The Barracuda Summer Swim Team opened their season with a meet against the Loudonville Stingrays. While the final score had not been sent by press time, the Barracudas swam well and turned in a number of first place finishes.
“This was a nice first meet for us. Loudonville faces the same challenges we do with an outdoor pool and lots of new, unexperienced swimmers. It was fun to see people cheering for kids on both teams. After a cold start to the week, it really felt good to enjoy a beautiful warm evening,” said coach Dina Snow.
The Barracuda team is made up of swimmers from age 6-18 from all over the county.
“As I say each year, it is so fun for the Mount Gilead swimmers to get to know kids that go to school at Northmor, Cardington, Highland, Gilead Christian and Wynford. We come together and make a great team,” said Snow.
The team competes in the ASAC League(All-Summer Aquatic Conference), which includes Ontario, Willard, Upper Sandusky and Crestline, in addition to Loudonville.
“Sadly, due to the lack of funding to maintain their pool, the Shelly Acres team was not able to participate this summer,” said Snow. “Crestlline is facing similar pressures and is practicing at Colonel Crawford right now. We don’t know what the league looks like for next year, but we are grateful to the Village of Mount Gilead for doing a tremendous job improving the MG pool!”
Meet results:
First place individual finishes: Harper Haughn, 25 free; Evan Irons, 100 IM, 50 free and 50 breast; Hailey Combs and Carter Marquis, 25 free; Lacey Haughn, 25 free, 25 back and 25 breast; Paxton Colegrove, 25 free and 25 breast; Trinity Robinson, 50 free; Nate Rabun, 50 free and 50 back; Emma Marquis, 50 fly; TJ Salyer, 25 back; Chloe Bolton, 50 breast; and Niles Bush, 50 breast.
Second place: Connor Robinson, 100 IM, 50 free and 50 breast; Gabriella Bateman, 25 free; Holden Jenks, 25 free and 25 back; Adylynn Brown, Makayla Carlisle, and Hayden McClelland, 50 free; Emma Bolton, 50 free and 100 IM; Jackie Edwards, 25 fly and 25 back; Kayla Young, 50 fly; Trinity Robinson, 50 back and 50 breast; and Griffin McClelland, 50 breast.
Third place: Chloe Bolton, 100 IM and 50 free; TJ Salyer, 25 free; Emma Marquis, 50 free; Niles Bush, 50 free; Connor Tschudi, 25 back; Hayden Combs, Ethan Hanshaw, and Makayla Carlisle, 50 back; Gabriella Bateman, 25 breast; and Adylynn Brown, Avery McClelland and Aaron Rabun, 50 breast.
Scoring 1st place relay points were the 9-10 girls medley relay (Harper McClelland, Lacey Haughn, Jackie Edwards and Hailey Combs); and the 9-10 girls free relay (McClelland, Haughn, Edwards and Gabriella Bateman) ; the 9-10 boys free relay (Paxton Colegrove, Holden Jenks, Evan Madeker and Carter Marquis); the 11-12 girls 200 medley relay (Norah Jenks, Trinity Robinson, Emma Marquis and Adylynn Brown); the 11-12 girls 200 free relay (Brown, Robinson, Marquis and Addison Rabun); the 15-18 boys 200 medley relay (Hayden McClelland, Niles Bush, Nate Rabun and Griffin McClelland); and the 15-18 boys 200 free relay (Bush, Rabun, McClelland and Connor Robinson).
The 13-14 girls medley and free relays also added 2nd place points (Makayla Carlisle, Avery McClelland, Kayla Young and Chloe Bolton).
A number of swimmers competed in their first meet, including Hailey Combs, Hayden Combs, Daniel Forquer, Harper Haughn, Evan Madeker, Aleah Miller, TJ Salyer and Connor Tschudi.
“We also had some great time drops for some swimmers over their best time last year. That is quite an accomplishment at the first meet!” exclaimed Snow.
Lorelai Turner, Aaron Rabun, Lacey Haughn, Paxton Colegrove, Gabriella Bateman, Holden Jenks, Brody Leffler and Chloe Bolton all had races where they dropped 4 seconds or more.
The team will be traveling to Ontario on Wednesday and to Upper Sandusky on Saturday for their next 2 contests.
Information received from Dina Snow.
