Swimming is a pastime that many people enjoy. Whether it’s at a water park, a pool, or even the little Juniata, most students at Bellwood-Antis have swam before.
However, no one at Bellwood takes swimming more seriously than a junior member of the co-op swimming team.
For this reason, this week’s BluePrint Athlete of the Week is Cameron Gallagher.
Cameron Gallagher is a swimmer on the Bellwood-Antis, Bishop Guilfoyle, and Tyrone co-op swim team. He began his swimming career when he was a young man, swimming for the YMCA at just ten years old.
Cameron competes in a multitude of different events for the swim team, including the 50 free, where he has a PR of 24.60; the 100 free, where he has a PR of 56.09; both the 200 free and relay where his best times are 2:07 and 1:36.65; and finally the 400 free relay with his best time being 3:54.31.
This season, Cam made the District 6 championship meet in the 50, 100, and 200 free style, and the 200 relay. There, Cam had a strong showing, finishing second in the 200 relay race.
This is not Cam’s first time making it to districts, it was his third showing at the meet. If you want to read more about Districts, click here.
Being a co-op team, the swimming team does not practice at Bellwood because there is no pool, which forces swimmers from B-A to travel each day to Tyrone.
Cam takes that as an opportunity to broaden his horizons.
“It’s a great experience. I get to talk to students outside of Bellwood, people I would have never met before,” he said.
Swimming is a very physically demanding sport; however, Cam has a strong support system in his dad, whom Cam said is always there to push him to do better and keep him motivated.
A well-rounded endurance athlete, Cameron is also a member of the Bellwood-Antis cross country team. This season he qualified for the state championship in 1A with a personal record of 18:22.4. Next year he plans on beating the school record set by Ben Hatch in 2008.
After high school, Cam wishes to continue his cross country career in college if the college he attends has a team. He intends on pursuing a degree in digital advertising and product design.
