The State College boys’ swimming team came out of the PIAA Swimming and Diving Championships held at Bucknell University on March 18 and 19 impressively standing in third place among the schools in the AAA Division.
The results are not final pending the completion of the AAA diving competition, which will be held Sunday, March 26, also at Bucknell, but it was nevertheless a solid performance by the Little Lions that produced medals in eight different events.
Going into the diving finals, State College has 156.5 points and is just ahead of fourth-place North Penn (144 points). North Allegheny leads the competition with 271 points, and LaSalle College High School is second at 183. Conestoga rounds out the top five with 135.
The Little Lions were led by two swimmers who each finished in the top three in their events.
Senior Tobias Van Dyke completed SC’s best performance of the weekend with a silver medal in the 500-yard freestyle, coming in with a time of four minutes, 26.32 seconds. Jack Sannem from LaSalle won the event with a time of 4:21.63. Still, Van Dyke’s finish was the highlight of the Little Lions’ season.
On March 18, freshman Matt Brownstead won the bronze medal in the 50-yard freestyle with a personal and team record time of 20.59. It was the first time anyone in State College team history went under 21 seconds in the event.
In all, the Little Lions took medals in six other events during the competition. Along with Brownstead on March 18, Van Dyke finished seventh in the 100-yard butterfly (53.0), and the 200-yard medley relay team of Noah Witt, Ben Gingher, Jordan Hillsley and Brownstead took sixth place in a time of 1:34.20 (a team record). In the 200-yard freestyle relay, Gingher, Brownstead, Van Dyke and Matt Morris took seventh place in 1:25.57.
On March 19, Brownstead finished fourth in the 100-yard freestyle (45.55). Mikey Challis was fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke (56.72), with teammate Gingher right behind him in fifth with time of 56.78.
Other finishers for SC included Foster Healy (11th) and Hillsley (18th) in the 100 breaststroke, Witt at 23rd in the 100 backstroke, and Van Dyke, Hillsley, Challis and Morris at 11th in the 400 freestyle relay.
On March 18, Morris was 28th in the 50 freestyle, Hillsley was 31st in the 100 butterfly and Challis was 26th in the 200 individual medley.
For the State College girls, Ruth Dangelo, Jodie Challis, Grace Dangelo and Abbey Whipple came in 20th in the 200-yard medley relay, Sarah Finton was 30th in the 200 freestyle and Ruth Dangelo was 29th in the 200 individual medley.
Whipple came in 28th in the 50 freestyle and 29th in the 100 freestyle, Grace Dangelo was 29th in the 100 butterfly, Maya Urbanski was 30th in the 500 freestyle, Ruth Dangelo was 30th in the 100 backstroke and Challis was 32nd in the 100 breaststroke. In the 200 freestyle relay, Meghan Hughes, Finton, Challis and Thalla Stout came in 20th place.
The AAA girls’ diving championships will begin at 1:45 p.m. Sunday, March 26, and the boys’ championships will follow at 6:15 p.m.
