Mercersburg's Aurelius Dunbar places 6th at nationals

Aurelius Dunbar made some noise this weekend for the Mercersburg Academy wrestling team.

Dunbar, a freshman from Greencastle, placed sixth at 145 pounds at the National Prep championships at Lehigh University, going 5-2.

He becomes the first Blue Storm wrestler to place at nationals since 2012, and is the first Mercersburg freshman to place since Jeremy Berry did so in 1997.

Dunbar won his first match, but lost 4-3 in the second round to Bryce Whitman of MBA on an escape with 0:27 left.

He came back with three consecutive consolation victories, a major decision, a pin and a 7-2 win over Alfonso Martinez of Wyoming Seminary, who had beaten Dunbar in the PAISAA finals.

In the consolation semifinals, Dunbar was handed a 13-4 defeat by Ethan Crouse of Georgetown Prep, then he won 5-4 over Nick Gorey of Archbishop Spaulding to reach the bout for fifth place. Dunbar ended up forfeiting that match.

He finished this season with a record of 25-6.

Two other Blue Storm wrestlers, Rafael Gotera at 106 and Joseph Yonke at 113, both went 1-2.

Chambersburg's Jack Wimmer, who goes to school at McDonogh in Baltimore, also placed sixth, at 182. Another Chambersburg wrestler at McDonogh, Cody Williams was 2-2 at 195 pounds.

SWIMMING: The Mercersburg Academy girls swimming and diving team placed second at the 2017 Eastern Interscholastic Swimming & Diving Championships, finishing the two-day meet with 527 points.

Lindsay Tanner won the 200 freestyle (1:51.31) on the first day of competition and placed second in the 100 free (51.66). Danielle Pong placed third in the 100 breaststroke (1:05.95) and fifth in the 50 free (24.40. Pong also aided the 400 free relay team, compiled of Tanner, Ally Armbruster, Sami Nassif and Abigail Voice to a third-place finish. The same team also placed second in the 200 free relay on Friday in 1:36.78.

Nassif also placed fifth in the 500 free in 5:06.41 and third in the 200 free (1:55.18) on Friday, and Maddie Lauther placed seventh in the 100 back (58.61).

The boys squad placed 10th with 259.5 points led by senior Dean Nguyen, who broke his own school record in the 100 breaststroke in a second-place finish in 55.72. Jared Chulavatr placed second in the 100 butterfly in 49.99 for another top performance for the Blue Storm boys.