LEWISBURG — All of the hard work and early morning practices paid off in a big way for Chris Georgiadis.

Mars' senior swimmer earned a state championship in the boys 200-yard individual medley Friday at the PIAA Class AA meet at Bucknell University's Kinney Natatorium.

His time of 1:54.22 was 2.88 seconds faster than runner-up Noah Crawford of Bloomsburg.

“This is my first state title and I'm really excited and thankful to be able to win it,” Georgiadis said. “Winning here has been a goal of mine since my freshman year.”

Georgiadis, who won the last two WPIAL titles in the event, swam a school-record time of 1:54.09 in Friday's preliminary event, even though he was not at full speed.

“I took it easy in the morning,” he said. “And I thought I would finish with a faster time in the finals. On the turn from the (backstroke to the breaststroke), I saw how big of a lead I had. Then I died a bit on the freestyle, but I won and that's all that matters. I'm happy with it.”

It was the fourth and final time Georgiadis competed in the 200 IM at the state meet. He improved his place every year, finishing 12th as a freshman, fourth as a sophomore and third last year.

“I've come a long way since my freshman year,” he said. “I've been around a lot of good people and good teammates.”

Mars coach Heidi Brandon has seen the effort turned in by Georgiadis to become a better swimmer.

“It's great to see him win,” she said. “It's a nice reward for his high school career. He has matured a lot.”

Georgiadis was a member of the Planets' 200 medley relay squad that placed fourth. The foursome also included Reed McDonough, Tom Pierre and Francis Folz and managed a time of 1:38.14.

Pierre and Folz both earned an individual medal by placing seventh in the 200 IM and eighth in the 200 freestyle, respectively.

“All of the boys swam their best splits on the relay,” said Brandon. “I thought, overall, we swam much better as a team than I thought we would. We are in third place in the team standings (with 79 points).”

District 3's Trinity leads the field with 105 points and Bloomsburg is in second place with 83.

Grove City's 200 medley relay team of Austin Wilson, Tom Somora, Rockwell Pokrant and Devin Reynolds finished sixth in the state. Wilson earned a seventh-place finish in the 50 freestyle.

In the Class AA Girls Championships, Freeport's Bria Otwell placed seventh and Knoch's Brooke Zukowski eighth in the 200 IM. Both earned a medal.

Following are the Knoch, Mars, Freeport and Grove City swimmers who scored team points by placing in the top 16 at the PIAA Class AA Championships Friday at Bucknell University. The top eight in each event earned a medal and appear in bold.Girls200 medley relay: 13-Grove City (Renee Decker, Kim Wendelschaefer, Meghan Terwilliger, Emma Rastatter) 1:53.3200 freestyle: 15-Abby Jones (K) 1:58.81200 individual medley:7-Bria Otwell (F) 2:09.75; 8-Brooke Zukowski (K) 2:11.91100 butterfly: 15-Meghan Terwilliger (GC) 1:00.02Boys200 medley relay:4-Mars (Reed McDonough, Tom Pierre, Chris Georgiadis, Francis Folz) 1:38.14; 6-Grove City (Austin Wilson, Tom Somora, Rockwell Pokrant, Devin Reynolds) 1:39.89200 freestyle:8-Francis Folz (M) 1:44.67200 individual medley:1-Chris Georgiadis (M) 1:54.22; 7-Tom Pierre (M) 1:57.8450 freestyle:7-Austin Wilson (GC) 21.66; 11-Reed McDonough (M) 22.02 - See more at: http://beedit.sx.atl.publicus.com/article/20140315/SPORTS03/703159865&NoCache=1#sthash.vwdPAx1T.dpuf