Records fall in 1st day of state meet
LEWISBURG — Four records fell in the first four Class AA girls events on Wednesday night as the PIAA swimming and diving championships opened with a flurry.
It made for hectic day at Bucknell University, which hosted states at Kinney Natatorium. Right next door, at Sojka Pavilion, Bucknell hosted the Patriot League title game, won 64-56 by the Bison over Lafayette.
There were exciting moments in Bucknell’s eight-lane pool, too, in the eight-lane state meet that ends Saturday.
In order, Malvern Villa Maria Academy’s 200 medley relay team, Mifflinburg’s Adrianna Grabski in the 200 freestyle, Gwynedd Mercy’s Allie Szekely in the 200 IM and Sarah Hitchens of Villa Maria in the 50 freestyle established new state meet records.
Villa Maria’s team of Emily Cornell, Olivia Tierney, Lauren Law and Hitchens won the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:45.81, easily beating defending champion Central Columbia (1:47.32), which had set a record in the event last year in 1:46.89.
Moments later, Grabski, who lives just 10 miles from Bucknell, touched the wall in 1:47.05, breaking a 15-year old record held by fellow District 4 swimmer Stef Williams, an eight-time state champion considered one of the best PIAA swimmers in history. Williams’ time of 1:47.37 had stood since 1998.
Just when the crowd settled down from Grabski’s electric swim — Szekely had them cheering again, becoming the first Class AA female swimmer to break the two-minute mark in the state meet with her 1:59.66.
She was chased to the wall in the final by Scranton Prep junior Mia Nonnenberg, whose time of 2:00.41 was .07 faster than the 2011 record set by Madison Burns of Northwestern Lehigh.
Then Hitchens was heard from again, producing an exceptional 22.91 to beat another record by Williams, this time in the 50 free. Williams had posted a 23.16 in the event, also in 1998.
There was one surprise remaining. In the final girls’ event, York Suburban shocked two-time defending state champion Villa Maria in the 200 freestyle relay, scoring a 1:37.55 to win the race by .08 of a second.
