The Pleasant Spartans hosted a local teams meet last Wednesday. Pleasant, Elgin, River Valley, Harding and Mount Gilead are all teams that practice at the Marion Y. Harding won the boys meet while Pleasant won the girls meet. The MG swimmers came in third of five teams for both boys and girls.
“It was a fun meet. Pleasant did a good job of hosting and it was good to be on familiar turf. We had some good swims, but illness and weather are starting to sneak in and have an impact,” said coach Dina Snow.
Top finishers were Erin Zmuda, first in the 50 free and 500 free; Evan Zmuda, 500 free and 100 breast; Casey Conrad, first in the 100 fly and 100 back; Cassidy Hack, first in the 100 back; Logan Conrad, third in the 50 free and 100 breast; Gavin Robinson, third in the 200 IM; and the boys’ relays (Logan Conrad, Casey Conrad, Kurtis Brown and Evan Zmuda), second in the Medley and third in the free.
Also scoring for MG were Cassidy Hack, 200 free; Cassandra Snopik, 100 breast and 50 free; Kurtis Brown, 50 free and 100 free; Zack Clark, 50 free; Shelby West, 50 free; Gavin Robinson, 100 breast; and the girls relays (Erin Zmuda, Cassandra Snopik, Cassidy Hack and Shelby West). Personal bests were achieved by Cassidy Hack in the 100 back; Gavin Robinson in the 100 breast; and Cassandra Snopik, 100 breast.
Despite the bad weather Saturday, the team then traveled to Kenyon College to compete in the Mount Vernon Small Teams invitational.
“This has always been a great meet because of the amazing pool. In recent years, it got a little out of hand and the teams were not really representative of small programs. This year, Mount Vernon limited it to schools with teams smaller than 20. Our swimmers did very well considering we had quite a time getting there and a bit of a delay starting the meet due to the weather,” according to Snow.
The Mount Gilead boys took fifth place out of 15 teams with only six swimmers, while the girls finished in 15th out of 22 with only four swimmers.
“Most of the teams are in the same boat as we are with not enough swimmers to fill events, but we are exceptionally small this year. I am amazed at what the swimmers have accomplished, ” said Snow.
Top finishers for MG were Evan Zmuda, first in the 200 IM and second in the 100 breast; Casey Conrad, fourth in the 100 back and fifth in the 100 fly; Logan Conrad, fifth in the 100 breast; and Erin Zmuda, fifth in the 50 free.
“Our boys relays (Logan Conrad, Evan Zmuda, Casey Conrad and Kurtis Brown) took second place only to Mount Vernon in both the 200 Medley and 200 free relays. That was exciting to watch,” said Snow.
Also scoring were Kurtis Brown, 50 free and 100 free; Cassandra Snopik, 100 breast; Cassidy Hack, 200 free; and Gavin Robinson, 200 IM. Several swimmers also achieved personal bests: Gavin Robinson, 100 breast; Zack Clark, 100 free; Logan Conrad, 50 free; Kurtis Brown, 100 free; Casey Conrad, 100 back; and the girls medley and free relays (Erin Zmuda, Cassandra Snopik, Cassidy Hack and Shelby West).
The swimmers will wrap up 2016 with a home meet at the Marion Y on Wednesday, Dec. 21. Come cheer for the swimming Indians!
