Bishop England swimmers, football linemen ascend in academics

Four senior members of the Bishop England High School girls’ swimming team had impressive careers in the pool. Ellie Chalupsky, Mia Devito, Mackenzie LeVeen, and Carter Riley were members of state championship teams and have won countless medals, including gold, silver, and bronze. 

They were members of the 2025 team that won a state title for the fourth year in a row. 

Now, the four swimmers have been honored for making a splash in the classroom. Chalupsky, Devito, LeVeen, and Riley have been named National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association All-American Academic Swimmers. 

The academic All-America team includes student-athletes from around the United States who competed in swimming, diving, and water polo. 

Nearly 354,000 students are involved in aquatics at the high school level and at 17,500 programs for boys and girls. 

Only two percent of these students are recognized as NISCA high school All-Americans. 

Meanwhile, two Bishop England football linemen -- Matthew Ponkow and Charlie Sakre -- were members of the BE team that recently placed second in the 2026 South Carolina Science Olympiad Tournament, earning medals in 14 of 23 events, with every single event placing in the top 10 -- a result of hundreds of hours the students have put in since August. 

Clinton High School was crowned state champion. But the Bishops topped schools such as Porter-Gaud and Lucy Beckham. 

Ponkow has a 4.4 GPA on the BE scale, while Sakre has a 4.5. 

“Matthew Ponkow and Charlie Sakre are the definition of what Bishop England stands for – winning on Friday nights and the classroom,” BE football coach Logan Hall said. 

Science Olympiad is an international non-profit organization devoted to improving the quality of science education, increasing student interest in science, and providing recognition for outstanding achievement in science education by both students and teachers. 

The goals are accomplished through classroom activities, research, training workshops, and the encouragement of intramural, district, regional, state, and national tournaments. 

Science Olympiad tournaments are rigorous academic interscholastic competitions that consist of a series of team events, which students prepare for during the year. These challenging and motivational events are well balanced between the various science disciplines of biology, earth science, chemistry, physics, and technology. 

Here is a list of BE students who medaled: 

• Truitt McGuire and Mason Schallenberger - Anatomy and Physiology (3rd) 
• Caroline D’Aguiar and Kieran Sharpe - Astronomy (4th) 
• William Atkinson and Blake Danley - Boomilever (2nd) 
• Andres Jakymiw and Bella Sherrard - Chem Lab (3rd) 
• Caroline D’Aguiar, Andres Jakymiw, and Matthew Ponkow - Codebusters (3rd) 
• Bella Sherrard and Arnav Thakur - Disease Detectives (4th) 
• Caroline D’Aguiar and Truitt McGuire - Dynamic Planet (2nd) 
• Logan Schallenberger and Mason Schallenberger - Entomology (2nd) 
• William Atkinson, Clare Engelbert, and Aidan Wynne - Experimental Design (2nd) 
• Nathan Robinson - Experimental Design (3rd) 
• Kieran Sharpe and Arnav Thakur - Forensics (4th) 
• Bella Sherrard and Charlie Sakre - Helicopter (3rd) 
• William Atkinson and Arnav Thakur - Materials Science (3rd) 
• Clare Engelbert and Aidan Wynne - Remote Sensing (2nd) 
• Caroline D’Aguiar and Blake Danley - Rocks and Minerals (3rd)