Sam Magnan was the lone bright spot among local boys Thursday at the PIAA Swimming and Diving Championships at Bucknell University.

The Freedom distance swimmer finished second in the 500 freestyle behind North Allegheny's Zach Buerger. Magnan was in fourth place after 50 yards, but took the lead after 100 and held it to the 200-yard mark, when Buerger took a lead. Buerger pulled away to finish in 4:22.75, while Magnan's time was 4:25.05.

"It was barely a best time," Magnan said. "I was definitely expecting more. I'm not very happy with that swim. I definitely had more in me. I couldn't get a feel for the walls, but that's no excuse. I could have done better."

Teammate Peter Conzola was equally disappointed with his 100 backstroke. He finished fourth.

"Not good," he answered when asked to evaluate his race. "This morning [preliminaries] was terrible and this was pretty bad, too. I'm still not happy. I think my finish should have been a lot better than it was."

Patriots coach John Larson said his team "was a little quiet overall. It got a bit better today. Peter isn't feeling well and he did poorly this morning, and for him to come back and finish fourth was pretty good. But as defending state champion he was expecting better."

"Sam went about 0.3 quicker than his best time," Larson added. "He should be happy, but he's disappointed."

After the two Patriots, the best finish among local swimmers was Zach Kantz's eighth place in the 100 free. Kantz, the state champion in the 50 free from Bangor, led after 50 in his consolation race and stayed there to the end.

"I'm just dead, totally exhausted," he said. "It's just not my day. I've been exhausted all week, but when the race goes over 50 yards, it catches up to you. I'm all right."

In girls competition, Parkland's Siena Salvaggio, a silver medalist Wednesday in the in the 200 free, was disappointed Thursday in the 100 free. Salvaggio was eighth after the first 50 yards, but came back to finish second, a scant 0.01 second behind Hershey's Madelyn Veith, who won in 50.45.

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Freedom's Sam Magnan places second in 500 freestyle in PIAA swimming | PHOTOS