HOLLIDAYSBURG — Sydney Fetters, Grace Rossman, Ashley Moretz and Kiaha McCool ended the meet with a win in the 400-yard freestyle relay for the Bellefonte girls swim team’s 10th victory in 11 events to lift the Lady Raiders to a heart-stopping 80-79 triumph at Hollidaysburg in a Laurel Highlands Conference meet that also included Somerset on Monday, Jan. 8.
The Lady Raiders edged Somerset 80-78.
The Bellefonte boys came out on the short end of both sides of its double-dual meet, falling 84-58 to Somerset and 93-50 to Hollidaysburg even though Carter Boone won the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard butterfly and was part of the winning effort in the 200-yard medley relay.
“It was the most dramatic finish I have seen in a long time,” Bellefonte coach Tony Edmondson said of the girls’ performance in the 400 free relay.
Hollidaysburg was leading the race by 9.74 seconds before McCool hit the pool for the anchor leg and pulled out the victory with a 53.31-second split.
The team’s time was 4 minutes, 11.73 seconds — 1.55 seconds ahead of the field.
McCool also teamed with Grace Rossman, Katelyn Packer and Addie Pringle to place first in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:47.63 and, individually, prevailed in the 50 freestyle with a time of 25.59 and the 100 freestyle by clocking 54.93.
Packer, meanwhile, improved her seventh-place-team-history time in placing first in the 200 freestyle by finishing in 2:05.29. Packer also won the 100 butterfly in 1:03.23 and teamed with Fetters, Pringle and Moretz to get to the wall first in the 200 medley relay by posting a 2:07.54.
Fetters, Moretz and Pringle notched individual wins, as well. Fetters’ came in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:09.24. Moretz timed 6:12.26 in the 500 freestyle. Pringle turned in a 2:29.01 in the 200 IM.
Boone won the boys 200 IM in 2:09.91 and the 100 butterfly with a 54.74. His medley relay team with Cedric Bagwell, Isaiah Johnson and Turner Malik prevailed with a 1:53.08.
Boone trailed by .13 in the butterfly at the midpoint.
Johnson also got the Red Raiders first-place points in the 200 freestyle, where he reached the wall in 1:59.91.
Malik, meanwhile, turned in a district-qualifying result in the 50 freestyle with a time of 27.49. That means all 11 Red Raiders have qualified for the District 6 championship meet.
PENNS VALLEY
CLEARFIELD — Liam Quigley’s victories in the boys 200 IM and 100 breaststroke highlighted Penns Valley’s tri-meet at Clearfield on Jan. 8 with Westmont Hilltop.
Quigley registered a time of 2:04.25 to win the medley by almost 11 seconds. His 1:01.81 in the breaststroke was nearly 20 seconds ahead of the field.
Three Lady Rams won events. Charlotte Delaney was first in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:33.60. Abby Hagelgans prevailed in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:27.80. Mila Klena took the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:07.93.
In addition, Logan Taylor dropped nearly nine seconds from his personal-record time in the boys 100 freestyle.
Penns Valley came out on the short end of all four team scores. The boys fell 78-46 against Westmont and 120-40 to Clearfield. The Lady Rams fell 91-48 to Westmont and 114-50 to Clearfield.
