SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, Pa. — Four seniors from Tamaqua Area High School showed off their skills during a swim meet on Thursday.
"Around here, it's very unusual to have any Eagle Scouts on a team. Not to mention four that are very good swimmers," said Blake Tharp, Treasurer of the Tamaqua swim team booster club.
Normally these scouts compete in individual events, but on this night, they are working together as a team in the 200 freestyle relay.
"As a relay, it's a lot less individually based; it's a lot more where you're relying on other people, and being an Eagle Scout really helps with that because a lot of things to become an Eagle Scout rely on your teamwork and working with others. So I think those go hand in hand," said Jack Tharp, an Eagle Scout and Tamaqua Area High School senior.
"You know, if one person goes early or goes late, or whatever, they could either lose us the race or get us disqualified. So there's a lot of built-in trust that you can develop with anyone, but it certainly makes it easier when we're all very closely knit here since we've been together for so long," added Stephen Anthony Behun Iv, an Eagle Scout and Tamaqua senior.
Their bond in and out of the water goes back years.
"I've been with them in Scouts since I was in first grade. I've been with them in swim since I was in first grade. It's just we've worked together for years on years, building this team that we have together," said Jathan Krall, another Eagle Scout and senior at Tamaqua.
Teamwork makes the dream work, so to speak.
"I mean, we've spent the past 13, 14 years of our lives as members of the scouting community," added Behun Iv. "We definitely know a thing or two about sticking in there for the long haul."
While this relay is a rarity on many local levels.
"I mean, these guys are the same people I play soccer with, I run track and field with and are involved with my school community, so it almost doesn't seem as monumental to us, maybe," said Behun IV. "Almost every single person in my troop has now achieved our Eagle, like, we all go above and beyond to get there.
Whether it's earning the Eagle Scout rank or getting that medal. It's not about winning but working together as one.