MACs, WPIALs, States? How far can the Bobcat swimmers go?

The boys’ swim team has a record of 5-2, and the girls’ team currently has a season record of 5-3. These standings are especially impressive for the girls’ team because they only have nine swimmers while the boys have 18.

Continuing their season, the Bobcats swam against the Allderdice Dragons January 11. In the past, the Dragons had an impressive boys team and a mediocre girls team—but this year that was not the case.

The Dragons completely flipped the script and had a shockingly good girls' team and a small boys' team meaning the boys were able to walk away victorious 93-77 while the girls lost 93-68.

The swimmers of the meet were juniors Aiden Connelly and Mandy Moldovan for their personal best swims.

Event winners for the girls included the 400-yard freestyle relay, sophomore Cora Rodgers in the 200-yard freestyle, and junior Ava Sutter in the 100-yard freestyle.

For the boys notable swims included the 200-yard medley relay, senior Graham Lovra winning the 100-yard breaststroke.

Sophomore Tony Rabatin was able to go under 1:00 to receive his MAC cut in the 100-yard freestyle, as well as freshman Daniel Wang getting the MAC cut in the 50-yard freestyle.

January 15 the Bobcats traveled to West Allegheny for their second of three away meets for the season. West-A was a section meet for Beaver Area, and the Indians are the reigning women’s team section champions.

Unfortunately, the Bobcat team was plagued with illness at this meet as well as having the meet fall on a day off of school. This combination resulted in few notable swims and a loss for the teams before the half.

Sophomore Aden Prince was able to qualify for MACs in the 500-yard freestyle while senior Lizzy Michael was able to qualify in the 50-yard freestyle.

Just one day later the Bobcats were ready for their meet against the Riverside Panthers. The Panthers have had a powerhouse of a boys' team for close to a decade and are the 2023 state champions in their relays and backstroke events.

Sadly, this much anticipated meet was canceled due to bad weather and rescheduled for February 2.

The Bobcat girls' swim team then had their first tri-meet of the season. The ladies had to swim against both Cornell and the Ellis School.

Cornell has barely held onto a swim team for the past five years. They have declining numbers and a deteriorating pool. This prompted Cornell to combine teams with both Eden and OLSH. The resultant team is bigger and helped two other small teams swim under one name. Nonetheless, the combination was only for the girls' team and the Cornell boys' team continues to be small.

As a result, the Bobcat boys secured a win before the half where the meet went into exhibition. (The meet was no longer scored.)

Despite an easy win for the boys, the girls' team had to fight. The Ladycats had a tough meet cut out for them and they knew they had to swim and win crucial races to win the meet.

And win they did: the ladies were able to slip away with two wins. The final score for Beaver vs. Cornell was 53-46 while Beaver vs. Ellis was 57-34. Ellis defeated Cornell with a score of 51-34.

The meet proved to be the Ladycats’ best meet of the season with incredible energy and excitement in and out of the pool.

The swimmers of the meet were senior Eli Bechdel and sophomore Cora Rodgers. The sophomores ran the meet with Rodgers getting her MAC cuts in both the 200 and 500-yard freestyle, Rabatin earning the MAC cut in the 200-yard freestyle, and Jude Lovra receiving the 50-yard freestyle cut.

Pivotal swims for the ladies included their close win in the 200-yard freestyle relay and the 200-yard medley B relay receiving first after Cornell’s relay had a false start and was disqualified.

Sutter was the only girl with individual wins against members of the other teams in both the 100-yard freestyle and backstroke.

There were an incredible number of boys' team wins.

January 25 the Bobcats prepared for their annual section meet against the Beaver Falls Tigers. The Tigers have struggled with numbers in the past but were able to have two girls' team relays and one boys' team relay.

The Bobcats came out of the pool victorious against the Tigers 87-65 for the girls and 80-51 for the boys.

Beaver Area rode their momentum from the big Cornell win and had some great races during the Beaver Falls meet. MAC cuts were the night’s goal and the Bobcats were successful.

In diving, seniors Reese Lindemann and Klayton Kaunert qualified for MACs in the six-dives one-meter diving.

Freshman Daniel Wang received his MAC cuts in both the 100-yard butterfly and 500-yard freestyle. Jude Lovra earned his MAC cut in the 200-yard individual medley.

It also was a big night for the Minnick family with sophomore Jake Minnick earning the MAC cut in the 50-yard freestyle and junior Ryan Minnick getting the MAC cut in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke.

The swimmers of the meet were junior Madison Mooney and Ryan Minnick.

In diving, sophomore Issac Burtt and Michael have consistently been the top divers even though West A was the only team that Beaver Area faced with both a diving team and swim team.

Beaver Area’s next meets are against Quaker Valley January 31 and Riverside February 2. Check the BASD ECHO for coverage of the regular season’s last meets.