LEWISBURG — The PIAA Class AA Swimming and Diving Championships wrapped up Thursday at Bucknell University with Brookville junior Patrick Young capturing his second podium finish in as many days and the third in the last two years at states.
This one likely has a little more meaning for Young, a North Clarion student who competes for the Raiders through a co-op, as he took home the first individual state medal of his career.
Young, who finished 11th in the 100 butterfly Wednesday to earn an honorable mention all-state certificate, put together two great swims Thursday in the 100 breaststroke to cap off his junior campaign with a sixth-place medal.
He entered states seeded ninth in the event after winning a District 9 title with a time of 59.18. However, he ripped off the sixth-best time in Thursday morning’s prelims and touched the wall in 58.70.
Young came back in the night session and maintained that sixth-place standings even though he posted a slightly slower time of 58.90.
The PIAA medal is the second in two years for Young, who teamed up with then seniors Calvin Doolittle and Bay Harper and junior Brody Barto a season ago to finish eighth (1:29.66) in the 200 freestyle relay.
That medal was the first ever by a Brookville boys relay and the first in the pool for the Raiders since 2013 when senior Justin Ransel was fifth in the 50 freestyle and eighth in the 100 freestyle.
Young is now the program’s first individual medalist since Ransel and still has a year left to add to what is already a stellar career resume.
Young was joined in the pool by a handful of other area swimmers on the final day of the Class AA state championships.
DuBois senior Joda Fenstermacher closed out his Beavers’ career with a pair of swims.
He first hit the pool in the 100 backstroke prelims, where he touched the wall in 56.18 to finish in 26th place. That time was .65 seconds faster than his District 9 winning time and saw him jump two spots from his seeded position.
Fenstermacher then closed out the morning session in the 400 freestyle relay, where he joined forces with the usual quartet of fellow senior Jaedon Yarus, sophomore Connor McAllister and freshman Spencer Bridgman to finish to finish 28th in 3:32.04.
That time was nearly three seconds slower than what the won districts with, but the squad still jumped a couple spots from where it was seeded.
On the girls’ side, the Tri-County Area had entries in two events to close the two-day event.
First up in action was independent swimmer Bailey Franci, a junior from Brockway who was the District 9 champion in the 100 breaststroke. Franci was competing at states for the second year in a row in the event after qualifying for time as a sophomore when she was the D-9 runner-up.
Franci came in seeded tied for 30th (1:09.87) out of 32 swimmers and made a nice jump in the standings to 24th in the prelims after touching the wall in 1:09.68, which was .19 seconds faster than her the D-9 meet time.
The Lady Rover’s finish also was a four-spot improvement from a year ago when she placed 28th at Bucknell.
St. Marys’ 400 freestyle relay also competed Thursday, with the quartet of Gabby Pistner, Sophia Condon, Allison Geci, Sarah Krise placing 29th with a time of 3:52.60.
