Bellefonte’s boys swim team dwindled to just 1. How he remained dedicated to the sport

During Bellefonte senior Turner Malik’s high school career, there were times he travelled two or three hours for a swim meet, just to spend less than 15 minutes in the water, including warm-ups.

Over the past two seasons, Malik was the only boy on Bellefonte’s seven-person swim team, and PIAA rules limited him to swimming just two events at each meet. Still, he remained dedicated to the sport and his team through all four years of high school.

Malik has been swimming on and off for most of his life. Hailing from New Jersey, he was introduced to the water at a young age by his mother, who was the aquatics coordinator with the YMCA in their former hometown.

In 2015, they moved to central Pennsylvania, and Malik took up an interest in other sports, such as soccer, but still occasionally swam in the summer for a few different teams. It wasn’t until his freshman year at Bellefonte Area High School that he fully committed to it.

“I accidentally clicked a button on one of the athletics websites,” Malik joked. “And the coach reached out to ask if I was interested in joining the swim team. Ever since then, it’s been a pretty big part of my life.”

When he joined, Malik was the only freshman swimmer, boy or girl, and was one of six guys on the team. By the next season, a few dropouts left Malik with only three other male teammates. Their group was small, but tight. So tight that they made it to the state competition in the relay.

Malik reflected on it as one of the best times he’s had in sports.

Entering his junior year, Malik was expected to be the only boy swimming for Bellefonte. He pleaded with friends and classmates to join the team, but of the few who knew how to swim, none were interested.

With pool space at a premium in Centre County, swimming is not a popular sport in many schools. Bellefonte’s YMCA, with only three small lanes, cannot accommodate a high school swim team, and other local pools have difficulty staying open due to the weather. Consequently, Bellefonte’s swim team traveled to Tyrone — roughly an hour-long drive each way — to practice in the early parts of Malik’s high school career.

“Swim takes up a lot of my time,” Malik said. “When you don’t have a community there, especially a guys’ team, it gets a little hard, a little lonely.”

Still, Malik was embraced by his teammates during his time with the program. He said one of his teammates would scream her lungs out every time he swam, and she was the only person he was able to hear while in the zone.

At meets, Malik swam two exhibition individual events as an independent swimmer from Bellefonte. PIAA requires four male swimmers, enough for a relay, to have a male swim team. One of his favorite meets was the Somerset meet, because they have three swimmers and he would join them to form an exhibition relay team.

Malik may have been limited in the quantity of time spent in the water, but his quality was astonishing. This past season, he qualified for the district meet in every individual event — a goal he set pre-season.

“When he sets goals,” Turner’s mother, Jen Malik, said. “He just shows up and does it.”

During the district meet last weekend, Malik did just that. He showed up and shed 22 seconds from his personal best in 500 meter freestyle — his preferred swim. He did not qualify for the state competition, but that wouldn’t have changed how his mother admires him.

“I’m the most proud of him before a race,” Jen Malik said. “He walks down the line of swimmers and fist bumps every single one of his competitors. He wants everybody to do their best every single time he shows up at the pool.”

Turner and his mother hope he can inspire a new wave of swimmers, because since his senior season ended, Bellefonte is without a boys team.