Once again, the Mount Gilead swim team competed in two meets. The team was part of a six-team meet on Jan. 17 hosted by Marion Harding. The boys were 3rd and the girls were 5th.
“Ontario was at this meet and pretty much dominated all the events. We had to focus hard on just swimming our own races, but sometimes that is easier said than done when the pool is crowded and you are watching really fast swimmers. We still had some good races all in all,” said coach Dina Snow.
Top finishes: the boys medley relay (Hayden McClelland, Luke Fraizer, Jaxon Tinch and Niles Bush) came in 2nd, as did Jaxon Tinch in the 100 free with a PR and Luke Fraizer in the 100 breast. Abby Griffith was 3rd in the 100 free with a PR and in the 100 back. The boys 200 free relay (Niles Bush, AJ Newson, Jaxon Tinch and Hayden McClelland) and the 400 free relay (Josh Davis, Niles Bush, Wyatt Mowry and Hayden McClelland) each also scored 3rd place points.
Many other swimmers scored points in both relays and individual events, including Cassady Irwin, Camryn Travis, Abby Griffith and Kendall Neal in the 200 medley relay, Wyatt Mowry in the 200 free; Kendall Neal, Cassady Irwin, Hayden McClelland and AJ Newson in the 50 free; Cassady Irwin and Wyatt Mowry in the 100 free; the girls 200 free relay (Gabby Mowry, Cassady Irwin, Kendall Neal and Abby Griffith); Gabby Mowry, Jaxon Tinch and Carson Mowery in the 100 back; and Kendall Neal, Camryn Travis, and Owen Hershner in the 100 breast.
“The best PR of the meet was Cassady Irwin dropping over 4 seconds in her 100 free, but we had several swimmers improve their season times—not easy to do in January!”
The swimmers also traveled to Delaware to compete against Buckeye Valley and Centennial on Jan. 20. “This was a fun meet with co-ed relays and the 100 IM offered as an event. We haven’t received the complete results or scores, but the athletes enjoyed the competition,” said Coach Snow.
Some top finishes — 1st place: Abby Griffith in the 100 IM and 100 back; Cassady Irwin, 100 free; and Jaxon Tinch, 100 free and 100 back;
Second place: Hayden McClelland in the 100 IM; Wyatt Mowry, 100 free; Kendall Neal and Niles Bush, 100 breast.
Third place: Wyatt Mowry, 200 free; Luke Fraizer, 100 IM; Kendall Neal and AJ Newson, 50 free; and Luke Fraizer and Gabby Mowry, 100 back.
(No relay finishes were reported correctly.)
Carson Mowery and Nolan Hershner achieved PRs in the 100 IM, as did Niles Bush and Carson Mowery in the 100 breast.
The team will host a sprint meet and their senior night on Wednesday, Jan. 24, at the Marion Y.
Information received from Dina Snow.
