The Tyrone/Bellwood/Bishop Guilfoyle co-op swim team had a successful District VI Championship Meet on February 22 and 23 at the Penn State Natatorium, highlighted by Tyrone’s first state qualifying relay team since 2019.
Bishop Guilfoyle junior Isaac Yeskey, Bellwood senior Spencer Dunklebarger, Tyrone sophomore Lucas Bonsell, and Bellwood sophomore Cameron Gallagher took gold in the 200 free relay and will represent Tyrone at the PIAA AA State Swimming Championships at Bucknell University on March 14th and 15th.
The Tyrone boys swam a 1:36.00, beating their seed time by more than three seconds and second place Bellefonte (1:37.64) by a second and a half.
Relay anchor Spencer Dunklebarger had one of the best swims of the day, finishing the final leg of the relay in a blazing 22.47 seconds to bring home the gold.
Tyrone sophomore Luke Bonsell, also a member of the 200 free relay team, said the team had been looking forward to this race since the district seed times were posted.
“We were seeded second, but we were only two-tenths of a second off of [Bellefonte’s] time. I was nervous, but we don’t really doubt ourselves. We just try our hardest and do what we can,” said Bonsell.
Bonsell said he is also excited to get a chance to set a new school record in the 200 free relay at States. Their district time was only two-tenths of a second off the current school record of 1:35.86.
”Our goal is to beat that record,” Bonsell said.
The relay teams and several good individual swims propelled the boys to a third-place overall finish with 116.5 points, behind Clearfield with 145 and Bellefonte with 129.
Head Coach Tom Getz was pleased with the performance of the entire team.
“They were all very good swims. Obviously, the free relay was the highlight, coming within two-tenths of the school record, but we had numerous personal records,” Getz said. “All the swimmers dropped times and we had swimmers make the podium, which is always good.”
The same four swimmers from the 200 free relay also had a strong finish in the 200 medley relay, coming in second and missing a trip to states by just one place. The boys swam a 1:50.16, second only to Bellefonte, who won the race with a 1:46.70.
Only first-place finishers at Districts qualify for the state meet.
Tyrone’s top individual performance of the meet came from Bellwood senior Spenser Dunklebarger, who finished third in the 100 breaststroke finals with a 1:07.00, almost three seconds faster than his seed time.
Tyrone also picked up a pair of fifth-place medals with Lucas Bonsell in the 100 butterfly (1:01.39), besting his seed time by a second and some change.
Dunklebarger also placed fifth in the 100 free with a 51.29, an amazing nine seconds faster than his seed time.
In the 100 backstroke, BG’s Isaac Yezkey took seventh place with a 1:04.62, Bonsell took 12th with a 1:08.43, and sophomore Dylan Eckenrode was 16th with a 1:10.63, three seconds faster than his seed time.
Cameron Gallagher was ninth in the 100 free, but even more impressive than his place was that his time of 55.56 beat his seed time by almost a full three seconds.
Gallegher also finished 12th in the 50 freestyle with a 25.13, more than one second faster than his seeding.
Tyrone senior Rocky Romani placed 16th in the 50 freestyle with a time of 26.14, .04 seconds faster than his seed time.
Bellwood freshman Ned Smearman placed 26th in the 50 free with a 27.88.
On the girl’s side, Bellwood senior Evalyna Aiken was the only female individual swimmer at districts.
Aiken finished 11th in the 500 free with a time of 6:31.95 and 14th in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:12.53, beating her seed time by more than three seconds.
The girls also had two relay teams compete at districts.
The 200 free relay team of Aiken, Tyrone sophomore Grace Corl, junior Sophia Cowher, and freshman Blake Pennington bested their seed time by more than five seconds, swimming a 2:03.43 for 11th place. Grace Corl of Tyrone had the fastest split time for the girls relay with a 28.84. Sophia Cowher led the relay with a 31.32.
The 400 free relay team of Tyrone junior Sophia Cower and sophomore Grace Corl, Bellwood senior Evalyna Aiken, and Tyrone freshman Adalyn Jefferies finished 10th with a time of 4:38.92.
The State Championship Meet will be held at Bucknell University this Friday, March 15, and Saturday, March 17.
The 200 free relay preliminary rounds are scheduled for 9:15 am on Friday.
Getz is happy to be making a return to the state meet for Tyrone.
“Being District Champions and making it to states is a great accomplishment. They only take the number one team or swimmer from our district, so it’s not easy,” Getz said.
