JEFFREY REINHART jreinhart@LNPnews.com

*BREAKING NEWS* Township’s Kevin Brazitis wins silver in 100 butterfly; Cocalico’s Cari Czarnecki takes 6th in 100 butterfly.

LEWISBURG — Goodness gracious. Bucknell is in the middle of nowhere. Yikes. If you’ve never been here, you go to Harrisburg, bang a right on 11/15 North and go about 45 miles through the wilderness and alongside the river. Then you go through Selinsgrove and up and down a couple of hills. Then you come up over a rise and (bang!) there’s Bucknell on your right. Nice campus.

Happy to report that I’ve landed in Lewisburg (yowzer; that 5 a.m. alarm was not fun), and got a cozy seat in the press room, in Kinney Natatorium, where the PIAA swimming championships got started this morning at 8. I pulled in a smidge before the first preliminary. Sweet pool here at Bucknell; and excellent facilities. Cool place if you’re never been.

My goal today is to pass along any and all updates from the meet — today is the first day of boys’ and girls’ Triple-A events, and there are plenty of Lancaster County swimmers here. The finals don’t begin until 6, but I’ll update this post as the day goes along.

So if you know anyone who wants *live* updates from the PIAA swimming championships, please forward the link.

And stay tuned for updates from Bucknell.

9:10 a.m.

Alrighty, the girls’ Triple-A prelim events are underway, and I’m happy to report that Cocalico senior Cari Czarnecki and Warwick junior Emily Eidemiller won their heats in the 100 butterfly. Czarnecki was the No. 4 seed in that event coming into States. I’ll get you their seeds for tonight’s finals when the pink sheet lands in the results box to my left.

OTHER GIRLS’ RESULTS THUS FAR: In the 50 free, Conestoga Valley’s Melissa Gates finished 18th and was eliminated. … Hempfield’s Codi Herr finished 25th and was eliminated. … Penn Manor’s Jess Burkhart finished 26th and was eliminated. … In the 200 IM, Cedar Crest freshman Samantha Moffitt made the finals with a 24.00 and will be in lane 5 tonight. … Just one (1) L-L swimmer advanced — Cedar Crest soph Skyler Doss, who finished 16th. She’ll be in the consolation finals tonight (top 8 swim for the title). … Hempfield junior Georgia Emert finished 31st and did not advance. … In the 200 free, no L-L swimmers advanced; Manheim Township junior Lindsay Mullican finished 25th and was eliminated. … In the 200 medley relay, Cocalico’s team of Czarnecki, Rachel Brooker, Kelsey Brooker and Emily Mohler finished 17th, just missing out on the consolation finals.

CZARNECKI IN FINALS: Cocalico’s Cari Czarnecki, who won her heat in 57.34, will be the fifth seed in tonight’s 100 butterfly final. … Warwick’s Emily Eidemiller, who won her heat in 59.42, finished 17th, missing the consolation finals by one stinking spot. … Cocalico’s Kelsey Brooker finished 27th and was eliminated in the 100 fly.

More to come …

Final girls’ prelim is in the books: Just one (1) L-L team advanced in the 200 free relay — Cedar Crest, which finished 15th and will compete in the consolation finals tonight.

It’s 9:57 now. The boys’ prelims start at 10:30. I’ll pass those results along as soon as they become available.

10:33 a.m. — Boys’ prelims are off and running. Going to hit the deck and watch the action. I’ll pass along results for Lancaster County swimmers in a bit. Stay tuned. No flash photography in the natatorium, by the way.

10:52 — Just saw my first Mohawk haircut. Sweet. Boys’ prelims are cruising. I can report that Penn Manor’s John Myers finished second in his heat in the 200 free. Warwick’s Colin Schouten is also in that event, but I must have missed him. Keep checking back here for their results.

BOYS RESULTS (HOT OFF THE PRESSES) — I’ll begin with the 200 yard medley relay, where no Lancaster County team qualified in the top 16. The Manheim Township team of Sean Herr, Jon Westphal, Kevin Brazitis and Chris Hoke finished 17th — right on the cut line — and were eliminated. … Cedar Crest boys finished 21st. … 200 free results are in: bummer for Myers, who finished second in his heat, but 17th overall, just missing out on the consolation finals. … Schouten did advance, hower. The Warriors’ junior (and L-L League 200 and 500 champ) finished 12th in 1:43.40, and will compete in the consolation finals tonight.

No food or drink on the pool deck, for crying out loud. Come on, people. Keep it clean.

11:41 a.m. — Just spotted my second Mohawn haircut. It’s amazing what some of these teenage boys are doing with their hair here.

MORE BOYS RESULTS: 50 free sheet are in, and no Lancaster County swimmers advanced. Manheim Township’s Chris Hoke, the L-L champ, finished 20th, Conestoga Valley’s Drew Wissler finished 23rd, and Hempfield’s Giovanni Sherk finished 29th.

BRAZITITS IN FINALS — Manheim Township senior Kevin Brazitis had a dynamite prelim heat, finishing second in the fast heat in 50.90 — good for second-best in the 100 butterfly. Brazitis will be the No. 2 seed in the finals tonight, just behind Pittsburgh Central Catholic’s Doug Dietrich, who clocked a 50.77 in his prelim.

That’s two finalists tonight for Lancaster County — Brazitis and Czarneck, both in the 100 fly.

Conestoga Valley senior Joe Jung finished 14th in the 100 fly and will compete in tonight’s consolation finals. Manheim Township freshman Sean Herr finished 30th in the 100 fly and did not advance.

Final boys’ results: Two local teams advanced to the consolation finals in the 200 free relays — Manheim Township finished 12th and Cedar Crest finished 15th. They’ll be back in the pool tonight.

12:13 p.m. — First-day preliminaries are in the books. This place is clearing out. Going to take a breather myself and maybe go out and explore Lewisburg and the surrounding area. Hope I can find a parking spot when I get back. Ha.

Girls’ finals start at 5:30, with the highlight there Cari Czarnecki.

Boys’ finals start at 8, with the highlight there Kevin Brazitis.

Check back this evening for updates.

QUICK RE-CAP FOR YOU

Lancaster County competitors swimming tonight:

* Cocalico senior Cari Czarnecki in the 100 butterfly finals.

* Manheim Township senior Kevin Brazitis in the 100 butterfly finals.

* Conestoga Valley senior Joe Jung in the 100 butterfly consolation finals.

* Warwick junior Colin Schouten in the 200 freestyle consolation finals.

* Manheim Township boys 200 free relay in the consolation finals (Brazitis, Spencer McDonald, Dan Leahy, Chris Hoke).

Stay tuned.

TRIPLE-A GIRLS DIVING … DONE — It took like 3 hours (and countless dives), but the first diving competition is in the books. Samantha Pickens from Franklin Regional took the Triple-A crown with a score of 465.60. I’m not sure where that score ranks with the all-time greats, but it looks like Pickens won comfortably; Upper St. Clair’s Amanda Lohman was second with 440.10 points. Actually stuck my head in there a watched a bit in the earlier rounds. Interesting stuff. Still can’t figure out how they can spring off the diving board, do a couple of flips and tucks, and dive into the water without making a splash. I could walk down the steps into the water and cause a wake. Oh well … individual finals are coming up in an hour. I’m stoked to watched Cari Czarnecki and Kevin Brazitis in the 100 fly finals. Stay tuned for those results. And thanks for joining me for a day of swimming. Hey, I cover more than just football and basketball, people.

5:56 p.m. — Girls’ finals have started, and Parkland’s Jaime Malandra just snapped the state-record in the 200 free. The crowd went bananas.

They’re handing awards for the team medley relay. I expect Cari Czarnecki to swim in the 100 fly final at, oh, about 6:30 or so. Definitely stay tuned for that.

And if you live in the Blue Ridge 11 viewing area, be sure to tune in to Sports Talk tonight from 7 until 8 p.m. I’ll be a phone-in guest live from Bucknell at 7:45 to talk swimming and all things L-L.

Headed back to the deck. Stick and stay.

CZARNECKI FINISHES 6th! Cocalico senior Cari Czarnecki just finished sixth in the state in the Triple-A 100 butterfly with a time of 57.54. It was her first state-championship medal. Much more to follow …

BRAZITIS CLAIMS SILVER! Manheim Township senior Kevin Brazitis swam a school-record 50.62 in the 100 butterfly and captured the silver medal for his efforts. He also won a silver here last year. Pittsburgh Central Catholic’s Doug Dietrich won the gold in 49.94. He was the No. 1 seed; Brazitis the 2-seed, after turning in a then-school-record 50.90 in his morning heat. Brazitis broke that mark in the state finals, and was rewarded handsomely for his efforts.

Alrighty. South 11/15 is calling my name. I’m outta here. Hope you enjoyed the updates. A fun day was had by all. And now, my two-plus-hour drive home. Yay. Check back Thursday for my story from here.

Adios.