BUCKNELL - For the brother and sister duo of Michael and Lydia Strucko, their trip to at Bucknell University may be somewhat of a reconnaissance mission.

Day 1 at the PIAA Swimming and Diving championships was an opportunity for them to literally get their feet wet and adjust to the atmosphere in Kinney Natatorium.

“I came in this morning with some nerves, and I think that’s why my time wasn’t where I wanted it to be,” said freshman Lydia Strucko of her first trip to states. “It’s really awesome that I got to experience this with my brother, it’s all really exciting.”

Michael, a sophomore, took to the pool for the preliminaries Friday morning where he competed in the 200-yard freestyle and shaved just over two seconds off his time from districts, finishing in 1:47.82 and in ninth place. Unfortunately for Michael, the eighth place finisher, Nate Dorsch from Sharon High School, shaved just about the same amount of time off his district time and finished 01.26 seconds ahead of Strucko.

That slight difference was enough to deny Strucko his first state medal since the top eight finishers compete in the finals and are all awarded medals, while the next eight compete in the consolation round with team points and bragging rights being the only thing up for grabs.

In the consolation, Strucko shaved another 00.65 seconds off his time from the preliminaries but finished 00.99 seconds out of ninth place and was awarded 10th place and seven team points.

When his freshman sister got her chance in the preliminaries, it was in the 200-yard individual medley. Lydia Strucko finished 11th with a time of 2:12.40, which was 00.34 seconds faster than her qualifying time in districts. Lydia also returned for the consolation round and dropped nearly two seconds from her preliminary time to give her 10th overall in the event.

“I came back tonight and gave it my all and I’m happy with the race,” said Lydia. “I definitely felt more comfortable.”

The Strucko siblings will be competing in Saturday’s competition as well where they will both come in seeded fifth in their respective 100-yard backstroke competitions.

The two other area swimmers competing on Friday came from Northwestern Lehigh, which has a tradition of putting swimmers into states even though they don’t have a swimming and diving team. Maddy Burns set the PIAA record in the 200-yard IM in 2011 when she finished with a time of 2:00.48 while representing Northwestern. That performance helped lead her to a scholarship to the University of North Carolina.

This time around a pair of brothers are carrying on the tradition at Northwestern and both qualified for states. Hunter Slaski, a junior qualified in the 100-yard butterfly and the 200-yard freestyle and made his PIAA debut Friday at Bucknell. Slaski finished 21st in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 54.56 and swam a 1:51.44 in the 200-yard freestyle to finish in 25th.

“It was an experience and I’m glad I was able to come. Hopefully, I’ll be back next year,” said Slaski. “If I get back here, I don’t think I’ll be so stressed and nervous.”

Younger brother, Hayden, a freshman diver, went to states after winning gold in the District 11 Diving championships last month. At states, Hayden Slaski placed 15th with an 11-dive score of 306.20, just slightly under his score from districts.

GIRLS EVENTS

(top four plus locals)

200 Medley Relay: 1. Mt. Pleasant 1:46.78, 2. Cathedral Prep 1:47.05, 3. Freeport 1:48.26, 4. Kiski Area 1:48.67; 200 Freestyle: 1. Lily King (Mt. Pleasant) 1:45.51, 2. Elise Nardozzi (Northgate) 1:47.06, 3. Eliza Miller (Kiski Area) 1:50.25, 4. Kiaha McCool (Bellefonte) 1:50.25; 200 IM: 1. Kimberly Shannon (Lewisburg) 2:00.67, 2. Ava Jochims (Shady Side Academy), 3. Lainey Sheets (Hampton) 2:02.61, 4. Lydia Gonzales (Dallas) 2:02.72, 10. Lydia Strucko (Marian Catholic) 2:10.22; 50 Freestyle: 1. Kiersten O’Connor (Mt. Pleasant) 23.48, 2. Gevevieve Cody (Thomas Jefferson) 23.73, 3. Cameron Peretti (Woodland Hills) 24.04, 4. Emily Connors (Quaker Valley) 24.12; 100 Butterfly: 1. Leah Shackley (Bedford Area) 50.29, 2. Kira Schrecongost (Freeport) 55.87, 3. Katie Jackovic (South Park) 56.12, 4. Sam Kil (East Pennsboro) 56.52; 200 Freestyle Relay

: 1. Cathedral Prep 1:36.71, 2. Springfield Township 1:38.73, 3. York Suburban 1:39.37, 4. Northgate 1:39.56.

Team Scores

1. Cathedral Prep 102, 2. Mt. Pleasant 98, 3. Springfield Township 91, 4. Freeport 61, 38. Marian Catholic 7.

BOYS EVENTS

(top four plus locals)

200 Medley Relay: 1. Mt. Pleasant 1:32.57, 2. Cathedral Prep 1:35.33, 3. Northgate 1:35.53, 4. Wyoming Seminary 1:35.90; 200 Freestyle: 1. Preston Kessler (Indiana) 1:38.57, 2. Maddoc Watkins (Dallas) 1:39.01, 3. Soren Cooper (Shady Side Academy) 1:40.84, 4. Mark Cattron (Sharon) 1:40.94, 10. Michael Strucko (Marian Catholic) 1:46.17, 25. Hunter Slaski (Northwestern Lehigh) 1:51.44; 200 IM: 1. Joseph Gardner (Mt. Pleasant) 1:49.01, 2. Woobie Kupsky (MMI) 1:50.45, 3. Alex Bauer (Indiana) 1:51.59, 4. Jack Raimy (Cathedral Prep) 1:51.87; 50 Freestyle: 1. Luke Lamb (North Catholic) 20.44, 2. Noah Powers (Blue Mtn.) 20.58, 3. Joseph Roth (Riverside) 21.07, 4. Isaac Hancock (Bishop McDevitt) 21.36; 100 Butterfly

: 1. David Mutter (Mt. Pleasant) 47.52, 2. Will Cross (Springfield Township) 49.89, 3. Owen Eisenhofer (Schuylkill Valley) 50.31, 4. Zachary Schuster (Northgate) 50.38, 21. Hunter Slaski (Northwestern Lehigh) 54.56;

Diving

: 1. Caleb Arnot (Interboro) 509.10, 2. Landyn Snook (Bishop Shanahan) 462.45, 3. Brecken Finkbeiner (Blackhawk) 414.85, 4. Keegan MacDonald (Clearfield) 406.65, 15. Hayden Slaski (Northwestern Lehigh) 306.20.

Team Scores

1. Indiana 105, 2. Mt. Pleasant 104, 3. Clearfield 69, 4. Blue Mountain 65.5, 43. Marian Catholic 7, 54. Northwestern Lehigh 2.