On Wednesday, Jan. 10, the MG swimmers competed against River Valley, Elgin, Buckeye Valley, Wynford, and Indian Lake.
“This meet was hosted by River Valley and featured a few different events to add some fun to the tough part of our season. The swimmers could choose to swim the 100 IM instead of the 200 IM. This makes the event a lot less daunting to swimmers that might want to try to swim the medley of four strokes, but perhaps aren’t ready to go the full distance. All the relays were also co-ed, which was a lot of fun and gave some swimmers the chance to be in relays when they might not normally,” explained coach Dina Snow.
The boys finished in 2nd place, just 10 points behind Buckeye Valley. The overall team placement was 3rd.
Top individual finishes: Jaxon Tinch, 1st in the 100 back; Abby Griffith, 1st in the 100 back and 2nd in the 100 IM; Kendall Neal, 1st in the 100 breast; Wyatt Mowry, 2nd in the 200 free; Hayden McClelland, 2nd in the 100 IM; Owen Hershner, 3rd in the 200 free.
Also scoring were Niles Bush, 100 IM; Kendall Neal, Cassady Irwin, Jaxon Tinch and AJ Newson in the 50 free; Adriana Hershner, Wyatt Mowry and Niles Bush in the 100 free; Josh Davis in the 100 back; and Nolan Hershner in the 100 breast. Carson Mowery, Griffin McClelland and Emma Kincaid also competed.
Top relay finishes: The medley relay of Hayden McClelland, Kendall Neal, Jaxon Tinch and Cassady Irwin was 3rd, as was the 200 free relay of McClelland, Neal, Tinch and Abby Griffth. Niles Bush, AJ Newson, Josh Davis and Jillian Jones also scored in the 200 medley relay, along with Cassady Irwin, Josh Davis, Owen Hershner and Gabby Mowry in the 200 free relay. Both Mt Gilead 400 free relay teams scored as well: Relay A was Hayden McClelland, Cassady Irwin, Wyatt Mowry and Gabby Mowry, and the B relay was Niles Bush, Camryn Travis, Jillian Jones and Nolan Hershner.
Mt. Gilead also hosted a meet on Saturday, Jan. 13, against Bexley, Galion, Centennial and Marion Harding. The boys were second and the girls were 3rd.
“This was also an enjoyable meet,” said Snow. “We used to host a large invitational on the second Saturday of January each year, but the challenges of Covid and the logistics of hosting a large meet at the Y put an end to that. These same teams have been coming for a few years now and we feel like it is a nice tradition.”
First place finishes: The boys’ 200 medley relay (Hayden McClelland, Luke Fraizer, Jaxon Tinch and Niles Bush); Hayden McClelland, 50 free; the boys’ 200 free relay (Bush, Josh Davis, McClelland and Tinch); Abby Griffith, 100 back; Luke Fraizer, 100 breast.
Second place: the girls 200 medley relay (Cassady Irwin, Camryn Travis, Abby Griffith and Kendall Neal); Jaxon Tinch, 100 free; Abby Griffith, 500 free; the girls 200 free relay (Jillian Jones, Irwin, Neal and Griffith); and Owen Hershner, 100 breast.
Third place: Kendall Neal, 50 free; the boys 400 free relay (Wyatt Mowry, Niles Bush, Hayden McClelland and Jaxon Tinch).
Also scoring: Wyatt Mowry, 100 free and 200 free; Gabby Mowry, 50 free and 100 back; Josh Davis, 50 free; and Cassady Irwin and Jillian Jones, 100 free.
The team will be back in Marion on Jan. 17 for a meet hosted by Marion Harding, followed by a meet on Saturday, Jan. 20, hosted by Buckeye Valley.
Information received from Dina Snow.
