STATE COLLEGE — After a dominating performance at the 2026 PIAA Class 3A Swimming and Diving Championships held at Bucknell College, State College senior Molly Workman has been named the Centre County Gazette Athlete of the Month.
Workman won four gold medals at the meet, set a meet record time in the 50-yard freestyle and was named Class 3A Girls Swimmer of the Meet.
She won both the 50-Yard Freestyle and the 100-Yard Freestyle for the third consecutive time, and she anchored the SC 200-yard Freestyle Relay and the 400-Yard Freestyle Relay teams to victory.
Workman’s time of 22.22 in the 50 freestyle set a new PIAA Class 3A meet record by 0.01 seconds. This was after she set the overall Pennsylvania state record in this event, 22.17, earlier in the season at the Mid-Penn Championships.
She also rallied the 400 relay team to victory after her split began with the Little Lion team behind in fourth place.
“I was a little stressed there and we were a little more behind than we anticipated,” Workman said about the 400, “but my teammates had crazy good splits. I just really thought I want to win this, and sometimes it’s fun coming from behind.”
In her career at State College overall, Workman won 9 state championships, 16 state medals, 16 district championships and 16 Mid-Pen titles.
But this was her first PIAA Girl Swimmer of the Meet.
“That was crazy,” she said. “It has always been a goal of mine, but a friend of mine on another team always won it. But, yeah, I think earning it in my senior year was pretty special.
“And I loved being a Little Lion. State High is amazing and my teammates were so important. I would not be where I am without them. We pushed each other in practice, and we held each other accountable for our goals, whether individual or team. Without them you don’t have fun on deck, and if you don’t have fun, you don’t swim fast.”
Workman will now move on as a member of the University of Virginia swim team in the fall of 2026.
