PIAA Girls’ Swimming Prelims: Bears’ Brown, Fillies’ Strucko secure state medals
Mahanoy Area's Lily Brown waits to compete in the girls' 200 IM on Friday at the PIAA Swimming and Diving Championships at Bucknell University (Photo by Leroy Boyer).
Mahanoy sophomore takes 7th in 200 IM
LEWISBURG — Lily Brown couldn’t stop smiling.
The Mahanoy Area sophomore had just posted her career-best time in the 200-yard individual medley, a time good enough to secure her a top-eight medal at the PIAA Swimming and Diving Championships.
“It feels amazing,” Brown said. “I’m so happy and so proud.
“I’m speechless. I have no words.”
Brown and Marian’s Lydia Strucko clinched medals during Friday morning’s girls’ preliminaries at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium.
Brown was seventh in the 200 IM in 2:12.57, while Strucko was second in the 100 butterfly in 56.53. Both swimmers will compete in tonight’s championship finals, which begin at 7 p.m.
Seeded 10th, Brown dropped 1.44 seconds off her District 11-winning time of 2:14.01. She finished seventh, just 0.03 seconds ahead of both Libby Sheets of Hampton and Haven Fegley of Kutztown, who were both clocked at 2:12.60.
It’s hard to realize that Brown won a state medal by the length of a fingernail or a fraction of an inch longer reach toward the final touch-pad.
“My plan was to sprint my underwaters and sprint the things I didn’t sprint at districts so I could drop time and hopefully get a medal, which I’m very happy that I did,” Brown said of her race. “I made sure to shoot really good on my breaststroke and to throw my arms on my back and my fly.
“I just tried to push myself more.”
Strucko dominated her heat, winning in 56.63. Seeded second, she maintained that spot for tonight’s finals. Hampton’s Lainey Sheets posted the fastest preliminary time at 54.39.
“I didn’t know what to expect, but these past three weeks after districts I’ve been training really hard,” Strucko said. “I’ve been toning in on all the little details.
“That’s a great morning swim for me. I’m excited to see what I can do tonight.”
The rest of the girls’ morning preliminaries didn’t go so well for the Schuylkill League contingent.
Schuylkill Haven’s Hope Stauffer was the only local competitor to drop time, finishing 19th in the 50 freestyle in 25.05. She entered Friday seeded 25th in 25.09.
The Tamaqua 200 medley relay of Kate Behun, Savannah Wilson, Audrey Nattress and Ava Jones was 26th in 1:56.23; Tamaqua’s Shaylee Gormley was disqualified in the 50 freestyle due to a false start; and the Blue Mountain 200 freestyle relay team of Anna Kaplafka, Alayna Hensel, Lola Machamer and Isabella Lafko was 27th in 1:46.32.
“I missed my flip turn,” Stauffer said. “I flipped, completely missed it and had to kick out of it. I just had to finish the race from there and do the best I could.
“I definitely feel more confident because I know what to expect. … Next year.”
