Provo » Juan Diego swim coach John Moran guesstimated that the 3A State Swimming Meet in BYU's pool would bring out low times.

"The psychology of the state meet makes you step it up a level," said Moran, who saw his boys' team swim into first place at the end of Friday's first day of the two-day meet.

Moran was right. Swimmers, for the most part, did better their state qualifying times. This included senior Oliver Diamond, a repeat champion in the 50-yard freestyle.

"I was pumped for it," said Diamond, whose winning time of 21.44 seconds was more than a half second faster than his seed time. "It was my last race and I was excited for it.

"The kids bring it to a new level at state. They bring it in."

Park City (105 points) and Wasatch (103) were within striking distance of Juan Diego (109) for the boys' team title, while Judge (144) paced the girls' competition. Park City (136) and Wasatch (116) were second and third, respectively.

Of course, the state meet isn't always about first place. Sometimes an individual performance, like a beaming Ben Lomond's Talon Penman, can be just as exciting. Penman cut more than four seconds off his time in the 200-yard individual medley to place fourth, the highest finish for a Ben Lomond athlete.

"We told him his [new] Speedo was magic," Ben Lomond assistant Jamie Waite said. "It worked."

Griffin Pool of Park City won the race in 1:51.88, 31/2 seconds faster than his seed time.

"The first 100 was pretty fast," he said. "Compared to Park City, this pool is really fast."

For those in multiple events, there is no strategy for conserving energy. Marissa Bell of Park City won the girls' 200 IM in a personal best 2:20.21.

Bell also was part of Park City's 200 medley relay. She has three more races today, including the 500 freestyle, where she'll bump heads with Lydia Jones of Judge, the winner of the 200 free.

"This is an amazing feeling," Bell said. "I've never taken first at anything this big. It's exhilarating."

martyr@sltrib.com