Under the guidance of Head Coach Andrew Foley, 10 area swimmers competed in the friendly atmosphere of club swimming despite the -25 degree temperature outside. Swimmers 14 years old and younger from 23 swim clubs from all over the state participated in the meet.
Jorden Greiner, Lars Matkin and Brian Ritchie, all 14 years old, all posted personal best times during the weekend.
Matkin was eighth in the 100-yard breaststroke and ninth in 200-yard backstroke, 200-yard breaststroke and 50-yard freestyle.
Greiner placed fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke, fifth in the 200-yard butterfly, and eighth in both the 100-yard butterfly and 400-yard individual medley.
Brian placed first in both the 100- and 200-yard butterfly events, second in the 100-yard breaststroke, third in the 400-yard IM and the 200-yard breaststroke, fourth in the 200-yard IM and fifth in the 100-yard freestyle. He received the third-place high point award for 14-year-old boys.
Iris Fletcher, 12 years old, received a fourth in the 500-yard free style and Samantha Keeley, 13, earned a seventh in the 200-yard breaststroke.
Rye Fletcher swam well in the 100-yard backstroke and 50-yard butterfly. Emily, Katie and Marie Schmidt swam a variety of events, and Marie earned fourth in the 400-yard IM, sixth in the 100-yard butterfly and seventh in the 500-yard freestyle. Emily placed fourth in the 200-yard backstroke.
Maddy Bowen swam in the 10-year-old and under girls group and was 16th in her 50-yard backstroke.
The swimmers had the opportunity to hear from Ben Michaelson, world record holder in the 100 butterfly short course meters. Having come up through club swimming and moved on to college, Olympic trials and the Pan Am team, Michaelson spoke of the long-term benefits of swimming in his life.
In January, the Homer group will host the senior championship meet with swimmers, families and coaches from all over the state participating in a three-day meet.
We encourage you to add your comments. To prevent spam, comments with links are manually approved during the normal business day. Please be respectful of others with your comments, bear in mind anyone in the community may be reading your comments.
