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Swimmers earn national rankings

byst-Lily-Charles
The Belleville Youth Swim Team, including members from the County, had 31 athletes race at an invitational meet in Amherstview and an additional 10 at a qualifying competition in Barrie.

“The BYST swam incredibly well, knocking off 828 seconds in Amherstview and another 226 seconds in Barrie, combining for a total of 1054 seconds (17.5 minutes),” said head coach Brandon Oates.

The athletes had 73 per cent best times at both meets.  Athletes with 100 per cent best times were Madalyn Andrus, Lily Charles, Zoe Desjardins, Quintin Lichty, Jayden MacDonald, Leah McGillen, Hayden Young, Rafik Jiwa, Lauren Taylor and Nate Shiers-Redhead.

“The team has multiple athletes that posted times which rank as high as fifth in Canada plus over half a dozen other top 10 national rankings,” said Oates.

“The BYST athletes were absolutely amazing at the Amherstview meet which featured teams from Kingston, Ernestown, Brockville, Ottawa and Picton.”

Joseph Rittenhouse was the top performer of the meet with the lone first place finish for the team in the 200m backstroke and the largest time drop of 44.88 seconds in the 200m individual medley.  He also had a fourth and a few fifth place finishes.  On the 13 and over division, Nicole Cairns earned a second in the 100m individual medley on the female side, while Quintin Lichty and Colby Crowe received second and third respectively.  In the 12 and under category, Zoe Desjardins competed at her first meet ever and placed third in the 100m individual medley, while Gautham Krishna had the same result in the boys division.  Leah McGillen finished second in the 100m individual medley for 10 an under swimmers.  Jenna O’Neil took third place in her first 800m freestyle and Olivia Morphet dropped 17.52 seconds in the 50m breaststroke to capture third place.
More athletes placing in the top five were Janna Arnold, Sadie Morphet, Isaac Osborne, Amy Sommerville and Erin Sommerville.  Top ten finishers included Sruthi Amalan, Madalyn Andrus, Katherine Beaumont, Noah Brooks, Lily Charles, Nickolas Cinnamon, Olivia Goyer, Madeline McGillen, Elizabeth Peterson and Tsering Rongstang.  Other BYST athletes with impressive performances were Craig Bekker, Ian Isbester, Isabella Isbester, Jayden MacDonald, Leah Oster, Gracey Vanberkel and Hayden Young.

Leading the charge at the Barrie meet was Stephanie Cairns and Lauren Taylor, each earning the high point award in the 15 & over female and 13-14 age categories.  Cairns also broke the 100m freestyle meet record and team record by clocking in at 59.33.

“This marks the first time that any female in the Belleville area has officially gone under the minute barrier,” said Oates.

Cairns cleaned up at the meet with five first place finishes, one second and one third, plus she set six new team records, as well as ranks top five in Canada in a couple events.  Taylor swam sensationally with 100 percent best times.  She managed to take off time in all 13 events, including multiple back to back races at finals.  Taylor collected four first place finishes, one second, one third and a fifth.

Rafik Jiwa was runner up for the high point award for males 13-14 by one point (127-126).  He managed to swim all best times in 15 different races, as well as attaining four first place finishes, two third place finishes and a fifth.  Jiwa also annihilated the 200m breaststroke team record by posting a 2:41.22.

Melissa Dingle was also runner up in the 15 and over female division.  She had a big meet by breaking both the 100m and 200m backstroke team records, earning first place finishes in both, as well as two third place finishes and a fourth.  Nate Shiers-Redhead had all best times in 14 separate races, while earning three second place finishes, a third and a fourth.  Katelyn Cairns grabbed four second place finishes, plus a couple fifth places, to go along with two new team records in the 100m and 200m butterfly.

Nine out of ten of the athletes qualified for finals at least once.  Riley Donia, Henryk Luczynski, Rylan Miller and Graeme Smith all swam exceptionally well.  Even with bringing such a small team, the BYST managed to place fourth overall in the 13 and over category, behind Barrie, Waterloo and Pickering.  The team finished ahead of Peterborough, Aurora, Orillia, Uxbridge, Owen Sound and Collingwood.

The BYST hosts their first invitational swim meet of the season November 22-23. For more information about the team,  contact the Head Coach, Brandon Oates, at 613-661-SWIM (7946)

Filed Under: Local NewsSports & Recreation

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