Now this is the way to make history.

Emily Cameron became the first state swimming champion at Warwick Wednesday, and she did it in impressive fashion. The Warrior freshman shattered the record in the girls' Class AAA 200-yard individual medley, and in claiming the gold, became the first female scholastic swimmer in Pennsylvania to break the two-minute barrier (1:59.00).

"I'm just speechless,'' the normally talkative Cameron said while eyeing her gold medal. "I am so excited. I am overly thrilled with my time.''

She had every right to be blown away with that swim, as Cameron blew away the finals field. Her record-breaking performance was the highlight of an exceptional first day of competition in the PIAA Class AAA Swimming and Diving Championships.

Action resumes at 8 this morning.

Following Cameron's showcase performance, Warwick junior sprinter Dain Bomberger claimed silver in the boys' 50 freestyle in 20.60 seconds later Wednesday night.

Other top-8 finishes turned in by L-L League girls included Maddie Honingch of Cedar Crest, claiming silver in the 200 freestyle (1:48.92); Kasey Mann of Manheim Township, fourth in the 100 butterfly (56.40); and Jessica Burkhart of Penn Manor, eighth in the 50 free (24.34).

On the boys' side, Cedar Crest's Allen Weik was fifth in the 200 free in 1:41.32, Manheim Central's Rob Iosue was sixth in the 50 in 21.23, Conestoga Valley's Logan Monger was eighth in the 200 IM in 1:58.93 and the Falcons' 200 free relay was eighth in 1:26.76.

Cameron's mark was the fastest time ever recorded by a woman in the 200 IM at Bucknell University's Kinney Natatorium. Quite an accomplishment, considering the Bison are a NCAA Division I program, and plenty of top-flight athletes have raced in the BU pool.

"When the lights are on, she comes out,'' Warwick coach Mark Daum said of Cameron's effort. "This (competing in big meets) is her forte. The proverbial all cylinders were on and firing.''

There was almost a misfire to begin the IM, as Cameron was waving to get the officials' attention when she noticed the touch pad in her lane had come loose. The race was briefly delayed as the officials fixed the pad.

When the strobe light to start the race finally flashed, Cameron took off. She was in command after the initial butterfly leg, and the only question that remained was whether she would take down the record of 2:00.83 set last year by Mikelle Masciantonio of Emmaus. Cameron got the record, and Masciantonio was a distant second in 2:03.53.

"It's been there for a while,'' Daum said of Cameron's potential to break two minutes. "Casey's (Coble, Cameron's Lancaster Aquatic Club coach) done a phenomenal job training her. It was there, and she finally reached that goal.''

"When I was done and looked up (at the scoreboard) and saw that time, I said to myself 'Did I just do that?' I thought I had it in me, but I wasn't sure,'' she said. "I'm confident in my ability, but not overly confident. Coach (Daum) just told me to go out and have fun. I really enjoyed that race.''

Bomberger took the same philosophy into his race.

"I said to myself that I was going to have fun with this and enjoy whatever happened,'' he said. "Now, was I happy I got second? Of course. I've worked so hard for it.''

Bomberger used his trademark quick start, then said he was kind of concerned at the turn when he spotted what he thought were several other racers right with him.

"I thought, 'There's no way I'm going to let those guys beat me,' " he said. "I just got back up (to the surface off his turn) and swam as fast as I could.''

Sporting a shaved head for the first time in his scholastic swimming career, Bomberger shaved another two-hundredths off his school record of 20.62 he swam in the preliminaries.

"Today was just magic,'' said Daum. "Dain went from no medal (last year) to silver. To us, silver is golden.''

L-L girls finishing ninth through 16th were Ephrata's Kylee Parsons (1:52.80), ninth in the 200 free; Cocalico's Rachel Brooker (57.77), 12th in the fly; MT's Katie Diller (58.02), 14th in the fly; MT's Rachel Butler (24.56), 15th in the 50 free; the CC 200 free relay, 14th in 1:39.68; and Hempfield diver Stacy Titone, 16th with 261.50.

Crest's Andrew Miller (21.51) was 13th and Ephrata's Nate Brown (21.96) was 16th in the boys' 50 free.

In other girls' events Wednesday, Franklin Regional's Samantha Pickens won a fourth straight diving title with 503.10 points, Hershey won the 200 medley relay in 1:44.65, Downingtown East's Danielle Siverling won the 200 free in a state-record 1:47.49, Hershey's Katelyn Miller won the 50 free in 23.51, Moon's Zina Grogg won the 100 fly in 55.63, and Wilson won the 200 free relay in 1:35.24.

Boys' winners were Emmaus in the 200 medley relay in 1:32.34, Jonathan Buerger of North Allegheny in the 200 free in 1:38.08, Wilson's Nate Savoy in the 200 IM in 1:48.93, Upper Saint Clair's Kyle Dudzinski in the 100 fly in 49.04 and North Allegheny in the 200 free relay in 1:24.21.