LEWISBURG — Mars senior swimmer Andrew Pierre continued his strong showing in day two of PIAA Class AA competition as he placed fourth in the 500-yard freestyle at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium Thursday night.

Pierre’s time in the event was four minutes, 43.01 seconds.

“What is nice about circle seeding is he got to see what he needed to go to get into the finals and there is a little bit of strategy when it comes to the 500,” Mars coach Todd Slobodnyak said.

Pierre finished fourth in the preliminary race with a time of 4:46.13.

“It has been a long day after swimming the 200 freestyle the day before, with prelims and finals today,” Slobodnyak said. “Kinda swam a little bit slower and took his time in the morning so he could place well coming into finals and push for third. It’s been a long week for him, but dropping three seconds from prelims to finals is pretty good.”

Teammate Aidan Wolf finished 31st in the 500 freestyle prelims with a time of 5:11.97.

Heston Suorsa of Slippery Rock placed 25th in the 100 yard backstroke prelims, clocking in at 55.84.

Knoch’s Zach Wilson registered a time of 56.02, which placed him 28th in the event.

In the 100 breaststroke prelims, Knoch had two top 15 finishers in Braden Zukowski who took 11th place at 1:00.28, while Matt Cummings finished 14th with a time of 1:01.24.

Mars took 23rd in the 400 yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:24.84 behind Pierre, Wolf, Will Allison, and Zach Leachman.

For the girls, Ainsley Bissett of North Catholic finished 32nd in the 500 freestyle prelims, timing in at 5:31.29.

The 100 backstroke prelims saw Brittney Carmazzi of North Catholic finish 22nd with a time of 1:00.18, while Moniteau’s Baily Trettel finished tied for 23rd at 1:00.20. Ariana Clark of Freeport clocked in at 1:00.70, placing her 27th in the event.

Alexis Schrecongost from Freeport placed 14th in the 100 breaststroke prelims with a time of 1:07.39.

The Yellowjackets finished 24th in the 400 freestyle relay prelims led by Clark, Schrecongost, Madison Moretti and Brooke Welling, registering a time of 3:44.99.

North Catholic finished not far behind in 28th place with a time of 3:50.37, anchored by Carmazzi, Bissett, Emma Kunzmann, and Julia Kocsis.