LEWISBURG — Adrian Lavorini concludes his high school swim career Friday and Saturday at the PIAA Class 2A swim championships at Bucknell.
While the Knoch senior has one eye on his future, which includes swimming in college, the other eye is on lowering school-record times and challenging for gold on the state’s biggest stage.
Lavorini is positioned strong for his first individual swim Friday. He finished as the runner-up in the 200-yard individual medley at WPIALs on Feb. 26 at Pitt’s Trees Pool. His time of 1 minute, 54.77 seconds puts him as the No. 2 seed behind WPIAL champion Sam Cavanaugh, a senior from Northgate.
Lavorini will swim in the third of four heats and will be next to Hampton’s Isaac Retsch in the fourth and third lanes, respectively.
He placed 10th in the PIAA 200 IM both last year and in 2024.
Lavorini will come back Saturday in the 100 breaststroke as he hopes to go faster than his school-record time of 57.99 from WPIALs which landed him in third overall. Eleventh in the event at states last year, he is seeded sixth and will share the middle two lanes of the second of four heats with Laurel Highlands senior Kasey Mahoney.
Lavorini’s influence at the PIAA meet also extends to the relays where the Knights’ 400 free and 200 medley relays hope to make an impact.
The 400 free relay, which includes senior Aedan Smith, sophomore Brady Bleicher and freshman McCale Buser, set a school record at WPIALs, dropping nine seconds off its seed time to 3:22.33 and placed sixth.
Lavorini also set a personal best in the 100 free leadoff leg and will go after the 100 free school record as part of the relay’s Saturday swim. It is seeded 22nd as it hopes to make a move up the standings.
The Knoch 200 medley relay of Bleicher, Lavorini, Smith and junior Jacob Ruediger kicks off the Class 2A meet as the 12th seed after winning bronze at WPIALs in a time of 1:40.72.
Ruediger and Bleicher also will have two individual swims.
Ruediger is in prime medal contention as the No. 9 seed in the 200 IM (1:57.31) and also hopes to make his mark as the No. 13 seed in the 500 free (4:50.18).
Bleicher is the 26th seed in the 200 IM (2:04.72) and is seeded 28th in the 100 back (55.60).
Deer Lakes sophomore Tucker Beers is the 21st seed in the 100 back (55.02). He made a charge up the rankings to third overall at WPIALs.
Highlands senior Cameron Prager is 29th in the 50 free (22.54).
The top 16 finishers in each event after the preliminary swims Friday and Saturday morning will return to the evening sessions to compete in the consolation or championship final. Both of the finals heats, starting with the boys at 4:30 p.m. each day, will be broadcast live on the Pennsylvania Cable Network.
On the girls’ side, Saturday’s 100 backstroke will be one to watch with a trio of Alle-Kiski Valley swimmers hoping to shake up the standings.
Highlands junior Addie Imler was strong at WPIALs with a sixth-place finish in a competitive field. She is the 10th seed (59.08).
Knoch junior Olivia Walewski is right behind Imler as the 11th seed (59.10), and Freeport sophomore Rylee Freshcorn hopes to make a move as the 22nd seed (1:02.00).
There are 12 WPIAL swimmers in the Class 2A girls 100 back out of the 32 total entries.
Walewski also will swim the 100 fly and is the 23rd seed (1:00.90). She missed a medal at WPIALs by just seven one hundredths of a second.
Also hoping for an individual best time and a move up the standings is Freeport junior Hannah Altman, one of 11 from the WPIAL to swim the girls 200 IM. She is seeded 29th (2:18.46).
The Knoch girls 400 free relay of Walewski, senior Joephine Graper, sophomore Ryleigh Kabala and freshman Rachel Karwoski earned an eighth-place medal at WPIALs and is seeded 16th (3:45.23) for the Saturday prelims.
They will be joined by the Freeport 400 relay of Altman in the lead leg with Freshcorn, freshman Lucy Hassler and sophomore Paige Lithgow. The team is the 26th seed (3:50.66).
The Freeport 200 medley relay of Freshcorn, Altman, Lithgow and sophomore Mackenna Dorian is seeded 18th to open the Class 2A meet Friday. They took seventh at WPIALs (1:53.95).
Knoch’s 200 medley relay of Walewski, Kabala, Karwoski and Graper missed a WPIAL medal by a half second (1:55.21). They will swim as the 24th seed.
The Class 2A girls divers will look to make a splash, figuratively speaking, Saturday afternoon, and Knoch freshman Brooke Kobert will make her PIAA debut as the 18th seed.
Freeport senior Joy Beck will dive as the 21st seed. This also is her PIAA debut.
Issac Barton, a junior from Freeport, returns to states in the para 50 and 100 frees Thursday. The single-heat races combine swimmers from both Class 2A and Class 3A schools.
He is the second seed (26.70) out of eight entered in the 50 free and is the second seed (59.31) out of five in the 100 free.