Katie Pielmeier 8th in 200 IM

LEWISBURG - Palmerton junior Katie Pielmeier managed to win an eighth place medal in the 200 IM on Friday at the PIAA Swimming and Diving Championships here at Bucknell University.

Katie qualified eighth in the Girls' 200 IM with a time of 2:11.10 and then swam a 2:10.63 in the prelims for the eighth best time to get her in the finals. She swam a 2:12.38 in the final finishing eighth to make it to the medal stand.

"I swam really well," she said the Palmerton junior, who competes in the 100 breaststroke today. "I bettered my district time in the morning round, but didn't get out fast enough in the final.

"The breaststroke has been a good event for me so I'm really excited. I'm shooting for a 1:07 and hopefully that will get me into the final."

Karl Pielmeier III, Katie's brother, was seeded eighth in the Boys' 200 IM with a time of 2:00.30 and swam a 2:01.74 in the preliminaries to finish 14th. He swam in the B finals on Friday night and was clocked at 2:02.48 to finish 14th overall.

He will swim in the 500 fresstyle today going in as the seventh seed.

In other results Friday, Tamaqua's Caroline Kanaskie and Joann Butkus, and Weatherly's Matt Cullen competed in preliminaries but failed to reach either final.

Butkus, a sophomore, posted a time of 1:01.78 in the 100 butterfly and finished in 20th place. The Blue Raider entered the event seeded 22nd. Butkus will also participate in the 100 freestyle today. She is seeded 13th.

Kanaskie came into the 200 freestyle preliminaries seeded 27th and left Bucknell in the same spot. The junior was clocked in 2:02.97 for a 27th place finish.

Cullen swam a 22.50 in the 50 freestyle and ended in 20th. The Wrecker senior, who will also participate in the 100 free today, came into the event seeded 19th.

Palmerton's Sawyer Allen will take to the pool today in the 100 breaststroke and is seeded 22nd.