The Mariner swimmers proved strong in individual and team competition last Friday for the Tri-meet against East High School and Dimond High School at Dimond in Anchorage. The Ms also fared well against urban and southeast teams for the Bartlett Invite.

At the Tri-meet, the Ms went up against some of the best teams in the state, said coach Anna Borland-Ivy -- and didn't back down. Good swims included second place showings by Lindsey Seneff and Donna McNulty for second in the 500-yard freestyle.

"Which is pretty darn good for the competition she had," Borland-Ivy said of McNulty.

Triplets Emily and Katie Schmidt got third and fourth in the girls 100-yard breast stroke, finishing 1/10th of a second apart.

In the boys races, R.J. Ginter finished third in the 200 freestyle out of six swimmers. Alder Fletcher also got third, beating his personal best by five seconds.

"For him to swim well in a race he doesn't normally swim in and he doesn't like is really cool," Borland-Ivy said of Fletcher.

New diver Davy Baird got a third place.

At the Bartlett Invite, Homer went up against Anchorage and Fairbanks powerhouses as well as schools from Southeast Alaska -- a good preview of upcoming state championships.

"It's a real good barometer to see how you might do at state," Borland-Ivy said.

The girls and boys teams both finished in the top 16, with the girls finishing eighth and the boys ninth out of 21 teams.

"I was real pleased with the outcome of that meet," Borland-Ivy said.

Marie Schmidt, the other sister of the triplets, finished seventh overall in the 200 freestyle, beating her best time by three seconds.

Kyle Wentz finished 16th in the 100 freestyle, but like Schmidt, shaved three seconds off his personal best.

"For a 100 freestyle, that's really cool," Borland-Ivy said. "The was really one of the stellar swims of the meet."

Tyler Wentz placed 11th in the 100 backstroke. Sophomore Nathaniel Hardy showed a lot of promise, finishing 14th in the 100 breast stroke.

"I'm hoping to get great things out of him," Borland-Ivy said.

The team came back from Anchorage well.

"Overall, I wasn't unhappy with what the kids did," she said. "There were some really good swims."

Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong.@homernews.com.