Entering the finals of the PIAA Class AA boys' diving competition at Bucknell University on Friday afternoon, Trinity's Bradley Buchter had, essentially, defended his championship status.
However, the chances of breaking the record he had set as a freshman the previous year were not looking quite as promising.
Then, Buchter closed out the event with scored of 44.10, 66.25 and 62.40 to finish with a new state record of 557.30.
His old mark was 533.05.
On the first dive of finals, a back dive pike, Buchter earned solid scores from all the judges. Among them was a 10, though that was thrown out as the highest and lowest judges' scores are not factored in the scoring.
It still put Buchter in good position for the last two dives.
"I was really excited to hit all of those dives, but on the back pike, getting that first 10 at states was exciting too," Buchter said.
Buchter then earned the 66.25 and 62.40 on a backward 1.5 somersault, 1.5 twist free and a forward 1.5 somersault, two twist free, respectively.
He also had a 60.00 on the second attempt of preliminaries, a forward 1.5 somersault pike.
His lowest score on the 11 dives was a 42.50.
Buchter accumulated those scores with his left hand still taped from from an injury suffered during a practice before the Mid-Penn Meet.
"I didn't notice it at all," Buchter said.
Mike Proietto of Sun Valley, who was seeded ninth at the beginning of the meet, finished second with a 478.95.
"I knew who was going to give me the biggest competition, but I just concentrated on my own scores," Buchter said.
The Mid-Penn had two other medal winners.
Jonas Ricci of Palmyra took the bronze medal with a 469.95. He moved up the standings, holding fifth after preliminaries and fourth after the semifinals.
"I was trailing third place by 60 points at one point, so I was pleased to get into the top three," Ricci said.
Ricci was seeded 13th entering the meet.
Milton Hershey's Ryan Blom also improved on his seed, placing sixth with a 416.65 after being seeded 17th.