How it started for Marin Raible was definitely not how it ended.

Making her first appearance at the PIAA Class 3A Girls diving championship meet on Thursday, the Mars junior was not herself early on.

“I was really nervous and that affected my performance,” she said. “My goal was to medal (top eight), but my first five dives did not go very well.”

In between dives, she had a brief conversation with Mars coach Maria Misenhelter.

“She told me she was thinking ahead (to dives she still had to perform),” Misenhelter said. “I told her ‘Don’t think ahead. This is about right now. Let things play out and you’ll be fine.’

“She nailed her last six dives.”

So well that Raible placed third in the state with a score of 431.30 at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium. Freedom’s Hayden Taylor was crowned state champion with a 508.80 and North Allegheny’s Maggie Lapina was runner-up at 448.65.

Included in the second half of the competition was Raible’s most difficult challenge, a back 1½ somersault and 1½ twist.

“I only recently picked it up and this was the second time I’ve done it in a meet,” Raible said. “I scored really well on it and am very happy about that.

“I started to slow things down in my head, focused on my board work and hitting one dive at a time.”

Raible placed third in the WPIAL last month and entered the state competition after very productive practice sessions.

“She was a dynamo in practice the last two weeks, was hitting every single dive,” Misenhelter said. “Early on today, I think she was trying to duplicate that, was putting too much pressure on herself. But she settled down. I’m so happy for her. She’s a great kid.”

Finishing one spot and just 1.15 points behind Raible was Seneca Valley senior Ali Waters, who placed fourth in the state for the second straight year.

“During warm-ups, I noticed that it was hard to get a good bounce off the board, but I worked through it,” she said. “I was excited to be competing at states in my last year, but was calm the whole time.”

Waters, who is headed to attend and compete at UNC-Wilmington, did not pick up diving until the summer of 2023.

“She had a strong background in gymnastics and it was just a matter of translating that to diving,” SV coach Nancy Laslavic said. “I knew she would do well.”

Waters placed sixth in the WPIAL as a sophomore, fourth as a junior and was runner-up this year. She owns SV’s girls pool record for six dives (306.8) and the overall record (325.35, set this season at Moon High School).

“I made a pretty big jump from when I started and I’m proud of myself,” she said.

Making a first appearance at a state championship meet can be overwhelming for some.

Not for Dom Davis.

For the second straight day, the Mars sophomore claimed a silver medal, swimming the boys 100-yard freestyle in 44.64 seconds. Upper St. Clair’s Nazar Zoukovski took first place with a time of 44.19.

Davis was runner-up Wednesday in the 50 freestyle (20.14).

He had missed his entire freshman season due to a torn labrum in his left shoulder.

“It was a full year before I was completely back,” Davis said. “I trusted my coaches and trusted the process. I just wanted to get back to 100% and start pushing myself again.”

Davis won a WPIAL title in the 50 free and placed second in the 100 free in February.

“This year was his first opportunity to swim at WPIALs and states,” Mars coach Karen Guise said. “His times the last two days were both career bests. His overall performance was top-notch.”