3:12.57; 14-Grove City (Sam Archibald, Devin Reynolds, Tom Somora, Austin Wilson) 3:23.45
