The Tyrone boys swim team made history with their first-ever district title at the Penn State Natatorium on Feb. 21, although the road to get there wasn’t as smooth as they had initially hoped.
The boys went into the meet as strong contenders for the district title, but their weekend got off to a rocky start when the 200 medley relay, an event the Tyrone boys were favored to win, was disqualified.
After finishing first and thinking they won and were going to states, they learned that they were disqualified for a false start, which was a huge setback for them.
“We gave up 32 points with that disqualification, which definitely created an uphill battle,” head coach Tom Getz said.
Despite the setback, the boys persevered and won the District title with consistently high placing swims by several Golden Eagle athletes.
“It was amazing,” Getz said. “Considering the emotional roller coaster ride the boys were on. The seniors were instrumental in keeping the team focused and together. We could have easily fallen apart, but they battled back and did what they had to do.”
For starters, Patrick Van Kleunen set a new school record in the 100 backstroke in a time of 56.18.
In the 400-yard freestyle relay, the team won in a very fast time of 3:30.85, with all of them swimming new PRs and were just shy of the school record by 0.2 seconds. (Lucas Bonsell, Cameron Gallagher, Patrick VanKleunen, Owen Dunklebarger).
This is the first district title for the boys in school history, and the last time the girls won a district title was in 2001, over 25 years ago.
“I think anytime you’re the first, it’s pretty cool,” Getz said. “For these boys to be the first district champions is a testament to the hard work they put in. They have finished second a few years in a row, so to get it done is awesome.”
On the girls’ side, the medley relay dropped a six-second PR, placing ninth. (Blake Pennington, Adalyn Jeffries, Emma Bonsell, Grace Corl)
E. Bonsell also dropped over a second in both the 100 freestyle and the 100 breaststroke, finishing in 11th and 7th, respectively.
Also, for both the Boys and the Girls, every single swimmer PR’d in their events; no one went home without a PR.
DAY ONE
BOYS:
In the 200 yard-medlay relay, the Golden Eagles had a rough start as they got dq’d. They would have won, and the boys would have headed to states. This also cost them 32 points, which would make winning districts very hard now.
Even with this tough start, the Golden Eagles were able to bounce back with some very strong performances. They performed so well that everyone PR’d in their events, which shows that they were truly holding nothing back, going for the District title.
“I love this district team, and there isn’t anything that could stand in our way. We work hard and will push through to accomplish our goals.” Senior Lucas Bonsell said.
In the 200-yard IM, Van Kleunen placed second, with a new PR of 2:09.73, scoring 13 points.
In the 100-yard butterfly, Dunklebarger placed third with a new PR of 56.92, scoring 12 points, and L. Bonsell placed seventh with a new PR of 59.56, scoring seven points. Vinnie Maloney also Pr’d with a time of 1:15.01, placing 15th.
In the 200-yard freestyle, Matthew Eckenrode placed third with a new PR of 1:54.05, scoring 12 points, and Ca. Gallagher placed ninth with a new PR of 2:03.07, scoring four points.
In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the Golden Eagles placed fourth with a new PR of 1:37.65, scoring 22 points (Eric Goodman, Chase Gallagher, Cameron Gallagher, Owen Dunklebarger)
In the 50-yard freestyle, Ch. Gallagher placed sixth with a new PR of 24.19, scoring nine points, and Goodman placed 11th with a new PR of 24.70, scoring five points. Ned Smearman also PR’d with a time of 25.52, placing 16th.
After day one, this left the Golden Eagles in a great position for winning districts, even with the disqualification of the medley relay. They left day one tied in second place with a total of 84 points, and were just short of first by 2.5 points.
GIRLS:
Just like the boys, the girls also PR’d in every event.
In the 200-yard medley relay, the Lady Eagles dropped a six-second PR, placing ninth, scoring eight points. (Blake Pennington, Adalyn Jeffries, Emma Bonsell, Grace Corl)
In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the Lady Eagles placed tenth with a new PR of 1:59.07, scoring six points. (Blake Pennington, Grace Corl, Adalyn Jeffries, Emma Bonsell)
Corl was the only individual girls’ competitor on day one. In the 50-yard freestyle, Corl placed 19th with a new PR of 28.76.
While the Lady Eagles performed well, their team size was significantly smaller than the other teams, making it difficult to compete for team scoring. Leaving day one, the Lady Eagles were in 12th place with 14 points.
DAY TWO
BOYS:
Day two went even better for the Golden Eagles, as they went home with many more new pr’s, a new school record, and Tyrone’s first-ever boys swimming District VI Championship title.
The 400-yard freestyle relay is what really won the meet as the Golden Eagles won with a huge 15-second PR of 3:30.85, all four swimmers PR’d individually, and they were only 0.2 seconds off the school record. This scored a huge 32 points, and now the relay team is headed to states. (Lucas Bonsell, Patrick Van Kleunen, Cameron Gallagher, Owen Dunklebarger)
Van Kleunen broke the school record in the 100-yard backstroke, where he placed second with a new three-second PR and school record of 56.18, scoring 13 points. L. Bonsell placed eighth with a new two-second PR of 1:03.64, scoring five points, and Dylan Eckenrode placed 17th with a new one-second PR of 1:11.02.
In the 500-yard freestyle, M. Eckenrode placed second with a new seven-second PR of 5:09.90, scoring 13 points.
In the 100-yard freestyle, Dunklebarger placed sixth with a new three-second PR of 52.24, scoring nine points, and Ca. Gallagher placed 11th with a new one-second PR of 54.43, scoring two points. Goodman also PR’d by three seconds with a time of 55.56, placing 14th.
In the 100-yard breaststroke, Nelson tied for seventh with a new one-second PR of 1:09.98, scoring six points.
From being almost tied for first on day one, the Golden Eagles left the meet with a dominating victory of 164 points, with second place being at 141. This gave the Golden Eagles their first-ever boys swimming District VI Championship title. Even crazier, if the medley relay hadn’t been disqualified, they would have won with an even more dominating score of 196.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better team. Everyone encouraged each other and never gave up,” senior Cameron Gallagher said.
The 400 relay team will compete at the 2026 PIAA Swimming and Diving Championships on March 11–14 at Bucknell University.
GIRLS:
E. Bonsell was the only Lady Eagles swimmer for day two, but she still performed very well, with two new PR’s
She dropped over a second PR in both the 100 freestyle and the 100 breaststroke, finishing in 11th, scoring two points, and seventh, scoring seven points.
In the final standings, the Lady Eagles placed 13th with a score of 23 points. While it isn’t the greatest score, the Lady Eagles only had so many swimmers, and they all actually swam very well, and they all left with new PR’s.
TO VIEW MORE PHOTOS BY SENIOR CAMERON GALLAGHER, CLICK HERE: Districts 2026
