Lily King, Mt. Pleasant teammates shine brightest on biggest stage at PIAA swim meet

By: Michael Love
Thursday, March 13, 2025 | 11:12 PM

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LEWISBURG — Mt. Pleasant senior Lily King had a simple task on her mind as she entered the 100-yard freestyle finals Thursday evening at the PIAA Class 2A swimming championships at Kinney Natatorium.

She wanted to go faster in the event than she’s ever gone before.

King swam fast in the preliminaries earlier in the day and lowered her PIAA and pool records to 48.15 seconds.

When the spotlight was the brightest, King shined even brighter.

She powered through a blazing championship finals heat, finishing with an all-time best of 47.31, four seconds faster than runner-up Genevieve Cody, a senior from Thomas Jefferson (51.30).

“I was happy with this morning. I felt it was a good swim,” King said. “I felt good, so coming back with a little more rest, I knew I would have a lot of good energy for the finals. I figured I would be able to go faster. I was pleasantly surprised with that time.”

The National Federation of High Schools record of 46.98, set in 2020 by Gretchen Walsh, the University of Virginia product who won three NCAA titles, also was on the table.

“Honestly, I wasn’t thinking of that (national record) at all,” King said. “I just wanted to go faster than I did this morning and also faster than I did at WPIALs. Seeing that PR up there meant more than anything.”

King also became the first swimmer in history to win eight individual gold medals at both the district and PIAA meet.

Her 100 free swim kicked off the finals with a bang.

Fellow Mt. Pleasant senior Kiersten O’Connor saw King’s fast title win and wanted to get one for herself.

Seeded third in the 100 backstroke after the preliminaries, O’Connor roared back to take gold in a time of 54.61.

It was her first 100 back state title. She finished third last year to Hampton’s Lainey Sheets and Bedford phenom Leah Shackley. She took fifth as a sophomore and sixth as a freshman.

“It came down to me wanting to finish my last state meet the best way that I could,” said O’Connor, who came back after placing second in the 50 free Wednesday. “I put forth my best effort and hoped that it would be enough. It was, and I am so happy.

“Lily definitely set the tone for Day 2, so it was nice to see both of us finish it off with really good races.”

Cathedral Prep led Mt. Pleasant by four points after the 100 breast, but it didn’t have a team in championship finals heat of 400 free relay.

Prep finished second in the consolation heat, 10th overall, and scored 14 points. The Vikings relay of King, Riley Shinsky, Maddie Barrick and Lainey Brown finished runner-up to Dallas (3:33.15) in a time of 3:34.31 and earned 24 points to put them over the top for their third consecutive state championship.

Mt. Pleasant finished with 189 team points, 16 better than Prep’s 173.

“It was so cool to see us come together like we did over the past two days,” said O’Connor shortly after she watched her teammates earn relay silver.

“I always say this, but this is truly the best team in the best atmosphere. We are like a family. To win states once was awesome, but to do it three times in a row with these girls, it is something that I can’t even put into words.”

In addition to the Vikings winning the state team title, King was presented the Swimmer of the Meet Award for her two record-breaking individual efforts while helping her two relays pick up silver medals.

Every individual and relay that swam in the championship heats (eight) took home medals.

That included Southmoreland junior Allison Stinnett, who put it all on the line in the girls 100 breast.

In a repeat of the WPIAL championships, Stinnett, Knoch senior Giona Lavorini and Indiana senior Peyton Scott finished in the top three. Lavorini won the WPIAL title over Stinnett (second) and Scott (third).

On Thursday, Scott took the title with Lavorini second by just 3 hundredths of a second. Stinnett came in third (1:04.16).

Franklin Regional junior Magdalena Hull swam to eighth in the girls 500 (5:18.44).

Hull later helped the Panthers 400 free relay with Jamie Kociela, Aidah Holm and Scarlett Zolnak take fifth (3:36.97).

Mt. Pleasant boys claim gold

The race for the Class 2A boys team title couldn’t have been any closer.

It came down to the 400 free relay.

Mt. Pleasant went into the event leading Indiana by nine points, but Indiana, last year’s 2A state champ, captured the relay win and 40 team points in a time of 3:08.46.

The Vikings quartet of Cody Fusco, Seth Painter, Gunnar Probst and David Mutter originally thought they took fourth in 3:13.08 for 30 points.

That would have given Indiana the win by one point.

But the initial third-place finisher, Erie Cathedral Prep, was disqualified for a lane violation. It bumped the Vikings up to third and gave them two more team points. Those points were enough to move Mt. Pleasant ahead of Indiana for the team title, 198-197.

The team title is the first at the state level for any Mt. Pleasant boys team in school history.

“Every place finish where we earned even just one point was crucial,” said senior Joseph Gardner, who capped his high school career with his third PIAA title in the 100 breast in a state-record time of 53.83.

“It was hard-fought, tooth and nail. To win it my senior year, it’s the cherry on top. As a sophomore, I watched the girls win it for the first time. We watched them celebrate, and I was thinking how cool it would be for us (boys team) to have that feeling. It is amazing.”

Gardner added the 100 breast title to his win in the 200 individual medley from Wednesday.

Mutter did the same, as he captured the 500 free in a personal-best time of 4:31.56 and paired that with the 100 fly gold he captured Wednesday.

“The strategy was to stay with the people that were seeded next to me,” he said. “After halfway, I knew I just had to go. Then I just went as fast as I could. I really wasn’t caring about a time. I was really just looking for that gold medal. I wanted to go as fast as I needed to in order to get the win and the points for my team. But the time was amazing. It’s another time drop for me.”

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: Franklin Regional, Mt. Pleasant