On a searing Saturday, July 13, the Barracuda Summer Swim Team travelled to Loudonville to compete in the ASAC League Championships.
This six-team meet included the Barracudas, Ontario, Crestline, Willard, Loudonville and Upper Sandusky. With one of the smaller teams, coach Dina Snow knew the focus of the day would be on individual achievements more than team score, but the Barracudas did finish in fourth place overall. Ontario was predictably the meet winner with over 100 swimmers on their roster.
“I was very proud of the team,” said Snow. “The kids showed up, toughed out the heat and the long day and turned in amazing performances. I do believe nearly everyone on the team dropped time and I think we only had two disqualifications out of scores of races. Nearly everyone added to the team point total, so it is definitely about more than just who earned medals.”
With that being said, the Barracudas brought home an impressive amount of “hardware.” The team’s gold medal winners were Abby Griffith in the 50 free; Connor Robinson in the 50 breast; Carter Marquis in the 25 free and 25 back; Lacey Haughn in the 25 free and the 11-12 girls medley and free relays(Emma Marquis, Trinity Robinson, Adylynn Brown and Addison Rabun).
Silver medalists included Abby Griffith in the 100 and 200 free; Connor Robinson in the 100 IM; Jaxon Tinch in the 50 butterfly; Trinity Robinson in the 50 breast and Ben Griffith in the 50 back.
Rounding out the medal totals with bronze were Jackie Edwards, 25 fly; Connor Robinson, 50 fly; TJ Salyer, 25 back; Nate Rabun, 100 free; and Paxton Colegrove in the 25 breast.
The following relays also earned Bronze medals:
The 9-10 girls medley and free relays (Harper McClelland, Lacey Haughn, Jackie Edwards and Ella Hanshaw); the 9-10 boys medley relay (TJ Salyer, Paxton Colegrove, Connor Tschudi and Holden Jenks) and free relay (Colegrove, Jenks, Carter Marquis and Evan Madeker); the 15-18 girls medley relay (Cassady Irwin, Kendall Neal, Abby Griffith and Camryn Travis) and free relay (Grace Ernsberger, Neal, Irwin and Griffith); and the 15-18 boys medley relay (Nate Rabun, Connor Robinson, Jaxon Tinch and Hayden McClelland).
Adding to the total team points were Jackie Edwards, Chloe Bolton and Niles Bush in the 100 IM; Hailey Combs, Gabriella Bateman, Hudson Jenks, Holden Jenks, Paxton Colegrove and Harper McClelland in the 25 free; Trinity Robinson, Adylynn Brown, Ben Griffith, Ricky Edwards, Chloe Bolton, Kayla Young, Kendall Neal and Nate Rabun in the 50 free; Ricky Edwards, Kayla Young and Nate Rabun in the 50 fly; Hailey Combs, Gabriella Bateman, Lacey Haughn, Harper McClelland, Paxton Colegrove in the 25 back; Emma Marquis, Ricky Edwards and Kayla Young in the 50 back; Grace Ernsberger and Jaxon Tinch in the 100 free; Hudson Jenks, Lacey Haughn and Connor Tschudi in the 25 breast; and Adylynn Brown, Ben Griffith, Chloe Bolton, Avery McClelland, Kendall Neal, Grace Ernsberger, Niles Bush and Griffin McClelland in the 50 breast.
Adding relay points were the 11-12 boys medley and free relays (Ben Griffith, Brody Leffler, Ricky Edwards and Ethan Hanshaw); the 13-14 girls medley and free relays (Hayden Combs, Avery McClelland, Kayla Young and Chloe Bolton); and the 15-18 boys free relay (Niles Bush, Jaxon Tinch, Hayden McClelland and Nate Rabun).
Also competing were Harper Haughn, Carolyn Barr, Emma Bolton, Aaron Rabun, Aleah Miller and Norah Jenks. Hayden McClelland and Nate Rabun were recognized with seniors from other teams and received monogrammed towels in the team colors.
This meet wraps up the summer season for the Barracudas. Area swimmers are welcome to join the summer team, which practices at the Mount Gilead pool but is not restricted to Mount Gilead residents.
Information received from Dina Snow.
