Mt. Pleasant’s Lily King breaks state record in 100 freestyle in PIAA Day 2 preliminaries

By: Michael Love
Thursday, March 16, 2023 | 1:08 PM

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LEWISBURG — After a strong opening day of the PIAA swimming championships Wednesday, WPIAL Class 2A boys and girls swimmers returned to Bucknell on Thursday morning and carried the momentum into some top preliminary swims in the 100-yard freestyle, 500 free, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke and 400 free relay .

Mt. Pleasant sophomore Lily King kicked everything off with a time of 49.00 seconds in the 100 free.

It is a new Class 2A state record, surpassing the previous record of 49.57 set in 2013.

King’s time also is faster than the Class 3A state record (49.01) from 2011.

The WPIAL owns the top three seeds in the 100 free, as Northgate junior Elise Nardozzi (50.42) is second, followed by South Park junior Katie Jackovic (51.40).

Mapletown senior Ella Menear, Wednesday’s 200 individual medley state champion, will go after her second state title in the 100 backstroke. She is seeded second (53.59) to Bedford junior Leah Shackley (51.71).

Shackley’s prelim time breaks her own PIAA record of 52.42 set in last year’s championship finals.

WPIAL swimmers also own the top seeds in the girls 100 breaststroke — Indiana sophomore Peyton Scott (1:03.01) — and the 400 free relay — Mt. Pleasant, 3:34.77.

On the boys’ side, Indiana sophomore Preston Kessler goes after state title No. 2 for 2023 as he is the top seed in the 100 free (45.15), while Kiski Area senior Parker Sterlitz owns the top seed in the 500 free (4:35.79).

Riverside junior Joseph Roth is shooting for back-to-back state titles in the 100 back. He is seeded first with a time of 49.53. Roth was second in the 100 back as a freshman.

Mt. Pleasant sophomore Joseph Gardner, second in the 100 breast last year in his PIAA debut, is the top seed for this year’s finals after touching the wall in a time of 56.35.

While District 10’s Cathedral Prep garnered the top seed in the boys 400 free relay, the WPIAL owns spots two through four as WPIAL champ Kiski Area is the second seed in a time of 3:11.61.

North Catholic is third (3:12.34), and Riverside is fourth (3:12.84).

The girls consolation and championship finals will begin at 5:15 p.m., and the boys consolation and championship finals are set for a 7:55 start.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Ellwood City, Indiana, Kiski Area, Mapletown, Mt. Pleasant, North Catholic, Northgate, Riverside, South Park