BUFFALO, N.Y. –– This past weekend, the Bradford YMCA Barracudas took 14 swimmers to the USA Niagara Long Course Swimming Championships in Buffalo, N.Y., placing 14th overall.
There were 45 teams represented at the meet and the top 16 in each event qualified for the finals.The women’s team took 13th and the men’s team 25th. This was the last meet of the summer season prior to going to YMCA Long Course Nationals in Greensboro, N.C. from Monday through Aug. 4. Paige Hetrick will represent the Barracudas.
In the 10 and under age group, Lauryn Ball had an excellent meet, placing in all six events she competed in.
“This was Lauryn’s first year to do long course and she really embraced the season and did very well,” coach Caren Barnes said.
Lauryn took fifth in the 50M free, sixth in the 100M free, seventh in the 200M free, 11th in the 100M Backstroke, 12th in the 50M backstroke and 12th in the 50M breaststroke. She was joined at the meet by Karsyn Gracey-Dalton, another first-year swimmer to USA swimming, who placed seventh in the 50M breaststroke and 9th in the 100M breaststroke.
In the 12 and under age group, the Barracudas had three swimmers all making it back to the finals and having personal bests throughout the entire weekend.
“Harris Bell definitely had the best meet since he has been on the team and is developing into a very strong swimmer,” Barnes said.
Bell swam six events, placing in all of them. He was fourth in the 50M breaststroke, sixth in the 200M breaststroke, eighth in the 100M breaststroke, seventh in the 50M freestyle,11th in the 200M freestyle, and 13th in the 200M IM. Mallory Whitlow also had a very strong meet, as she placed in the 50 and 200M backstrokes, taking 10th in both. She also dropped time in the 50 M free, 100M Free and the 100 Mbackstroke.
“Kylee Bidwell joined the Barracudas this summer and has a done extremely well in the freestyle events,” Barnes said.
She saw time drops in the 50 M free, 100M free and placed in the 200M free, taking 15th at the championships.
In the 13-14 age group, the Barracudas had three swimmers again who all placed in the meet. Laryssa Webster swam seven events over the weekend and qualified for finals in each event. She placed fourth in the 100M butterfly with a personal-best time of 1:07.94 in the 400M freestyle, fourth in the 200M freestyle, ninth in the 100M freestyle and 13th in the 50M freestyle.
Julia Moini also had a very good meet, dropping all of her times over the weekend. She placed in both the 100M butterfly, taking 14th place with a personal-best time of 1:11.94, and she was 15th in the 100M freestyle. She had a personal best in the prelims of the event going 1:05.81.
Mitchell Signor was the only boy for the Barracudas in the age group but represented the team well placing 10th in the 100M backstroke.
The 15 and over age group had the most participants for the team. Karl Gangloff was the lone boy, but had an excellent meet with terrific time drops. He placed 16th in the 400M freestyle dropping close to eight seconds in the preliminaries to qualify for the finals. He was also 11th in the 800M freestyle swimming a personal best after a long weekend.
Hetrick took first in the 100M freestyle, 200M backstroke and the 100M butterfly, going 1:02.26 which qualified for the USA Junior National meet. She also swam some off events over the weekend and placed sixth in the 100M breaststroke and had a personal-best time in the 200M breaststroke.
“Paige Hetrick had some very good swims as she prepares for the nationals beginning next week,” Barnes said.
Several other Barracudas attended the meet and swam well including Rylie Baldwin, Cara Webster, Emma Webster and Aliya Webster.
The winter swim team program will be starting up again in early September for all who may be interested. Contact the YMCA to get involved at (814) 368-6101 or visit www.yourymca.org.
