BEA’s Regan Dyke, Austin Huyett win CDT’s Snyder Awards

It’s hard saying goodbye to a sport.

Just ask Bald Eagle Area’s Regan Dyke, who played her last official volleyball match last fall.

“I’m pretty sad, but it was time to be done,” she said. “I’m always going to miss it.”

While some high school standout athletes get to take their skills to the college level, Dyke is done. When she receives her diploma Saturday morning, she and her sore knee know it’s time to move on from competition.

“I’m 18 years old and I’m already broken,” lamented Dyke, who was honored, along with Austin Huyett, at the school’s sports banquet as the school’s winners of the annual James Snyder Awards on Friday night.

The award, sponsored by the Centre Daily Times, is given in memory of Snyder, a former CDT sports editor who was killed in an automobile accident in December of 1957. The award is given to senior male and female letterwinners who also demonstrate excellence in the classroom as well as being a good citizen in the school and community.

While Dyke and Huyett do not have college athletics in their futures, but can recall fondly being a part of milestone moments in Eagle athletics.

Dyke was a four-year starter at libero for the volleyball team, and as a sophomore the Lady Eagles won their first District 6 title and played in the PIAA tournament.

“That was quite the trip,” Dyke said. “That was a lot of fun. Nobody really expected us to go that far, and we had to beat the No. 1 seed to get to the district finals. It was a really good group of people on that team.”

Huyett played left back for the BEA soccer team that lost in the district finals last fall, but getting that far also put the Eagles into the PIAA tournament for the first time.

“It was a great group of guys and we really worked together as a team to get there,” Huyett said.

While neither will be competing collegiately, they also do not intend to separate themselves from sports.

Dyke has already been coaching with the Affinity Volleyball club program, mentoring girls 13 and under, teaching the basics of the sport. She also hopes to volunteer with the BEA program in the fall.

Huyett, a member of the BEA marching band and jazz band who plays the sousaphone and trombone, has dreams of joining Penn State’s Blue Band. Tryouts are in August.

“I’ve wanted to do that for a while,” he said. “I’ve always heard they are an awesome group. I know a few people who have been in (the Blue Band).”

During her career, Dyke earned first-team All-District 6 honors three times and first-team All-Mountain League honors twice, and leaves with the program’s career digs record.

The daughter of Kelly and Doug Dyke, the BEA athletic director, she is a National Honor Society member and has been in the Spanish Club and Future Business Leaders of America for four years, and also has participated in the Mock Trial and been a part of the Varsity Club.

She will be studying business administration with a concentration in finance and economics at Lock Haven this fall. She wanted to stay close to home so she could help with the Affinity and BEA teams, and also join her brother Ryan, who is a senior at Lock Haven.

Huyett was a member of the varsity soccer team for two years and competed with the track and field team for four years in the hurdles and high jump.

The National Honor Society member also has been a part of the Future Business Leaders of America and the Drama Club. Most recently he took the stage in productions of “The Addams Family” and “Murder for Dummies.”

He plans to study computer science engineering at Penn State, and he already has been honored for his programing skills. He and his team took fourth place in computer game simulation programing at the FBLA State Leadership Conference. They created a game that simulated a soccer player kicking the ball with multiple-choice questions and the possible answers in the nets.

This story was originally published June 2, 2017 at 10:14 PM with the headline "BEA’s Regan Dyke, Austin Huyett win CDT’s Snyder Awards."