Mars senior Chris Georgiadis, one of six Planets' swimmers who helped the group win a WPIAL team title last week, hopes to make an impact at the Class AA PIAA swim meet, which starts today at Bucknell University.Georgiadis is seeded first in the state in the 200 IM and third in the breaststroke.

GROVE CITY — Youth has been served for Grove City's boys swimming team this season.

The 200-yard medley relay quartet won the District 10 Class AA title Feb. 28 with a school-record time of 1 minute, 39 seconds. That time is the best in the entire state, .18 seconds ahead of Mercyhurst Prep's foursome entering Friday and Saturday's PIAA championship meet at Bucknell University.

No veterans can be found within Grove City's group, which includes sophomores Austin Wilson (backstroke) and Tom Somora (breaststroke) and freshmen Rockwell Pokrant (butterfly) and Devin Reynolds (freestyle).

“The relay team has exceeded all expectations this year,” said Grove City coach Karen Wendelschaefer. “The fact that they are all young and are ranked first in the state, it's amazing.”

While a state title in the event is obviously a possibility for the Eagles, it is not the only road to success.

“Due to our inexperience, our goal is to better our time and earn a medal,” she said.

The Eagles could also make waves in individual events, as Wilson will compete in the 50 and 100 freestyle, seeded third in the former. Somora is ranked fifth in the 100 breaststroke.

After winning the WPIAL team title, Mars has high hopes at the state level. The Planets' entire team consists of just six swimmers, but they will all compete this week and will combine to swim nine individual events and two relays.

“Our goal is to win a state title as a team,” said senior star Chris Georgiadis, who is seeded first in the 200 individual medley and third in the breaststroke. “We all have to do well to make that happen.”

Also ranked in the top eight in their respective events are Tom Pierre (third in IM) and Francis Folz (fourth in 100 freestyle).

Georgiadis, Pierre, Folz and Reed McDonough will team up to swim the 200 medley relay (seeded seventh) and 400 freestyle relay (second).

“Individually, I just want to place as high as I can,” said Pierre, a senior. “We are going all-out for this meet.”

Knoch's John Wilson will swim the 200 IM and the breaststroke following a seventh and fifth-place effort, respectively, at the WPIAL meet.

“My goal at the beginning of the season was to make the state meet,” said Wilson, a freshman who also swims for the Butler YMCA. “I was very pleased with how I did at WPIALs.”

Ben Lowery will compete in the diving event for the Knights.

Girls

Knoch freshman Brooke Zukowski is ranked third in the breaststroke and fifth in the 200 IM.

She swam personal-best times of 1:05.05 and 2:09.54 at the district meet.

“Practices have been going really well and I just want to improve my times,” said Zukowski, who will be joined by teammate Abby Jones (200 and 500 freestyle).

Ranked in medal position (top eight) are Freeport's Bria Otwell (seventh in 500 freestyle and eighth in 200 IM) and Mars' Taylor Hockenberry (fifth in diving).

Slippery Rock's Abigail Parsons will represent the Rockets in the butterfly and backstroke. She placed second and fourth, respectively, at the District 10 meet.

Following are the Knoch, Mars, Freeport, Slippery Rock and Grove City swimmers and divers who have qualified for the PIAA Class AA Championships, to be held Friday and Saturday at Bucknell University's Kinney Natatorium.Girls200 medley relay: 19-Grove City (Renee Decker, Kim Wendelschaefer, Meghan Terwilliger, Emma Rastatter) 1:53.75200 freestyle: 16-Abby Jones (K) 1:57.42200 individual medley: 5-Brooke Zukowski (K) 2:09.54; 8-Bria Otwell (F) 2:10.1550 freestyle: 29-Gracie Pacey (M) 25.271-meter diving: 5-Taylor Hockenberry (M) 431.35100 butterfly: 12-Abigail Parsons (SR) 59.24; 17-Meghan Terwilliger (GC) 59.71500 freestyle: 7-Bria Otwell (F) 5:02.89; 23-Abby Jones (K) 5:20.16100 backstroke: 26-Abigail Parsons (SR) 1:01.37100 breaststroke: 3-Brooke Zukowski (K) 1:05.05; 29-Kim Wendelschaefer (GC) 1:10.19Boys200 medley relay: 1-Grove City (Austin Wilson, Tom Somora, Rockwell Pokrant, Devin Reynolds) 1:39.0; 7-Mars (Reed McDonough, Tom Pierre, Chris Georgiadis, Francis Folz) 1:39.88200 freestyle: 11-Francis Folz (M) 1:46.51200 individual medley: 1-Chris Georgiadis (M) 1:55.14; 3-Tom Pierre (M) 1:57.65; 27-John Wilson (K) 2:04.1950 freestyle: 3-Austin Wilson (GC) 21.36; 17-Reed McDonough (M) 22.321-meter diving: 25-Ben Lowery (K) 329.8100 freestyle: 4-Francis Folz (M) 47.45; 12-Austin Wilson (GC) 48.41500 freestyle: 13-Tom Pierre (M) 4:52.05; 23-Joseph Folz (M) 4:59.67; 24-Jimmy Pierre (M) 5:01.4100 breaststroke: 3-Chris Georgiadis (M) 1:00.24; 5-Tom Somora (GC) 1:00.41; 17-John Wilson (K) 1:01.94400 freestyle relay: 2-Mars (Reed McDonough, Tom Pierre, Chris Georgiadis, Francis Folz) 3:13.72; 19-Grove City (Sam Archibald, Devin Reynolds, Tom Somora, Austin Wilson) 3:22.78