LEWISBURG - Joann Butkus headed off the bulkhead and looked up into the crowd at the group of Tamaqua fans cheering for her.
A broad smile appeared across the Tamaqua senior's face as she gave them a thumb's-up.
Butkus placed 12th in the girls' 50-yard freestyle Friday at the PIAA Class AA Swimming Championships at Bucknell University's Kinney Natatorium.
She was one of three Schuylkill League swimmers to advance to the evening session, as Millersburg's Cole Davis placed third in the boys' 200 individual medley and teammate Ian Lloyd captured seventh in the 100 butterfly.
For Butkus, her consolation finals time of 24.66 seconds was the second-fastest time she's ever had in the 50 freestyle, just off the 24.48 she posted at the District 11 meet two weeks ago.
And while Friday didn't have the storybook ending of a state medal hanging around her neck that she dreamed about, Butkus was overjoyed with her performance.
It was the highest she's placed at states in her four trips to Bucknell.
"I'm really happy with how I did. I can't be upset to go out with a performance like that," Butkus said. "One of my goals was to place what
I had been seeded, and I did that. I was seeded 12th, and I finished 12th.
"I really wish I had a state medal around my neck, especially in the 50, because that's been my event for my four years. I didn't quite get there, but hopefully in college I'll continue to improve, and that's all I can ask for."
Butkus, who will swim at Susquehanna University next year, was disappointed with her swim in Friday morning's preliminaries. But her time of 24.77 was good enough to earn her a spot in the consolation finals.
Vowing in the morning that she'd "come back with a vengeance" Friday night, she did just that. She was crisp throughout her consolation finals race, with the top four finishers separated by just 31 hundredths of a second.
"I came into tonight wanting to swim faster than I did in the morning, and I did. That's my second-best time ever," Butkus said. "It wasn't quite what I wanted to go originally, because I wanted to repeat my performance from districts.
"I'm really thankful to have this opportunity for the fourth time. I know 20 or 30 years from now I'll look back on my high school career with a smile on my face."
After qualifying for states in the 100 butterfly the past two years (placing 13th and 14th), Davis decided to swim the 200 IM this season because he felt he had a better chance of reaching the finals at states.
The District 3 champion was ecstatic with his performance Friday, placing third in the morning prelims at 1:57.74 and then bettering it with a time of 1:57.21 in the finals.
Christopher Georgiadis of Mars Area captured the gold in 1:54.22, with Bloomsburg's Noah Crawford taking second in 1:57.10. Crawford edged Davis by 28-hundredths of a second in their prelim heat.
"I did well this morning," Davis said. "Tonight, I was hoping to do a 1:56, but I'm glad I stayed the seed that I got this morning. I was happy just to get third."
Davis' finals race didn't start out so great. After the fly, one of his strongest strokes, Davis was last and was still trailing half the field after the backstroke.
"When I finished (the fly), I noticed everyone was ahead of me, so I knew I had to pick it up on the backstroke and breaststroke, which I usually don't have to do as much because I have the lead after the fly," Davis said. "I knew I had to get going."
The medal is Davis' second at states, adding to the eighth-place medal he won in 2012 in the 500 freestyle.
"I'm really happy with it," the senior said. "Not expecting to finish as high as I did, but I'm really glad that I did."
Lloyd's medal is his first at states. Seeded eighth, Lloyd advanced to the championship finals by placing eighth in the morning prelims with a personal-best time of 52.41. In the finals, he placed seventh in 52.94.
"It was my goal (to medal)," Lloyd said. "I was seeded eighth, so anything better than that was a great accomplishment. I didn't get my best time; I had it this morning. But I needed to do that this morning to get to (the finals)."
Lloyd said medaling Friday took pressure off him to do well in today's backstroke.
Lloyd (100 backstroke), Davis (500 freestyle) and Butkus (100 breaststroke) will be among six local athletes in action today, as they're joined by Blue Mountain's Mark Boran (100 backstroke) and Nathanael Marino (100 breaststroke) and Shamokin's Samantha Carpenter (100 breaststroke).
Boys' prelims begin at 8 a.m., with girls' prelims slated for 10:30 a.m. The boys' consolation and championship finals are set for 5:45 p.m., with the girls' finals slated to start at 8:15 p.m.
"I'm pretty proud of (his medal)," Lloyd said. "I won't be as nervous (today) knowing that I won a medal and did as well as I did (Friday). I'm looking forward to (today)."