Photo courtesy of Mark Evans Warren freshman Hugh Harrison swims at the PIAA 3A state championships Saturday at Cumberland Valley High School.

MECHANICSBURG — This story is awfully familiar.

When Hugh Harrison was about 10 years old, he got into trouble at the YMCA for goofing off during the after-school Kids Be Fit program. Who knows what he was doing, but if you knew Hugh, he was probably distracted by something he thought was more interesting than running laps on the indoor track.

The next day, he set the program record for laps in one day.

Whether that story is entirely accurate, the fact he finished last out of 16 qualifiers in Saturday’s PIAA 3A championships should scare a few people.

Especially since the 15-year-old is more bothered by finishing last in the 200-yard individual medley at Cumberland Valley High School than happy about breaking his own school record.

“Finishing last at the PIAA AAA state championship meet with the fastest time in Warren Area High School history knocked some sense into me,” said Harrison. “This experience showed me how competitive the PIAA AAA schools are. I never want to finish last again. In fact, next year I want to compete for a medal (top 8 finishers).”

Harrison was plenty starry-eyed after watching junior teammate Katie Beyer win a state championship in girls 2A competition on Friday.

A District 10 champion as a freshman, Harrison also wants that success.

“I swam against the current high school national breaststroke record holder in the 200 IM,” said Harrison. “Watching him swim made me want to reach that level. I’ve never been in a more competitive meet, but I plan to return every year. Next year, our WAHS team hopes to win more District 10 titles in individual and relay events. That will be amazing to compete with teammates on that stage.”

Underclassmen Harrison and Beyer, in swimming events, qualified for states — and junior Katie Madigan in diving — by winning D10 titles.

On Saturday, Harrison broke the WAHS 200 IM record in 2:00.10 — the same record he broke at districts.

His goal was under two minutes, he said — added motivation for his sophomore season.

Upper St. Clair senior Josh Matheny won the state title in 1:47.54.

“He’s a driven and focused individual,” said Warren coach Russ Beyer. “It seems that being in a big event like states, kids can either embrace it and rise to the occasion, or be intimated by it. Not Hugh. Before his race, I told him, ‘Hey, you belong here, go show everyone this is just the beginning of bigger things to come.'”