Swimming & Diving – PIAA State Championships: LebCo Results

Updated 3/18 after completion of meet.

This article was originally published on Wednesday, March 15, but has been updated to include results.  The original text appears in black.

Beginning tomorrow, athletes from across Pennsylvania will converge upon Lewisburg to compete in the PIAA State Swimming & Diving Championships.  The venue is the Kinney Natatorium located at Bucknell University.  The AA schools will go first, with their events being held on Wednesday and Thursday.  The AAA schools will then hold their competitions on Friday and Saturday.  All in all, Lebanon County will have three swimmers and one diver competing in a combined total of six events.

Updates/Results are in green.  

Recap

Four Lebanon County swimmers went to Bucknell to compete and all of them had performances that outpaced their seeds.  The two main headliners came in the form of Lebanon’s dynamic duo of senior Carlos Hidalgo and junior Will Parker.  Hidalgo left Lewisburg with two medals, a silver in the 100 Freestyle and a bronze in the 50 Freestyle.  He finishes his high school swim career with four State medals in all, after medaling in both events a year ago (finishing 7th and 8th respectively).  Parker, a 13th seed in the 100 Breaststroke, hit a new level at this meet and earned himself a spot in the Finals where he finished 5th in Pennsylvania.  As a result of these finishes, Lebanon placed 13th overall among Boys AAA schools.  

AA

Carter Cheslock, Northern Lebanon

The junior finished 9^th in the 100 Freestyle at the District 3 Championships, but in the race he dropped .87 seconds off of his previous time to swim a 49.77.  This met the state qualifying mark and earned him a spot as one of the top thirty-two swimmers selected for the State Championship Meet.

100 yd Freestyle – entry time 49.77, seeded 28^th overall

Results – 49.79, 23rd overall

On Thursday morning, Cheslock swam in the 100 Free prelims.  His time was almost exactly his entry time, but he swam 5 spots ahead of his seeding to finish 23rd in Pennsylvania.

AAA

Elise Potter, Palmyra

With a score of 170.70 the Palmyra senior diver placed 5^th at the District 3 Diving Championships to earn her spot in the State Championships.  Her score of 194.55 at the Mid Penn Championships earned her a silver medal.

1 meter Diving – 170.70 entry score ranks 20^th overall

Results – 162.60, 19th overall

On Friday afternoon, Potter competed in the Diving Championship.  On the toughest of stages for a high school diver, Potter remained consistent and moved up one spot from her original seed, finishing 19th overall.

Carlos Hidalgo, Lebanon

The Lebanon senior is a returning State medalist after finishing 7^th in the 100 Free and 8^th in the 50 Free at last year’s meet.  This year he enters after winning gold in both events at the District 3 Championship Meet. His entry time in the 50 Free is 20.74 and ranks him 4^th ahead of States.  In the 100 Free, his time of 46.00 at Districts has him in the 5^th seed. However, the time that won him the LL League crown was 45.55, which would have been good enough for the #3 spot.  No matter which way you look at it, Hidalgo is in a good position to repeat as a medalist in both events.  It will just be a matter of if he will be fast enough to grab one of the shinier medals. Unless our records are wrong, there has never been an individual state champion from Lebanon, something Hidalgo is looking to change.

50 yd Freestyle – entry time 20.74, seeded 4^th overall.

Prelims – 20.78, 4th place (qualified for finals)

In the prelims, Hidalgo swam a 20.78 to finish the round in 4th place overall to make the Finals.  Going into tonight’s race, he is guaranteed a medal and is currently less than .3 seconds off of the #1 seeded swimmer.

Finals – 20.49, 3rd place

In the finals, Hidalgo dropped an additional .29 seconds to swim a 20.49 and finish 3rd, earning a bronze medal.  The winning time was a 20.14.

100 yd Freestyle – entry time 46.00, seeded 5^th overall.

Prelims – 45.12, 2nd place (qualified for finals)

Hidalgo’s 45.12 was .88 seconds faster than his entry time and was good enough to place 2nd in the prelims.  It was also .43 faster than the time that won him the LL Championship in this event.  The top seed going into the finals swam a 44.69.  The #1 ranked swimmer coming into today finished 3rd, but had a District 1 time of 44.72.  

Finals – 44.56, 2nd place

Hidalgo had already put up his best time yet when he grabbed the #2 seed heading into the Finals.  The question was if he had more room for improvement when swimming in the medal round.  He answered with an authoritative “YES!”, as he cut off another .56 seconds to touch the wall in 2nd place.  Hidalgo now joins a very short list of Cedar athletes who have ever earned a silver medal on the State level and becomes the first to do so since track star Emmitt Jeronimo Rodriguez finished #2 at the 2015 400m PIAA State Track Meet.

Swimming: Lebanon senior Carlos Hidalgo takes silver in state 3A boys 100 yd freestyle (44.56)@LancasterSports @CedarAthletics @cedarsxc @LebanonHSCedars pic.twitter.com/jr0WJDTsJ0

— John Walk (@JWalkLNP) March 18, 2023

Carlos Hidalgo brings home the silver medal with a 44.56 in the 100 Freestyle and finishes his career as Lebanon’s most successful swimmer in history with 4 state medals!! pic.twitter.com/RVZchoyiMF

— Rooty Cedars (@cedars_rooty) March 18, 2023

Will Parker, Lebanon

The junior from Lebanon qualified for two events this weekend at Bucknell.  While Parker is solid in the 50 yd Freestyle event, this will serve as a prelude to Saturday’s 100 yard Breaststroke, his specialty.  At the Lancaster Lebanon League Championships, he took silver in the 50 and then won the 100 Breast handily.  At Districts, he finished 2^nd in the 100 Breast.  His District time of 57.59 ranks him 13^th overall going into the event.  While this time makes him a medal contender, keep in mind that this time was .70 seconds slower than his League gold medal performance.

50 yd Freestyle – entry time 21.75, seeded 29^th overall.

Results – 21.60, 19th overall

In Friday morning’s prelims, Parker entered as the 29th seed and came out of the pool having finished in 19th place after dropping .15 seconds off of his State Qualifying time for the District 3 Championships.

100 yd Breaststroke – entry time 57.59, seeded 13^th overall.

Prelims – 56.46, 4th place (qualified for finals)

Parker dropped 1.13 seconds off of the entry time, which was his time from Districts, to move up 9 spots in order to punch his card for the Finals.  It is also faster than his previous season best time of 56.89.  While Parker is guaranteed a medal with a successful start, he could earn a top three medal if he still has more left in the tank.

Finals – 56.31, 5th place

Parker barged his way into the Finals with a very impressive swim in the prelim round.  Was the junior peaking at the right time?  Could the effort be replicated?  Yes and no.  Yes, he was peaking at the right time.  No, he had more to give.  In the medal round, Parker shaved off another .15 seconds (1.28 at this meet) and finished 5th overall.

Swimming: Lebanon junior Will Parker in state 3A boys 100 yd breaststroke
Places 5th in 56.31 seconds@LancasterSports @cedarsxc @CedarAthletics @LebanonHSCedars pic.twitter.com/oGmPT95DcP

— John Walk (@JWalkLNP) March 18, 2023

The Lebanon Cedars Swim Team finishes 13th in the State in AAA!!! pic.twitter.com/0GJbEQHBVE

— Rooty Cedars (@cedars_rooty) March 18, 2023

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