LEWISBURG — Micheal Strucko is getting used to swimming at the state championship meet.

The Marian Catholic junior made his third trip to Bucknell University for the annual meet and has improved each time.

Thursday he capped the meet by earning his second medal in two days when he finished fifth overall in the 100 backstroke in a time of 51.49.

“Overall I’m happy with it,” said Strucko, who earned a medal in the 200 freestyle on the meet’s first day. “I had fun, first and foremost. I have friends and family here. It was a fun experience, and I’m happy with how it went.”

Strucko was one of four Times News area athletes to earn a medal Thursday at the second day of the PIAA Class 2A Swimming and Diving Championships. His sister Lydia Strucko, Tamaqua’s Savanna Wilson, and Northwestern Lehigh’s Hayden Slaski all left BU’s Kinney Natatorium with some state hardware.

Improvement has been a theme of Michael Strucko’s state meet career.

As a freshman, he didn’t get through the preliminary heats in backstroke. Last year in his second trip to the meet, he swam well enough in prelims to qualify for the consolation final (8th-16th place) and finished 13th.

This year Michael Strucko, who was seeded fifth in the 100-yard backstroke, improved on his 51.89 seed time when he swam a 51.58 in his heat, which was fifth-best in the field and good enough to earn a place in the championship final. He went a little faster again in the finals, finishing in 51.49.

“I always want to go faster,” he said. “I’m happy to place even higher this time and finish well.”

He’s hoping to shave off some more time and come back faster next year.

“50 (seconds) was the goal,” he said. “I know I can do it. There’s some things in training and before the meet that I would change. Next year I know I can improve. Next year I’ll be back better.”

Lydia Strucko also improved on her performance from last year when, as a freshman, she missed out on the backstroke championship final by just .13 and then won the consolation final for ninth place.

This year, Lydia Strucko earned her spot in the finals with the sixth-best prelim time (57.40), and then went even faster in finals with a 56.83 for sixth place.

“I’m super happy I was able to get a medal,” she said. “Especially since last year I just missed it. I’m not totally happy with my time, but given the fact that I got on the podium, I’m happy.” A mishap on the starting block could have led to disaster in the morning preliminaries.

“I slipped on the start this morning,” Lydia Strucko said. “I’m used to using a wedge, but I was trying to do this new thing. I went with what I usually do [during finals], and that helped.”

The sophomore looks forward to making more trips to the state championships in the next two years.

“Now that I have had a little taste of what it is like,” said Lydia Strucko, “I’m going into next year more confident and more aggressive, and I really want to get top three or four next year, maybe even better if I can.”

Tamaqua junior Savannah Wilson also picked up her first state medal Thursday.

Wilson was seeded sixth in the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:06.22. She swam a 1:06.20 in her preliminary heat to grab the eighth and final spot in the championship race. Her 1:06.53 in the finals was good enough for seventh place, and a state medal.

A year ago, Wilson’s preliminary time was just short of making a final. This year she improved on that, reaching her goal of earning a medal.

“I was happy to keep a 1:06 between prelims and finals,” she said. “It’s nice to stay consistent within the time.

“It’s so rewarding, especially since just last year I was just out of B final. Being able to medal in A final is incredible for me. I’m really happy.”

Slaski finished two places away from the podium last year when he was 10th overall. A seventh-place finish with a score of 375.0 this year earned the Tiger sophomore a state medal.

“I’ve dove better in the past,” he said. “But with all the nerves and stuff at states, you can’t expect to be on you’re A game. I’m just happy I was able to podium.”

Slaski was in sixth place after prelims (six dives), and was battling Tunkhannock’s River Strauss and Shamokin’s Ryan Henz for fifth-to-seventh place.

Slaski had his best and favorite dives in the beginning of his rotation to secure his spot in the semifinals and finals. Cuts are made after the fifth and eighth dives. Finalists dive 11 times during the meet.

“I like my first five,” Slaski said. “All of them were pretty good dives, pretty solid. It didn’t fall apart after that, but I started not doing as well.

“I wanted to get at least 400. I got 375 so we were close. And then fifth place was ultimately my goal, but I got top 8, so I can’t complain about that.”

Tamaqua’s Vincent Valentine capped a stellar diving career at the state meet. The senior made it to the semifinals, before missing the second cut with an 8-dive score of 148.9 to finish 20th overall.

THAT WAS CLOSE ... Mount Pleasant won the boys team title with 198 points, edging fellow District 7 team Indiana (197) by the slimmest of margins.

DOUBLY PLEASANT ... Mount Pleasant also won the girls team title Thursday. The Vikings scored 189 points to beat Erie’s Cathedral Prep (173) by a much more comfortable margin than their boys counterparts.