King breaks 100 free state record

Mount Pleasant gets second record with Gardner’s win in breaststroke

Lily King broke the state record in the 100-yard freestyle in the morning qualifier of the PIAA Class 2A girls swimming finals at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium.

Then she beat it again in the championship. King, the Mount Pleasant sophomore, knocked another 0.17 seconds off her morning time of 49.00 with a 48.83 in the final to win her second consecutive title in the event.

Meaghan Raab on Hershey set the original mark of 49.01 in 2012.

King wasn’t the only Mount Pleasant sophomore to set a state record, however. Joseph Gardner posted a 55.23 in the 100 breaststroke to beat

Indiana junior Alex Bauer by 1.30 seconds.

Gardner is the first WPIAL swimmer to win the Class 2A state title in the event since Bobby Francis of Quaker Valley in 2012 and his time beat the 2011 state mark of 51.84 set by Bloomsburg alumnus Zach Stephens.

For Gardner, it was his best time of the year, eclipsing his 55.81 WPIAL finals championship time. But although King broke the state record it wasn’t her fastest in the event this year. It was actually 0.25 seconds slower than her

WPIAL finals record time of 48.58 set on March 6.

To set a state record, the heat must occur at the PIAA meet.

Most swimmers drop time in the two-week interim between the WPIAL finals and the state championships, Had she dropped time, she would have had a crack at the National Federation of State High School Associations record of 46.98 set in 2020 by Gretchen Walsh of Nashville (Tenn.) Harpeth Hall.

Northgate junior Elise Nardozzi finished second in 49.53.

King’s record swim, along with her outstanding anchor leg on the championship 400 freestyle relay that finished in 3:31.57, helped propel Mount Pleasant to the first state team title in school history with a 218.50-188 win against secondplace Wyoming Seminary. The Vikings are the first WPIAL school to win the Class 2A girls team title since Oakland Catholic in 2010.

While King earned her fourth individual title — she won the 50 free in 2022 and the 200 freestyle on Wednesday — Indiana sophomore Peyton

Scott won her first gold in the 100 breaststroke. And Indiana’s Preston Kessler became a two-time winner in the 100 freestyle.

Kiski Area senior Parker Sterlitz, a West Virginia recruit, won his first state title, edging out Northgate defending champion Matthew Purcell.

Riverside’s Joseph Roth repeated as state champ in the 100 backstroke.