How Centre County’s swimmers fared at the 2024 PIAA Swimming and Diving Championships

The 2024 PIAA Swimming and Diving Championships concluded Saturday night at Bucknell’s Kinney Natatorium — and five Centre County swimmers are returning home with top-8 medals from the individual events.

State College’s Molly Workman was the area’s big winner, as she claimed two Class 3A gold medals — one in the 50-yard freestyle and the other in the 100 freestyle. The Little Lions’ Sam Huggins paced the boys’ side with silver in both the 200 and 500 freestyle events.

“They are both extremely hard workers,” State College coach Aaron Workman said of his daughter and Huggins. “Where they’re at now is just a step on the ladder of what they want to achieve.”

Other local medalists in the individual events included State College’s Grace Carrington (7th, 50 freestyle) and, in Class 2A, Bellefonte’s Kiaha McCool (4th, 200 freestyle; 6th, 100 backstroke) and Penns Valley’s Liam Quigley (6th, 100 breaststroke).

Here’s a more in-depth look at how local swimmers and their teams fared:

State College (Class 3A)

State College’s girls team finished fourth in the Class 3A PIAA championships with a score of 139, while the boys finished 12th with 57 points.

“Twelve was a good position, but we know that they could definitely be top 10,” Aaron Workman said of the boys. “It was a great meet. I think both teams, the boys and girls, did very well.”

Workman’s daughter, Molly, shined just a year removed from medaling as a freshman. She nearly tied the PIAA record in the 50 freestyle, missing the mark by 0.01 seconds with her first-place time of 22.67 seconds. And, in the 100 freestyle, her winning time of 49.31 was more than a quarter-second faster than the runner-up.

Her bright performance wasn’t limited to the individual events either. Workman also helped lead her team to a pair of relay medals, in the 200 medley relay and the 400 freestyle relay. In the latter, she joined Ditta Kowalik, Grace Carrington and Kelly Brownstead in swimming to a bronze medal and a school-record time of 3:27.18. (In the 200 medley relay, Workman and Brownstead were joined by Madison Watschke and Alayna Ohlson for a fifth-place finish.)

“(Molly) is her own woman,” Aaron Workman said. “She knows exactly what she wants to do and how she wants to accomplish it. She’s probably one of the most coachable kids I’ve ever gotten to work with.”

Carrington, who finished with one individual medal and two relay medals, placed seventh in the 50 freestyle in 23.80. Other State College girls to compete in finals events but finish outside of the podium included Carrington (10th, 100 freestyle); Kowalik (14th, 200 freestyle); Watschke (14th, 200 IM); and Tassia St. Pierre (20th, diving). The 200 freestyle relay team consisting of Brownstead, Watschke, Carrington and Anne Horgas also finished 10th.

On the boys’ side, Sam Huggins was the Little Lions’ answer to Workman. Although he didn’t come home with gold, he did boast two runner-up finishes, with a time of 1:38.05 in the 200 freestyle and 4:32.95 in the 500 freestyle. In both cases, he lost to a senior — and, because Huggins is only a junior, he could be a favorite next season.

The upperclassman Huggins also helped lead State College’s 400 freestyle relay team to an eighth-place medal, which was largely a surprise since the Little Lions had the 30th-fastest seed time heading into the preliminaries. He was joined by Todd Siekman, Leo Garlicki and Trevor Martin, who improved their seed time by an impressive 5.18 seconds in the prelims.

“Really, one of the most exciting swims was the boys 400 freestyle relay; being able to be top 8 was great,” Aaron Workman said. “We weren’t really seeded to be able to score in that.”

Christopher Hill finished 16th in boys diving with a score of 318.50.

Bellefonte (Class 2A)

In Class 2A, the Red Raiders boasted memorable individual performances on both the boys’ and girls’ sides.

Bellefonte’s Kiaha McCool finished with two top-8 medals after placing fourth in the 200 girls freestyle (1:52.90) and sixth in the 100 backstroke (56.76). She was Bellefonte’s only medalist — but she wasn’t the only swimmer to make it past the preliminaries. Carter Boone also impressed on the boys’ end with a pair of 13th-place finishes, in both the 200 freestyle (1:47.16) and the 100 butterfly (52.81).

The other Bellefonte swimmer to make it to the finals was Katelyn Packer, who boasted a 12th-place time of 5:16.65 in the 500 freestyle.

Isaiah Johnson was an alternate in the boys 100 breaststroke final after having the 18th-fastest time in the prelims (1:00.42), but did not end up competing in the final.

Out of more than 65 competing girls teams, Bellefonte finished in 21st place as a team with 33 points. The boys finished just outside the top 50.

Penns Valley (Class 2A)

Liam Quigley was the lone Ram to bring home a Class 2A medal — but there’s some reason for future optimism.

Quigley paced Penns Valley with sixth place in the 100 breaststroke (58.31), and he finished just outside the podium with 10th place in the 100 freestyle (47.63). He was the only Penns Valley boy to compete at states, but he was joined by two classmates on the girls’ side.

Freshman Mila Klena qualified for the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke, while sophomore Charlotte Delaney swam in the 500 freestyle. Neither made it past preliminaries, but odds are both will earn another shot at medals in the future.

Quigley, a junior, will also return next season. As the Rams’ only competitor on the boys side, he single-handedly guided Penns Valley to a 26th-place team finish out of more than 60 teams.