Lauren Palko of Freeport placed 11th in the 50-yard freestyle and helped to anchor the 200 freestyle relay team to an 11th place finish in the first day of the PIAA Class AA Swimming and Diving Championships Friday at Bucknell University.

Palko, who entered the 50 freestyle race as the 17th seed, recorded a time of 24.85 seconds.

In the 200 freestyle relay, she was joined by Andrea McQueen, Gail Erickson and Katy Screen, who finished with a time of 1:42.41.

The foursome also placed 18th in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:56.41.

Other finishers included Knoch's Bethany Legin, who was 21st in the 200 freestyle (2:00.24); Mars' Rachel Szymkowiak was 22nd in the 100 butterfly (1:01.39) and teammate Courtney Shields was 25th in the 50 freestyle (25.40); and Slippery Rock's Bethany Johnston was 31st in the 200 individual medley (2:21.09).

In the boys meet, Mars' Jeff Gavin placed ninth overall in the 200 freestyle, winning the consolation final with a time of 1:45.90. He had placed 11th in the preliminaries with a time of 1:46.51.

Also, Freeport's Joel Erickson placed 23rd in the 100 butterfly (55.73).

The Class AA championship will wrap up on Saturday.