All the excitement at the PIAA state swimming and diving championships came late on the final day of both 2A boys and 3A boys competition at Bucknell last weekend.

In the third race from the end, Freedom junior Peter Conzola was hidden over in Lane 1 after a not-so-good preliminary time that had him in seventh place in the 100 backstroke final. But he liked that.

"I don't like having the top seed," Conzola said. "I put too much pressure on myself."

Lane 1 was almost ideal. Hidden from the spectators because of the crush of people along the side of the pool, Conzola 'quietly' had a phenomenal final 50 yards, passing everyone else to take the gold medal. Leading the cheering along the sideline was the public address announcer, who happened to be Freedom athletic director Fred Harris.

It was the area's only 3A gold medal of the meet and earns Conzola the placing as The Morning Call 3A boys swimmer of the year.

Parkland's Megan Polaha entered her final meet figuratively and literally anchoring the Trojan team that finished sixth overall in the team standings.. On the first day of competition, she was the second seed in the 200 IM, where she finished fourth. Two races later, she again finished fourth, this time in the 100 butterfly. The Fordham-bound Polaha then turned around and swam the third leg in the 200 free relay, where the Trojans finished fifth.

For Parkland's final girls' race of the event, she swam the second leg of the Trojans' 400 free relay team that finished sixth.

For her efforts at Bucknell, and for her outstanding senior season at Parkland, she is named The Morning Call 3A girls swimmer of the year.

Salisbury's Eric Tatum is the 2A boys swimmer of year, not only for the season but for his performance at Bucknell. Eric Tatum won almost every race he entered, either individually or as a member of a relay team, during the regular season. He was named the Dennis A. McGinley Award winner at the district meet for winning four gold medals.

Bucknell seemed to hex him, though. After skipping the 200 free relay, his first race was the 100 butterfly, where he was defending his gold medal winner. This time he lost by .01 second to Robert Sikatzki of Fairview.

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Freedom , Parkland swimmers head all-area team