Friday, Feb. 28, through Saturday, Feb. 29, the Clearfield Bison Swimming and Diving Team took on District IX for the chance to win the District IX Swimming and Diving title.

The Lady Bison won the Girls District IX Swimming title with a score of 398 points to the host, St. Marys, by 98 points. Five of our own Lady Bison swimmers, Karli Bietz, Christina McGinnis, Raegan Mikesell, Beth Struble and Jaylin Wood, will be traveling to Bucknell University March 11-13 to compete in the PIAA Swimming and Diving State Championship. Karli Bietz will be competing in two individual events: 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle. Raegan Mikesell will also be competing in two individual events: 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle. The two will be joining up with McGinnis and Wood to compete in two relay events: 200 freestyle relay and 400 freestyle.

Along with the Lady Bison swimmers, the Clearfield boys team won the District IX title with a score of 391 points to DuBois Area High School with a score of 249.5. Six of our own Bison swimmers, Leif Hoffman, Noah Jordan, Justin Maines, Mason Marshall, Parker Marshall and Luke Mikesell, will be traveling to Bucknell University to compete in the PIAA Swimming ans Diving State Championship. Leif Hoffman will be competing in one individual event: 500 freestyle. Noah Jordan will be competing in one individual event: 100 breaststroke. Mason Marshall will be competing in two individual events: 200 I.M. and 100 backstroke. Lastly, Luke Mikesell will be competing in two individual events: 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle. The boy’s will team up and compete in three relays: 200 medley relay, 200 freestyle relay, and the 400 freestyle relay.

The divers had a very successful meet on the morning of Saturday, Feb. 29, with Justin Hand winning the Boys District IX Diving title with a score of 356.40 to defeat teammate Corbin Turner by 18.90 points. Nick Unch, sophomore, placed third with a score of 324.15 points. Unfortunately, Lady Bison diver Jazlynn Shomo was just short of states, as she was outscored by Bradford’s Sydney Rodgers with a score of 323.40 compared to Shomo’s 311.60 points.

Coach Jackie Morrison stated, “Most swimmers and divers had their best performances of the season, around 95% career bests, so I think most of the kids were fairly pleased with their end results.”

Stay tuned to read more about our swimmers and divers who are competing at the PIAA Swimming and Diving State Championship, which will be broadcast live on PCN.