NOTRE DAME, Ind. – On a day when the eight seniors on the University of Notre Dame men\’s swimming and diving team were honored, sophomore John Lytle of Clearfield turned out to be one of the stars in the 22nd-ranked Fighting Irish\’s 214-150 win over West Virginia in the Shamrock Dual Meet Invitational in Rolfs Aquatic Center Saturday.
Lytle swam to a first, a second and a third in individual events and was on three winning relay teams and one runner-up foursome.
His individual win came in the 200-yard freestyle as he led all the way to stop the clock at 1:41. He was second in the 100 free in 45.73 seconds, nipped by Wave\’s Nicola Deli (45.70). And he was third in the 50 free in 21.22.
Lytle set the pace for the victorious Fighting Irish \’A\’ relay teams in the 800 free (1:41.72), 200 free (21.33) and 400 free and swam a 46.02 anchor leg for the 400 medley \’A\’ team that finished second.
Notre Dame, 4-6 in dual meets, will be off until the BIG EAST Conference Championships Feb. 20-23 at East Meadow, N.Y.
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WASHINGTON, Pa. – Freshman Brandon Boyer of Clearfield set personal bests in two events, one a victory, and also swam on a victorious relay team while diver Ryan Sayers of Frenchville (Clearfield Area High School) also contributed points as Washington & Jefferson College defeated Penn State-Behrend 147-122 Saturday.
Boyer won the 100-yard backstroke in 57.05 seconds, .43 bettered than his previous best, and was second in the 200 back in 2:06.30, trimming 3.6 seconds off his old mark.
He also turned in a 26.41 second leg for the Presidents\’ winning \’A\’ 200 medley relay team.
With its sixth victory in 11 meets secure, W & J had its 400 free relay teams swim exhibition. Boyer recorded a 49.82 leg for the Presidents\’ \’A\’ foursome that was the fastest of all six teams in the event.
Sayers placed third on the one-meter diving board with 185.55 points.
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CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Matt Kyler padded his team-leading win total with a forfeit in Army\’s 25-9 wrestling victory on Harvard University home mat Saturday evening after posting a decision as the Black Knights triumphed by an identical score against Brown at Providence, R.I., earlier in the day.
The nationally-ranked sophomore 141-pounder, who entered the week No. 8 in wins and No. 7 in pins in NCAA Division I, defeated Brown\’s Mark Savino 7-2 and then got his 11th win in a row the easy way.
Kyler is 29-5, including an 11-1 record in dual meets, and also leads the Cadets in bonus wins (16) and falls (13).
He is ranked in three NCAA Division I national polls, 15th by Wrestling International Newsmagazine, 18th by Amateur Wrestling News and 20th by USA Today/Intermat/National Wrestling Coaches Association.
Sweeping the Ivy League teams boosted Army\’s record to 5-1 in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) and 10-4 overall.
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JAMESTOWN, N.Y. – Lycoming College freshman wrestler Tom Barger of Clearfield earned third place with a 4-1 record in the Jayhawk Invitational hosted by Jamestown Community College Saturday.
Barger pinned Ithaca\’s Andrew Hutchins at 4:01 and defeated Alfred\’s Devin Hennessey 5-1 to reach the semifinals, where he was pinned in 2:43 by Kevin McElhaney of Gannon.
McElhaney (24-9) then won the championship and was named the tourney\’s Outstanding Wrestler.
Barger came back to beat two State University of New York-Cortland matmen for third place, a fall in 1:47 against Joe Moran and a 5-0 decision against Mike Esteves.
Gannon freshman Ethan Swope of Luthersburg (DuBois Area High School) copped the 133-pound title with three decisions.
On Jan. 22 at Wilkes-Barre, 13th-ranked Lycoming was upset 24-20 by King\’s College, and Barger was one of only four Warrior winners.
He edged Tony Miele 7-6 on riding time. Two takedowns in the first period and a reversal in the second gave Barger a 6-1 lead, but Miele tied the bout with an escape, takedown and near fall. Barger, who is 14-8 for the season, then rode out the final period for the win.
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PEMBROKE, N.C. – Clearfield Area High School graduate Kyle Keane of Bradford registered four more wins for the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown wrestling team at the East Coast Duals hosted by the University of North Carolina-Pembroke Friday and Saturday.
The 12-5 Mountain Cats, ranked No. 8 in NCAA Division II, defeated No. 18 Limestone (S.C.) 28-6, Carson Newman (Tenn.) 46-0 and Belmont Abbey (N.C.) 36-6 before losing to 24-20 to No. 10 Newberry (S.C.).
Keane decisioned Limestone\’s Casey Bradley 10-6, major decisioned Belmont Abbey\’s Isaac Banks 10-1 and shut out Newberry\’s Dustin Harvey 5-0. The Mountain Cat 165-pounder won by forfeit against Carson Newman.
Keane, a redshirt sophomore, has 10 victories in his last 11 matches for a 22-5 record.
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DUBOIS, Pa. – The first-year Penn State University-DuBois women\’s basketball team has fallen on hard times with four consecutive losses this month, but Brittany Barrett (Grampian, Curwensville Area High School) has become a consistent rebounder for the Lady Lions.
Last week, Barrett grabbed six missed shots in a 51-42 loss to PSU-Greater Allegheny Wednesday, seven in a 68-28 loss to undefeated PSU-Schuylkill Friday night and a career-high eight in a 62-39 setback against PSU-Brandywine Saturday afternoon. The latter two teams are ranked one-two in the Pennsylvania State University Athletic Conference.
The 5-6 sophomore guard scored 15 points in the three games while picking one assist and three steals.
Barrett has scored 59 points and collected 47 rebounds for the 5-6 Lady Lions, who are 4-5 in the PSUAC West Division. She is 18-for-40 from the field for 45 percent and 10-for-17 at the foul line for 59 percent.
In addition, she has 10 assists, 11 steals and three blocks.
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TOWSON, Md. – Ruth Williamson (State College, DuBois Central Catholic High School) was one of two Susquehanna University players with 11 points as the Crusaders salvaged a weekend split of Landmark Conference women\’s basketball games with a 61-49 win over Goucher College Sunday afternoon.
The Clearfield native had five points in Saturday evening\’s 56-46 loss to Catholic University in Washington, D.C.
Susquehanna (10-8, 3-4 Landmark Conference) trailed Goucher by one point at the half but opened the second half with a 16-0 run to up its conference record to 3-4 and its overall mark to 10-8.
Williamson played 15 minutes in each game and had four rebounds and four assists.
In 15 games, Williamson\’s 40.2 shooting percentage (33-for-82) from the field is a close second on the team, and she is tops in three-point percentage at 35.9 (14-for-36), though she hit only two of seven against Catholic (7-10, 2-5) and Goucher (7-10, 2-5).
The senior captain has 100 points, a 6.7 average, 36 rebounds, 11 assists, 14 steals and six blocks.
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BEREA, Ohio – A fifth place finish in the 1,000-meter run by junior Rebecca Shiner of Clearfield to Westminster College\’s list of seven individual medal winners at the Baldwin-Wallace Mid-January Indoor Track and Field Invitational Friday night.
Shiner, whose time was 3:21.30, also ran on the Titans\’ 4×400 relay team that finished fifth in Heat 1 and seventh overall.
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OXFORD, Miss. – Senior captain Matt Hamilton of Curwensville fired personal-best 580s twice in air-rifle for Army\’s second-ranked rifle team in recent meets.
He set his new standard in the Black Knights\’ 4688-4675 home range loss to University of Alaska-Fairbanks on Jan. 22 and matched that total while firing individually and placing sixth overall in the Black Knights\’ 4648-4479 win over Memphis Saturday afternoon.
Army followed up by avenging its only loss of the season with a 4671-4632 victory over No. 3 and defending champion Kentucky Sunday to cop the Great American Rifle Conference regular-season championship for the second time in four years.
The Memphis and Kentucky matches were fired on the University of Mississippi range.
The Black Knights, who lost 4662-4651 to Kentucky in the fall portion of the season, finished their GARC schedule 6-0 and are 9-1 overall.