Cornell High School sophomore Noah Pickett claimed a pair of medals to lead the West Hills area contingent at the PIAA Swimming and Diving Championships, which took place March 12-15 at Bucknell University’s Kenney Natatorium in Lewisburg.
Pickett finished fifth in the Class 2A 200-yard individual medley event with a time of 1 minute, 56.17 seconds, more than a full second faster than his time in the prelims, which had put him as the seventh seed for the finals.
Pickett also competed in the 500 freestyle, where he swam a 4:43.50 in the preliminary heat to nab the No. 8 seed, and he posted a time of 4:43.19 to finish seventh overall in the finals.
A total of 32 swimmers qualified for each event, but only the fastest 16 from the prelims advanced to the finals. The top eight qualifiers swam in the championship finals and the next eight competed in the consolation finals.
All swimmers who competed in the championship finals took home medals.
Mimi Chamberlain of Cornell also competed in the PIAA meet in both the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke and reached the consolation finals of the 100 breaststroke. There, the freshman standout finished 12th overall in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:07.69.
Chamberlain finished with a time of 2:19.23 in the IM prelims but did not advance to the finals.
Cornell coach Kevin Robertson was proud of the way Pickett and Chamberlain competed.
“Mimi is a freshman and this was a great experience for her,” he said. “Both of these swimmers did great this year and I look forward to them each finishing stronger at the WPIAL and PIAA Championships in the years to come.”
Carlynton’s Evey Fahnestock, another freshman swimming in the Class 2A meet, competed in the 100 breaststroke, where she finished seventh in her heat and 31st overall with a time of 1:08.44.
Carlynton coach Kevin MacMurdo said making it to the state meet is a very tough thing to do at any age.
“But to do it as a freshman is a tremendous accomplishment,” he said of Fahnestock. “I’m very proud of the hard work Even has put in this year.”
In the Class 3A meet, Maddie Puthoff of Moon Area wound up 10th in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:02.40, breaking her own school record by more than two seconds. She also finished 20th in the 200 free.
Teammate Isaac Tennant swam in the 200 free, where he finished 28th.
Moon coach Jeff Berghoff praised the efforts of his two PIAA competitors.
“Maddie and Isaac had tremendous years culminating in their trip to states,” he said. “Madison broke her school record in the 500 free for the third time this season and earned All-State commendations becoming the first Moon swimmer since 2019 to do so. Isaac became the first Moon boy to qualify for an individual event at states since 2021. Isaac will continue his swimming career at Mt. Union while we look for an exciting junior and senior year for Maddie.”
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