LEWISBURG — Ava Knopsnyder didn’t want to miss out. Not again.
Last year, she failed to qualify for the Class 3A 200 IM final at the PIAA Swimming and Diving Championships by about a half-second, missing a medal by one place.
This time was a different story for the Ephrata junior. She qualified for the final, then finished in 2:04.09 to finish fourth in the IM on the first day of the state championships at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium on Wednesday.
“I just had to change my mindset,” Knopsnyder said. “It was tough mentally and physically, but you just have to overcome and have resilience.”
It’s Knopsnyder’s second state medal; she finished eighth in the 500 free in ninth grade.
“I’m just really excited,” she said. “Just having a medal around my neck, especially since I haven’t had it since my freshman year, feels really good.”
Knopsnyder, who was seeded fourth, also was fourth in the prelims at 2:04.74.
She wasn’t the only Lancaster-Lebanon League girls swimmer who had success Wednesday. Two others — Penn Manor’s Dru Landis and Manheim Township’s Cami Schwartz — won medals.
Landis, a freshman, finished seventh in the 200 free in 1:52.33. In the prelims, she dropped from her seed time of 1:52.69 to 1:52.16.
“I’m just really grateful for the opportunity to be here and have fun,” Landis said. “I get to swim against really fast girls, which is nerve wracking but fun.”
Schwartz finished eighth in the 200 IM in 2:08.52.
Along with Schwartz, Manheim Township’s 200 medley and 200 free relay teams also qualified for night swims.
The medley relay team of Emerson Mandrell, Emilie Mosner, Schwartz and Adora Emuwa placed 10th in 1:47.43.
The 200 free relay of Adrianna Anujin, Grace Welsh, Anna Sassaman and Emuwa finished 14th in 1:39.18.
“We have a really, really, really good group of people here representing for Township,” Schwartz said. “It’s exciting that all the girls made it back and had a second time to swim.”
Garden Spot’s Mia Parry also earned a night swim in the 200 IM after finishing ninth in the preliminaries in 2:07.52. She placed 13th overall in 2:08.10 in the consolation race.
Two other L-L girls participated in the preliminaries.
Emuwa, a freshman, was 19th in the 50 free in 24.49.
Ephrata’s 200 medley relay team was 21st in 1:50.72.
In Class 3A boys, two L-L swimmers advanced to the second session, none in finals.
Warwick freshman Brody Reber, seeded 10th in the 100 fly, finished in 12th in the prelims in 50.81. Reber swam 50.36 in the consolation race to place 12th.
“There’s definitely a lot to learn from this,” Reber said. “It was a little nerve wracking, but I think I handled it well. It was pretty cool to be here.”
Lebanon’s Will Parker was the surprise of the preliminaries. The senior jumped eight places to 12th to earn himself a night swim in the 50 free after finishing nearly four-tenths of a second quicker than he did at the District Three meet.
In the consolation final, Parker finished in 21.03, good for 11th overall.
Eleven other L-L swimmers/relay teams competed in the preliminaries. Elizabethtown’s Everett Rachael was the most notable out of that bunch, dropping more than a second off his seed time to finish 19th in the 200 free in 1:44.28.
The Class 3A championships will finish Thursday at Bucknell, while the Class 2A portion of the meet will take place Friday and Saturday.
