The Mount Gilead swim team hosted a multi-team meet on Wed., Dec. 19, at the Marion Y, competing against Upper Sandusky, Wynford, Columbus Beechcroft, Crestline, River Valley and Marion Elgin.

“Mt. Gilead finished third over all, just six points behind second place Wynford,” reported coach Dina Snow. “It is great to see how well they do, considering how small the team is. Upper Sandusky had over 40 swimmers and Wynford had more than 30, so despite not filling all the events with only 11 swimmers, the Indians placed well. It was a hard week of continued sickness and conflicts with school events, so we were just keeping our fingers crossed that everyone could hold it together!”

Top finishers for the Indians were Eric Mowery, 1st place in the 100 backstroke, Gavin Robinson, 2nd place in the 100 breast and 3rd, 200 freestyle; Joel Conrad, 2nd in the 200 IM and 2rd in the 100 free; Emily Hanft, 3rd in the 100 free, Cassandra Snopik, 3rd in the 100 breast, Tyler Knight, 3rd in the 100 breast, the boys’ 200 medley relay (Eric Mowery, Gavin Robinson, Joel Conrad and Tyler Knight), 2nd place, and the girls’ 200 free relay (Emily Hanft, Cassandra Snopik, Adriana Tinch and Kelsey Kneipp), 3rd place.

Additional top 5 finishes were earned by the boys’ free relay and the girls’ medley relay, and by Cassandra Snopik, Tyler Knight, Adriana Tinch, Eric Mowery and Mason Kidwell,. Taylor Robinson also scored in the 100 back. Personal bests were achieved by Eric Mowery, Joel Conrad, Skye Shipman, Mason Kidwell and Kelsey Kneipp.

The team wrapped up the 2018 meet schedule with the 12th Annual Small Schools Invitational held at Kenyon College.

“This is a big meet for us—Mount Vernon started this meet as a way for teams with fewer than 20 swimmers to enjoy good competition without being overwhelmed. Our kids have usually done well here and it is a beautiful facility. The swimmers even get their name up on the scoreboard when they swim their events!” said Snow.

With only six boys, Mount Gilead placed 5th out of 22 teams, while the girls came in 10th out of 26 teams with only five swimmers. “I was so proud of them. Very few swimmers improve their times during December, so to see some personal bests was gratifying!”

A highlight was watching Gavin Robinson drop 20 seconds in his 500 freestyle.

“We’d only just started adding more distance training, but he wanted to push himself to get a time for this season,” said Snow. “It was a great race!”

Top ten finishers were announced over the PA system for each event, so it was fun for the swimmers to hear their names and have their teammates and families cheer. The team’s finishers were:

The girls medley relay, 9th; Free relay, 10th; Boys medley relay and free relays, 4th; Joel Conrad, 200 IM, 7th; 100 Breast, 8th; Emily Hanft, 50 free, 8th, 100 free, 7th; Gavin Robinson, 500 free, 5th, 100 breast, 6th; Cassandra Snopik, 100 breast, 7th; Eric Mowery, 100 free, 9th; 100 back, 5th; Mason Kidwell, 100 back, 9th. Tyler Knight and Adriana Tinch also scored.

Personal bests were earned by Kelsey Kneipp in the 50 free and 100 breast; Joel Conrad, 200 IM and 100 breast; Tyler Knight, 50 free and 100 breast; Mason Kidwell, 50 free and 100 back; Gavin Robinson, 500 free; Logen Bailey, 50 free and 100 breast; Taylor Robinson, 200 free and 100 back; and Cassandra Snopik, 100 breast.

The Indians will be back in action on Jan. 5 as they host the Div 2 Public School Invitational at the Marion Y.

Information received from Dina Snow.