The Mount Gilead swimmers opened their season with a 94-74-49 win over Bucyrus and Crestview in a tri-meet hosted by Bucyrus.
“It was a great first meet for us, “said coach Dina Snow. “We have only been working out for a little over 3 weeks, not to mention Thanksgiving break setting us back. The swimmers performed well, and a few already achieved personal bests or close to it at their first meet of the season. My assistant coach, alum Katie Linder, has been working with a lot of the new swimmers, and they all did really well at their first meet!”
Scoring first place points were the boys 200 medley and free relays (Eric Mowery, Gavin Robinson, Joel Conrad and Tyler Knight), Gavin Robinson in the 200 freestyle, Emily Hanft in the 50 free and 100 free, Adriana Tinch in the 100 fly, and Eric Mowery in the 100 free.
Bringing in strong second place points were the girls 200 medley and free relays (Emily Hanft, Cassandra Snopik, Adriana Tinch and Kelsey Kneipp), Joel Conrad in the 200 IM, Tyler Knight in the 50 free, Adriana Tinch in the 100 back, and Cassandra Snopik and Gavin Robinson in the 100 breast.
Taylor Robinson scored third place points in the 100, as did Eric Mowery in the 100 back, and additional points were added by Skye Shipman, Mason Kidwell and Logen Bailey.
On Saturday, the team traveled to New Albany for the Viking Splash Invitational.
“This meet has become an annual tradition for us,” said Snow. “There are a lot of teams and swimmers, but our athletes get to see a wide range of abilities and see that they stack up pretty well against teams from much larger schools.”
Mount Gilead placed sixth in the 12 team meet that included Granville, Newark, Northridge, Newark Catholic, Lakewood, Marion Pleasant, Watkins Memorial, Big Walnut, Heath, Licking Heights and Licking Valley.
“Even though we had back-to-back meets and it was a long day, the swimmers maintained their focus and turned in some great swims,” said Snow. “We had one swimmer achieve a first place finish: Gavin Robinson in the 100 breast. We saw his name in the number one spot on the psych sheet going into the meet, so that added some anticipation to the race!”
Results: First place: Gavin Robinson, 100 breast; third place: Gavin Robinson, 200 free; Emily Hanft, 50 free and 100 free; fourth place: the girls 200 medley and free relays (Emily Hanft, Cassandra Snopik, Adriana Tinch and Kelsey Kneipp); Joel Conrad, 200 IM and 100 free; the boys 200 free relay (Eric Mowery, Tyler Knight, Gavin Robinson, and Joel Conrad); and Cassandra Snopik, 100 breast; fifth place: Adriana Tinch, 100 back.
The following swimmers brought in additional points: the boys 200 medley relay (Eric Mowery, Gavin Robinson, Joel Conrad and Tyler Knight); Tyler Knight in the 200 IM and 50 free; Cassandra Snopik, 50 free; Mason Kidwell, 50 free and 100 back; Eric Mowery, 100 free and 100 back; Adriana Tinch, 100 free; Taylor Robinson, 100 back; and Kelsey Kneipp, 100 breast.
Personal bests were achieved by Joel Conrad, Mason Kidwell, Kelsey Kneipp, Eric Mowery, Adriana Tinch, Taylor Robinson and Skye Shipman.
The team will compete next against Marion Pleasant on Dec. 15.
