Swim team makes a splash with 108 medals

Athlete Erin Sommerville. Steven Latter photo

Almost 400 athletes attended the first meet of four, hosted by the Belleville Youth Swim Team.  The team posted 90 per cent personal best times and earned 108 medals – 48 gold, 35 silver and 25 bronze.

“There was no team scoring at this event, however the BYST definitely dominated the competition against 10 other swim clubs from across Ontario,” said head coach Brandon Oates.

There were many multiple medalists from the BYST.  Alexander Grant had six gold and one silver.  Stephanie Cairns achieved six gold and a bronze with 100 per cent best times.  Talia Pappalardo earned five gold and two silver.  Melissa Dingle swam to three gold, two silver and two bronze.  Mackenzie Latter got three gold, three silver and a bronze.  Floranne Carroll attained one gold and five silver with all personal best times.  Katelyn Cairns received one gold and four silver to go along with 100 percent best times.  Rafik Jiwa raced to one gold, three silver and two bronze.  Benjamin Isaak earned one gold and two silver.  Leo Lossing had two gold and one silver.  Jeremy Moher received one gold, one silver and one bronze.  Olivia Morphet swam to one gold and one bronze.  Gwen Randall achieved one gold and one silver.  Graeme Smith attained two gold and one bronze.  Lauren Taylor raced to one silver and two bronze.  Marcus Trumpour got one silver and two bronze.  Tyler Banez received one gold and one silver.  Mackenzie Blagojevic had one gold and one bronze.  Isabella Isbester raced to two bronze.

BYST athletes winning one gold were Jackson Bonn, Thomas Butler, Lauren Donia, Tess Friar, Una Lajic, Leah McGillen, Rylan Miller, Katie Morrison, Vladimir Novakovic, Payton Reid and Joseph Rittenhouse.
Swimmers with one silver included Noah Brooks, John Butler, Lily Charles, Nickolas Cinnamon, Jenna O’Neill, Callum O’Neil and Henryk Luczynski.
Bronze winners were Craig Bekker, Natalie Butler, James Lossing and Madeline McGillen.  Other BYST athletes with 100 percent best times included Ashley Allaire, Janna Arnold, Mya Banez, Kristianna Barton, Mackenzie Blagojevic, Madeline Bonn, Callum Friar, Meaghan Hannigan, Madison Lees, Jayden MacDonald, Sadie Morphet, Lara Noronha, Leah Oster, Amy Sommerville, Erin Sommerville, Abigail Szuch and Christina Zhang.

Other BYST athletes with great showings were Madalyn Andrus, Jade Banez, Katherine Beaumont, Alexa Buchanan, Sydney Chumbley, Olivia Goyer, Ian Isbester, Gatham Krishna, Paige Launderville, Brandon MacQuarrie, Chloe Martineau, Reece Monk, Arjun Moorthy, Meera Moorthy, Sadie Morphet, Natalie O’Neil, Lily Randall, David Savic, Marko Savic, Elizabeth Terry and Hayden Young.

The swims next at Brantford Dec. 13-15 for Division II Provincial Team Championships.

“This is the first time the team will compete in this new division in the 35 year history as they moved up from Division III last season,” the coach said. “It is their goal to win Division II in the next few years and become a Division I team which would rank them in the top 15 team percentile of swim teams in Ontario.”