STATE COLLEGE - The wall says it all.
In the swimming complex at the State College High School, banners cover most of the wall representing the legendary Little Lions program and the success the team has had and is still having.
Despite the reputation of the Little Lions, the Mifflin County Huskies ventured in to the State College ready to take on the program that has been the District 6 Class AAA champion since 1979.
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Sentinel photo by CHRISTOPHER?SHANNON
Mifflin County’s Shane Sennett swims the second leg of the boys 200-yard freestyle relay during the Huskies’ Commonwealth Division swim meet at State College Thursday evening.
Mifflin County may not have won, but the young swimmers showed that they weren't going to be fazed by anything.
On the boys' side, State College defeated Mifflin County 126-49. The girls fell to the Little Lions 120-37 Thursday night.
But there were highlights for the visiting team.
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IF YOU GO
* Mifflin County hosts Bellefonte Dec. 28
"Evan Becker had a really good day today. He beat his own time. I know he had a great meet today and I am sure there are others that beat their best times," Mifflin County coach Connie Welch said. "Anthony Elliot bested his time in the 500 and so did Rachel Heckman. It's a long event and you really have to have some long endurance. They both did well in that event."
Becker also finished second in the 100-yard freestyle (54.82) and also picked up a fourth place in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 2:41.09.
In the 200-yard relay, the Mifflin County boys placed fourth with a time of 2:08.29. Representing the Huskies on the team were Seth Barger, Drew Kline, Becker and Zack Bonson.
Bonson finished with a time of 1:21.76 in the 100-yard breaststroke, good enough for second place. Barger finished in third place with a time of 1:32.20.
Bonson and Barger also picked up points for Mifflin County by finishing fourth in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:07.62. Bonson also was a member of the second-place 400-yard freestyle team. Also on the team were Becker and Elliot.
Mifflin County also picked up points in the relays when it captured a fourth place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
The team of Kline, Shane Sennett, Chase Shinn and Shane Whalen finished with a time of 2:01.77.
Whalen and Shinn finished second and third in the 100-yard backstroke with times of 1:26.59 and 1:30.07, respectively.
Also picking up points for the young Mifflin County squad were Kline (4th in the 200-yard IM) and Elliot (500-yard freestyle).
Mifflin County got strong finishes on the girls side as well. Leading the way was team captain Megan Becker and Sarah Bonson.
Becker and Bonson led the 200-yard medley relay to a third-place finish with a time of 2:18.18. Helping them out were Allison Besch and Jenna Kile.
Becker picked up the lone first-place finish for the Huskies on the night, capturing the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 26.35.She also placed second in the 100-yard backstroke while teammate Alison Treaster finished right behind with times of 1:08.15 and 1:58.16, respectively.
Bonson took second in the 200-yard IM with a time of 2:24.48 and in the 100-yard backstroke with a 1:18.55. Following right behind Bonson was Kile who took third with a time of 1:33.68.
Bonson, Kile, Becker and Besch took the second spot in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 4:25.40.
Besch took a fourth place finish as well. Her time of 1:23.74 was good enough to pick up two points for her team.
Also picking up fourth place finishes were Melanie Angney in the 100-yard freestyle, Rachel Heckman in the 500-yard freestyle.
Rachel Stimeling placed fourth in the 200-yard freestyle, finishing with a time of 2:45.73, a personal best. She also picked up a second fourth-place finish, in the 100-yard breaststroke. Her time of 1:42.06 also was a personal best.
"I would like to keep a positive attitude and think that, yeah, once we continue to grow the program and continue to build it," the team will be more competitive, Welch said.
One of the things the Mifflin County coach sees as an advantage for the Little Lions was the location of the pool facilities.
"You also have to look at (the fact that) they have a pool in the school. They probably have more swim time in the pool than we do," Welch said. "Don't get me wrong, the Juniata Valley YMCA is so good to us. They give us a lot of support and a lot of time in the pool but they (State College) are close to their weight training facilities as well. So definitely to build a program like this, you need time, you need attendence, the people and you need the facilities as well."
