Clearfield- At the Arctic Classic swim meet on Saturday the Clearfield Bison swimmers swam against 8 tough teams from the Pennsylvania area.
The meet was a victory for the Clearfield boys who came in first place out of 9 teams with 250 points and the girls fell short and placed 6th with 121 points.
“The girls can do the yardage but we just don’t have the speed, it is still a young team\”, said head coach Jackie Morrison, “Also, the girls team was missing a key swimmer today in this meet.”
The girls team only had two swimmers place in the top six in individual events. Branda Smeltzer placed 5th in the 500 freestyle and Marisa Howell Placed 6th in the 100 yard backstroke, “This says a lot about what kind of meet the girls team had today only having two place holders,” said Morrison.
The boys team had at least 1 place holder in the top 6 out of all events except two, with such swimmers as Jordan Mumma, Kraig Peterson, Logan Shirey, Brady Mulhullem, Shay Flanagan, and Mark Krchnak.
The Artic Classic was also a record breaking meet for some as well. Shay Flanagan who broke the meet record in the 200 yard freestyle going a 1:49.91 and Mark Krchnak had a strong successful day breaking the meet record for the 100 yard breaststroke going a 1:02.88 and swam a strong 200 individual medley.
It was not only the Clearfield swimmers who had a record breaking day but so did the Jersey Shore girls who broke the meet record for the 200 yard freestyle relay and the Holidaysburg boys who broke the 200 yard freestyle meet record.
Other shining Clearfield swimmers from the meet were Brady Mulhullem swimming his best time yet in the 500 yard freestyle and placed 2nd overall with Shay Flanagan coming in first.
“He swam a strong smart race and he deserved it. He is one of our dedicated and hard workers in practice and in the meets,” explained the coaches.
Some other swimmers in this meet were Branda Smeltzer and Skylar DeHaven. Branda placed 5th overall in the 500 freestyle and got the job done by going a 27.28 in the 200 yard freestyle relay with her teammates Brandi Centi swimming a 27.83, Shellbie King swimming a 28.58, and Marisa Howell swimming a 27.29. Their relay came in 4th overall.
“Skylar is really coming out of her shell and showing us what she can do, she had a great week of races. She is not quite placing yet but she is looking strong and getting personal best times,” quoted the coaches. “She definitely stood out in our minds of swimmers who had successful swims.”
The Clearfield boys and girls swimmers go up against DuBois at DuBois Monday starting at 6:00 p.m.