In the past two weeks, both swim teams faced bitter defeat against two of the best teams they have faced all year.

Beginning this disappointing cycle of meets was an out-of-section match-up against South Fayette January 20. While the boys were able to tie an out-of-section team this season, traditionally, these meets often don’t go well for Beaver Area.

The meet went as expected with South Fayette crushing the boys 124-62 and the girls 130-50.

Due to the Bobcats’ historically low expectations for facing triple-A teams, no one was too discouraged.

"Losing out-of-section meets doesn’t really matter," said freshman Jameson Bonnar.

However, the next meet at Montour February 7 was the exact opposite; it was an

in-section meet with astronomically high expectations for victory among the boys' team.

With Montour, Beaver Area, and Riverside dominating the double-A division, this meet was a required win to become section champions. But in the end the boys' hopes were dashed by just six points, losing 68-62. This was their first in-section loss of the year. The girls lost 96-48.

For many boys on the team, this season was going to be the year that they would finally take section champions again. Their disappointment was incredibly apparent following their loss.

"I’m really bummed about losing to Montour since victory slipped through our fingers by just six points," said junior Jacob Larson.

However, some swimmers attempted to find a silver lining in their loss.

"We had a lot of qualifications for WPIAL and MAC qualifying times as well as a lot of personal best times. Minus the loss, it was still a solid meet," said captain and senior Alec Nachman.

Not all hope is lost for the boys, though. If they can manage to get a win against Riverside Thursday, there will be a three-way tie for the section champion title among Montour, Beaver Area, and Riverside. Barring any sort of tie-breaking procedure, they will be forced to share the title.

Check back into the ECHO for the final report on the last meet against Riverside, as well as the MAC and WPIAL tournaments.