PENN TWP — The Butler Country Club swimming and diving team recently added to its decorated past.

The squad captured the Western Pennsylvania Country Club Swimming Association championship July 16 at Wildwood Country Club.

It marks the fourth time in the past five seasons (2009, 2010 and 2011) that BCC earned the overall championship. But what sets this year’s effort apart from recent seasons is that the team also placed first in both swimming and diving, something that had not occurred since 1998.

“It was great to be part of the championship team,” said BCC swimming coach Hillary Cummings, who swam for the country club for a decade. “We took second overall last year and bringing home all three trophies this year, that was special. I am proud of the entire team’s performance.”

The competition was divided into age groups ranging from 8-under to 13-17. While boys and girls competed separately, their results were combined to determine each club’s final score.

BCC cruised to victory in the swimming portion with 96 points, far ahead of second-place Shannopin (50).

Diving was a closer ordeal, but Butler prevailed over Shannopin 28-22 and in the overall standings 124-72.

“Our older swimmers usually do well, both on the boys side and girls side,” said Cummings, who was assisted by Brianna Keelan, “but our younger swimmers really stepped up. They worked hard to get better.”

Included in that younger group was Eleah Dickson, who captured first place in the 8-under girls’ 25-yard freestyle with a time of 17.42 seconds.

BCC’s female swimmers brought home a total of three titles in relay events. The foursome of Aryanna Napora, Amelia Walls, Heather Wittmer and Emma West placed first in the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays with times of 2:42.44 and 2:20.51, respectively. In 10-under action, Madison Gumto, Hannah Wymer, Avery Benko and Grace Philips won the 100-yard freestyle relay at 1:13.04.

Rounding out the top finishes on the girls side was Camryn Forbes, who won the 50 freestyle (27.79) in the 13-14 age division.

In the boys competition, the 200 medley relay team of Austin Wittmer, Dante Cicco, Chadd Cummings and Nathan Walls turned in a historic swim one week before the championships.

At Regionals on July 9 at St. Clair Country Club, the 13-17 squad broke a 40-year old BCC record, swimming the event in 1:58.51. The previous standard was 1:59.08, set in 1973 by David Napora, Tom Turner, Randy Wymer and Josh Nicholas.

Wittmer and his teammates then capped their season by winning the club championship in both the medley (1:59.45) and 200 freestyle (1:45.27) relays.

BCC’s divers, who are coached by Ken Bedford, earned two boys titles — Sevryn Napora (11-13 age division) and Ben Lowery (13-17).

At the championships, divers competed in a 5-dive format. Each participant was required to perform one front dive and one back dive while the other three were optional.

“Both Sevryn and Ben taking first in their age group was tremendous,” said Bedford. “They did exactly what we needed them to do.

“The younger kids really came through for us,” he added. “A few years ago, Isabella West wasn’t even doing front dives and she just placed fourth at the championships (in 10-under). For somebody to make that much improvement, it’s amazing.”