Local swimmers place second behind province’s largest team

-Steven Latter photo

County residents were among the region’s elite swimmers who posted medal and personal best times to help the Belleville Youth Swim Team place second overall at its recent meet.

The BYST hosted close to 400 swimmers at the Templeman Menninga Aquatic Centre.  Seventy-six BYST athletes combined to drop over 38 and a half minutes of time.  The team placed second overall behind Mississauga, the largest team in Ontario.  Whitby edged out Ernestown for third place, followed by Clarington, and teams from Ottawa, Picton and Fredericton.

Earning medals were Ashley Allaire, Janna Arnold, Noah Brooks, Natalie Butler, Katelyn Cairns, Stephanie Cairns, Giri Chandran, Charlotte Coutu, Victor Coutu, Melissa Dingle, Tess Friar, Owen Googe, Rafik Jiwa, Mackenzie Latter, Jayden MacDonald, Leah McGillen, Arjun Moorthy, Sadie Morphet, Lara Noronha, Joseph Rittenhouse, Tsering Rongstang, Nate Shiers-Redhead, Erin Sommerville and Lauren Taylor.

One hundred per cent best times were achieved by Sruthi Amalan, Tyler Banez, Craig Bekker, Grace Bonn, Noah Brooks, Thomas Butler, Nikki Cairns, Giri Chandran, Lily Charles, Nickolas Cinnamon, Charlotte Coutu, Victor Coutu, Colby Crowe, Callum Friar, Owen Googe, Dallas Ketcheson, Paige Kovacs, Josh Lamoureux, Paige Launderville, Quintin Lichty, Victoria McDowell, Leah McGillen, Madeline McGillen, Rylan Miller, Arjun Moorthy, Meera Moorthy, Mia Noronha, Lara Noronha, Ella O’Neill, Jenna O’Neill, Gwen Randall, Lily Randall, Luc Simard, Eva Tromp, Gracey Vanberkel, Amanda Xia and Anna-Claire Young.

Other BYST swimmers with stellar performances include Madalyn Andrus, Katherine Beaumont, Jackson Bonn, Zoe Desjardins, Riley Donia, Olivia Goyer, Isabella Isbester, Cameron Jardine, Gatham Krishna, Jacqueline Lichty, Henryk Luczynski, Brendan MacQuarrie, Karisa Manlow, Jeremy Moher, Olivia Morphet, Leah Oster, Elizabeth Peterson, Graeme Smith, Amy Sommerville, Elizabeth Terry, Emeline Williams, Hayden Young and Christina Zhang.

Thirty-four athletes from the BYST are off to Sudbury on Dec. 12-14 for Ontario Division II Team Championships.

“Belleville has never sent this many swimmers to a provincial championship meet and the team plans to repeat by finishing in the top 10,” said head coach Brandon Oates.

For more information about the swim team, contact  Oates, at (613) 661-SWIM (7946) or visit www.byst.ca