Valley Sports ReportLEWISBURG, Pa. — Athens junior Brayden Pettitt broke his own school record and earned another PIAA medal with a seventh-place finish in the 200-yard IM to highlight Day 1 for the Athens swim teams at the PIAA Swimming Diving Championships here Friday at Bucknell University.
In the preliminaries, Pettitt finished eighth with a school-record time of 1:57.18
In the finals, Pettitt placed seventh in a time of 1:57.81.
Last year, Pettitt finished 17th in the breaststroke with a time of 2:00.84.
Last year, Pettitt medaled with an eighth-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke. He will swim in the breaststroke Saturday.
Also on Friday, junior Eli Hicks finished 20th in the 50-yard freestyle in a time of 22.34 seconds. Last year, Eli's brother Ethan Hicks finished 19th in the 50 free in a time of 22.62 seconds.
The Wildcat 200-yard freestyle relay of Pettitt, Hicks, and juniors Dominic Musick and Jacob Shores was disqualified, reportedly for a false start.
On the girls side, the 200-yard freestyle relay foursome of seniors Elizabeth Denlinger, Olivia Thompson, Evelyn Panek, and junior Kaitlyn Leonard finished 24th in a time of 1:45.4.
On Saturday, the Wildcats will compete in four more events with senior Penelope Grubb in the 1-meter diving competition and Pettitt in the 100-yard breaststroke, while the same Athens foursomes that swam the 200 free relays Friday will swim the meet-closing 400-yard freestyle relays Saturday.
Day 2 action begins at 8:05 a.m.
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IN PHOTO: Athens junior Brayden Pettitt.
