submitted photo
(Back) Rachel Dalton, 13,
(Front l-r) Taylor Marut, McKenna Brown and Jack Girardi
Missing are Kaiden Rawson, 11, and Jack Biggar, 12.
Thirty swimmers from the Sarnia Y Rapids I swim team competed in a St. Clair Erie Aquatic League (SEAL) swim meet in Aylmer earlier in February, with nine-year-old McKenna Brown, and 11-year-old Kaiden Rawson each earning 1st place finishes in their age groups. McKenna won the 25m butterfly, and finished 4th in the 100m Individual Medley (IM) and 50m freestyle. Kaiden came 1st in the 50 m backstroke and 100m freestyle, adding 3rd in the 100m IM. He also swam with the 12- and 13-year-old boys in the 50m butterfly and 100m breaststroke, and finished 2nd and 5th respectively.
Top Three finishers included Jack Biggar, 12, placing 3rd in the 100m freestyle (as well as 4th in the 100m IM and 50m butterfly, and 6th in the 100m backstroke and breaststroke); Rachel Dalton, 13, coming 3rd in the 100m breaststroke; Jack Girardi, 9, finishing 3rd in his five individual events; and Taylor Marut, 9, earning 2nd place in the 100m IM and 50m freestyle, and 3rd in the 25m backstroke and breaststroke.
In the 7-and-under group, Lauren Armstrong, 6, earned a 4th place finish in the 25m breaststroke and 6th in the 25m butterfly, backstroke and freestyle events, while Kate Bedard, also 6, finished 5th in each of those four events. Daisy Jenkins, 7, came 7th in the 25 m backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle swims.
Vanessa Dyck, 8, improved her personal best time (PBT) in the 50m freestyle event by more than 37 seconds. Allie Rawson, also 8, cracked the Top 10 in three of her individual swims and took time off all her PBTs while fellow eight-year-old Annabelle Rayson shaved time off two of her PBTs. Nine-year-old Devan Dyck finished 6th in the 25m butterfly, and in the top 10 in the 25m backstroke and breaststroke, and 50m freestyle events, while fellow eight-year-old Sarah Phipps improved two of her PBTs.
Among 10-year-olds, Ayrianna Batson took almost 18 seconds off her PBT in the 100m IM and Olivia Conroy beat her own PBTs in three events. Sean Foster, also 10, finished in the top 10 in four of his individual swims, while Nik Mukherjee did so in the 50m backstroke. Evelyn Chambers, 11, came 4th in the 50m breaststroke and top 10 in the 50m butterfly and backstroke and 100m freestyle events, while Erin Lacey, also 11, earned a 6th place ribbon in the 50m butterfly and 100m freestyle events, and top 10 in the 100m IM. Fellow 11-year-old Sean Phipps finished in the top 10 in each of his individual events, including a 5th in the 50m backstroke and 6th in the 50m butterfly and breaststroke events.
Twelve-year-old Samantha Bedard finished in the top 10 in the 100m freestyle, while Diane Clarke, also 12, improved her PBTs in two events. Fellow 12-year-old Gregory Dietrich earned 5th place ribbons in the 50m butterfly and 100m freestyle and 7th in the 100m backstroke and breaststroke events. Trista Walsh, 13 sliced time off three of her PBTs.
Hannah Lacey, 14, came 4th in the 100m freestyle, 5th in the 100m IM, 6th in the 100m backstroke and 8th in the 50m butterfly and 100m breaststroke. Connor Phipps, also 14, placed 4th in the 50m butterfly and 100m breaststroke, 5th in the 100m IM and freestyle events, and 6th in the 100m backstroke.
Also swimming were Ella Savage, 9, Jacob Hillier, 11, and Isabella Wright, 7.
The Sarnia Y Rapids 1 swimmers are coached by Sue Athanasopoulos. This group’s next SEAL meet is in Windsor, on April 13.
