LEWISBURG — Maggie Gruber has been having a sensational freshman season.

So, why should the PIAA Class AA Swimming Championship be any different?

Gruber became the first state swimming champion in Mars High history after tying Nazareth's Victoria Gillespie with a time of 55.47 seconds in the 100 butterfly Friday at Bucknell University.

The time also placed Gruber on the National Honor Roll.

Greensburg Central Catholic's Andrea Marko, who holds the state record in the event (54.92), which she set two years ago, placed third.

Marko won the WPIAL championship two weeks ago, just ahead of Gruber.

"My goal was to be in the top three and better my time," said Gruber. "I wasn't paying attention to the other swimmers. ... I can't control what the they do, so I just focused on myself."

"The first 50, we wanted Maggie to go out fast," said Mars coach Heidi Brandon. "She's amazing underwater on her pushoffs and starts.

"We were hoping she would be underwater longer. Maggie had six less strokes than they did. She was a lot less tired than they were.

"She just swam a smarter race," Brandon added.

Gillespie had the fastest split time at 25.53, compared to 26.24 for Gruber, but she came back in the second half with a 29.23 compared to Gillespie's 29.94.

Gruber had the third-fastest time in the preliminaries (56.16), just .01 seconds behind Marko and .02 behind Gillespie.

Brandon was uncertain about what the freshman might accomplish this season, her first on the varsity level.

"I'd have to say I didn't pick her to win it at the beginning of the season, but Maggie's level-headed," said Brandon. "A lot of things don't affect her."

After the race, it didn't take long for Gruber to realize what she had accomplished.

"While I was warming down, it hit me," Gruber said. "I couldn't stop smiling."

Class AA GirlsIn the girls 200 individual medley, Anna Marie Bilott of Penn Township, a member of the Shady Side Academy squad, placed fifth with a time of 2:09.02.The junior entered the state meet seeded sixth.Bilott also took part in the 200 freestyle and 200 medley relays.In the 200 free relay, Bilott, senior Tory Bruch, also of Penn Township, Domeisen and Destin Goff placed sixth in 1:40.87.In the 200 medley relay, Bilott, Hillary Cummings, who is a junior from Oakland Township, Courtney Collins and Natalie Domeisen, placed 10th overall with a time of 1:51.41.Knoch's Kristy Daubner was clocked at 24.50 in the 50 freestyle to place ninth overall after placing 11th in the prelims with a time of 24.73.Mars' Gabri Pierre finished 19th in the 200 free preliminaries with a time of 2:00.54 but didn't advance.

BoysSlippery Rock's Caleb Sykora-Bodie placed 14th overall in the 50 free with a time of 21.99. He reached the consolation finals by placing 13th in the preliminaries (21.90).Grove City's 200 medley relay squad of Kevin Archibald, Chris Gregg, Patrick Shaw and Ben Yute placed 16th overall with a time of 1:43.49 after placing 15th in the preliminaries (1:43.66).Shaw also competed in the 100 butterfly, but he finished with a time of 57.70 and did not advance.