The Clearfield boys swimming team was missing sprinter Jordan Mumma with an injury for Monday night's meet against St. Marys, but the Bisons picked up the slack and rallied from a deficit to defeat the Dutch, 102-84.

The Lady Bisons, on the other hand, were in cruise control from the onset. Clearfield won the girls' meet, 107-79.

St. Marys and Seth Dippold in particular gave Clearfield all it could handle as it led through the first four events of the meet.

The marquee swim came from Dippold and the Bisons' Shay Flanagan in the 200 free.

The Dutch, who dropped from Class AAA this season, got a big win from Dippold, as he outraced Flanagan the last 25 yards for the win.

Once the meet got to diving, however, Clearfield gained the lead and never looked back.

"They battle back-and-forth, but it'll be a great motivator," said Clearfield coach Jackie Morrison of the Dippold-Flanagan battle. "If he would have won it, I would have loved it; since he didn't, let's get something out of it. We learned a lot - we learned what we have to do to get fast enough to compete with a kid like that.

"It'll give him the incentive to get back in the pool and work harder. It'll ‘light the fire,' so to speak and you need that sometimes. He'll be the underdog the next time in that rematch. He'll have something to prove. ... Shay's swim wasn't poor by any matter, Seth was just better today."

Flanagan bounced back from the narrow defeat to handily claim the 500 free, and teammate Mark Krchnak added the exclamation point to the win by setting the pool record in the breaststroke - a feat he nearly accomplish a week ago in a win over DuBois.

Krchnak missed the record last week by less than a second because of a bad third turn, but the Bison senior was nearly flawless in setting the new record by almost half a second. Krchnak touched the wall in 1:00.66.

"It was a great swim, and he wanted that record for a long time, and we wanted him to have it," Morrison said. "It's nice to have a Clearfield swimmer own the pool record rather than someone from a visiting team. He deserves everything he gets. There's no fluke there ... it's all hard work.

"He had a super-bad turn last week, and tonight he had three super-good turns. That's the key - if you hit those breaststroke walls straight up ... that swim will get faster, but he did everything to the book."

Krchnak was also nearly flawless in winning the 200 IM, and was a member of two winning relay teams that gained big points for Clearfield.

Krchnak was joined by Flanagan, Kraig Peterson and Justin DeCasper to take the 200 medley relay, and teamed with Flanagan, Brady Mulhollem and Connor Shirey to win the 400 free to close out the meet.

Peterson claimed an individual win, too, as he beat out teammate Caleb Baas to win the 100 back.

While DeCasper didn't win any events, he drew the arduous task of competing head-to-head with Dippold and Andrew Cotter, and he more than held his own.

DeCasper finished second in both the 50 and 100 free.

"Connor and Justin DeCasper are going to play huge roles for us now," said Morrison. "They were playing them already, but now they're playing major roles. We'll see what happens there. It's going to be interesting to see how the dynamics shake out.

"Connor is one of those kids that you don't want to take for granted. He's quiet, he's not looking for the limelight, he just goes out and does his job every meet. You put him on the block and you know what you're getting. He's very consistent, and you know what kind of time you're getting every time. He's come up huge for us."

The Lady Bisons faced little competition and claimed nine of the 12 events.

Seniors Branda Smeltzer and Marisa Howell, again, led Clearfield individually by winning two events each, but sophomore Kaylee Bowser also made a splash.

Bowser won the 100 fly, and then closed out the meet by anchoring the winning 400 free relay team. Bowser overcame a one-second deficit to lift her team - which consisted of Ashley Durandetta, Clairisse Peterson and Juliana Mellgard - to victory.

"She's still learning how to step up because she's never been put in the role," Morrison said of Bowser, "and it's nice to see she was going after it. We need all of our girls to do that more - if they think they can chase someone down, they need to do that. I was proud of her and you could tell the way she was swimming was aggressive."

Smeltzer won the 200 free and the 100 breast, while Howell was tops in the 100 free and the 100 back.

The senior duo also were members of the 200 medley relay team that finished first with Durandetta and Brandie Centi, who took the 50 free.

Smeltzer and Howell were joined in the 200 free relay by Centi and Bowser for another win.

Like the boys' team, Morrison looked to some swimmers who don't necessarily get the notoriety of some of their teammates, but are crucial to the team's success as well ... Mellgard, most notably.

"She's a brand new swimmer, new to the sport, and she made regionals in the breaststroke and we're getting real close in other events," said Morrison of Mellgard. "That's an athlete. ... Thank goodness we have her. I'm glad she took a shot and a risk to come out. It's paying off for us, and I hope it's paying off for her.

"I have to give a shout out to her because you don't see a freshman that has never swum make a regional time. I think she's going to end up making two or three. We're pretty proud of it."

The turning point in the meet came in the diving competition, where Clearfield's Steven Williams was the leading point-scorer once more.

Williams outdistanced St. Marys' Justin Huey by nearly 65 points, while Christie Pizzella and Sarah Lowder earned points for the girls by finishing second and third, respectively.

"We were pretty evenly matched up," Clearfield diving coach Chad Gearhart said. "It was a good meet. It'll be a good meet heading into regionals with them and Brookville ... and DuBois. All of a sudden, everyone has divers this year. It used to be we were the only ones to field a team, now everyone does."

The Bisons improved to 4-0 on the season, while the girls upped their mark to 3-1.

"I was pretty pleased with how we responded," said Morrison. "(St. Marys) definitely has depth, and they certainly have three very, very good athletes (on the boys' side). They were a AAA team last year, and that was a real good test for us."

Clearfield is back in action Friday when it entertains Bradford.

Boys

Clearfield 102, St. Marys 84

200 MR: 1. Clearfield (Flanagan, Krchnak, Peterson, DeCasper), 1:44.44. 200 Free: 1. Dippold, SM, 1:48.05; 2. Flanagan, C; 3. Mulhollem, C. 200 IM: 1. Krchnak, C, 2:04.55; 2. Proudfit, SM; 3. Stebich, SM. 50 Free: 1. Cotter, SM, 23.52; 2. DeCasper, C; 3. Shirey, C. Diving: 1. Williams, C, 219.40; 2. Huey, SM; 3. Maines, C. 100 Fly: 1. Cotter, SM, 56.80; 2. Peterson, C; 3. Shirey, C. 100 Free: 1. Dippold, SM, 48.57; 2. DeCasper, C; 3. Fisher, C. 500 Free: 1. Flanagan, C, 5:04.44; 2. Mulhollem, C; 3. Hoffman, SM. 200 FR: 1. St. Marys, 1:36.22. 100 Back: 1. Peterson, C, 1:01.74; 2. Baas, C; 3. Renwick, SM. 100 Breast: 1. Krchnak, C, 1:00.66; 2. Proudfit, SM; 3. Stebich, SM. 400 FR: 1. Clearfield (Flanagan, Shirey, Mulhollem, Krchnak), 3:44.28.

Girls

Clearfield 107, St. Marys 79

200 MR: 1. Clearfield (Durandetta, Smeltzer, Howell, Centi), 2:06.60. 200 Free: 1. Smeltzer, C, 2:16.38; 2. Bowser, C; 3. Johnson, SM. 200 IM: 1. Zomcik, SM, 2:41.02; 2. Durandetta, C; 3. Peterson, C. 50 Free: 1. Centi, C, 27.21; 2. Leuschel, SM; 3. Weis, SM. Diving: 1. Ferragine, SM, 147.10; 2. Pizzella, C; 3. Lowder, C. 100 Fly: 1. Bowser, C, 1:11.89; 2. Zomcik, SM; 3. Meyer, SM. 100 Free: 1. Howell, C, 58.20; 2. Leuschel, SM; 3. Centi, C. 500 Free: 1. Johnson, SM, 6:28.43; 2. Peterson, C; 3. Lumadue, C. 200 FR: 1. Clearfield (Centi, Smeltzer, Bowser, Howell), 1:49.38. 100 Back: 1. Howell, C, 1:08.08; 2. Orr, SM; 3. Durandetta, C. 100 Breast: 1. Smeltzer, C, 1:20.80; 2. Stebich, SM; 3. Mellgard, C. 400 FR: 1. Clearfield (Durandetta, Peterson, Mellgard, Bowser), 4:25.53.