Bellefontaine’s girls swim team added another championship trophy to its collection Sunday by winning the Kenton Ridge Invitational.
The Lady Chiefs accumulated 238.5 points to finish ahead of Kenton Ridge, which took second in the 15-team field with 210 points. Springfield finished third with 188.
“Our girls have gone back and forth with Kenton Ridge several times so far this season and came to this meet driven to compete,” said BHS coach Sharon Lewis. “We started down 28 points following the medley relay and slowly chipped away at the lead until finally passing KR and Springfield following the 200 free relay. The girls stayed strong throughout the final events of the meet to pull out the win. It is exciting to have tight competition and this fire brought some strong times out.”
Bellefontaine’s boys team also had a good day, finishing third with 142 points. Kenton Ridge won with 305 points and Springfield was second with 223.
Sarah Starkey paced the Chieftain girls with 29 points. She took first in the 200 freestyle and second in the 500 freestyle.
Morgan Henry had 25 points on a second-place finish in the 100 backstroke and a third-place effort in the 50 freestyle, Sarah Fulmer tallied 23.5 points with third-place efforts in the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke and Abby Kite recorded 23 points with a win in the 100 butterfly and a seventh-place effort in the 200 freestyle.
The 200 freestyle relay team of Henry, Fulmer, Sarah Starkey and Kite took second and the 400 freestyle relay team of Henry, Joslyn Robinson, Fulmer and Sarah Starkey also finished second.
Also for the Lady Chiefs, Robinson was sixth in the 200 individual medley and was seventh in the 100 breaststroke, Chloe Reynolds took sixth in the 100 freestyle and eighth in the 200 individual medley, Samantha Starkey was fourth in the 100 backstroke and 12th in the 50 freestyle, Vivian Eader was 12th in the 100 butterfly, Olivia Ullom took 12th in the 100 breaststroke, the 400 freestyle B relay team of Chloe Reynolds, Ullom, Samantha Starkey and Alyvia Steggeman took sixth, the 200 medley relay team of Samantha Starkey, Robinson, Kite and Reynolds finished seventh, the 200 medley B relay team of Gabby Stolly, Steggeman, Eader and Morgan Brugler was 10th and the 200 freestyle B relay team of Lilly Moody, Jenna Smith, Stolly and Ullom finished 11th.
For the Chieftain boys, Jared Salyer led the way with 16 points. He was sixth in the 200 freestyle and seventh in the 100 freestyle.
Preston Henry was seventh in the 200 freestyle and seventh the 100 breaststroke, Lucas Harrington took fifth in the 100 butterfly and Aidan Mifsud was fifth in the 500 freestyle.
Also for the Chieftain boys, the 200 medley relay team of Christian Keene, Harrington, Quinton Bible and Salyer took fifth, the 400 freestyle relay team of Keene, Blake McDonald, Henry and Salyer was fifth, the 200 medley relay team of Bible, Henry, Harrington and Gamble took seventh, the 400 freestyle relay team of Gamble, Mifsud, Iamanol Calderon and David Moody was seventh, Keene was eighth in the 50 freestyle and 12th in the 100 freestyle, Gamble was eighth in the 100 butterfly and 12th in the 50 freestyle, Bible finished ninth in the 200 individual medley, Calderon was 11th in the 200 freestyle and 10th in the 100 breaststroke and the 200 medley B relay team of McDonald, Mifsud, Calderon and Moody took 11th.
“This was a very competitive meet in which several meet records were broken, so to finish behind only Kenton Ridge and Springfield was incredible,” said Lewis. “We are a team made up of equal parts first year high school swimmers and returners and therefore it has taken some time for us to balance our scoring. We are just starting to see the benefits of our hard work and the best is yet to come.”
BL boys fourth, girls seventh
Benjamin Logan also competed at the Kenton Ridge Invitational on Sunday, with the boys team finishing in fourth with 118 points and the girls taking seventh with 88 points.
The high scorer for the Ben Logan boys was Carter Rees, who accumulated 26 points on a first-place finish in the 50 freestyle and a fifth-place effort in the 100 backstroke.
The Raiders’ 200 freestyle relay squad of Kelvin Ong, Jacob McKenrick, Max Leezer and Rees took third, the 200 medley relay team of Rees, Max Leezer, Ong and McKenrick was fourth and the 400 freestyle relay team of McKenrick, Robert Leezer, Gabe Hemmelgarn and Dylan Jordan was sixth.
Also for Ben Logan’s boys, Max Leezer accumulated 12 points and Ong had 11 points.
Annika Simovart paced the Ben Logan girls team with 22 points. She took fourth in the 50 freestyle and fourth in the 500 freestyle.
Gabrielle Schmidt was sixth in the 100 breaststroke and seventh in the 100 freestyle and Junette Ly added four points.
Also for the Lady Raiders, the 400 freestyle relay team of Simovart, Ly, Corinne Herring and Schmidt finished fifth and the 200 freestyle relay team of Schmidt, Herring, Ly and Simovart finished sixth.
Indian Lake teams sixth at KR
Indian Lake’s boys and girls swim teams both finished sixth at the Kenton Ridge meet.
The Laker girls were led by a fourth-place finish from the 400 freestyle relay team of Kassidy Crockett, Liza Shutway, Ella Wagner and Ashlyn Shaner. The 200 medley relay team of Crockett, Wagner, Lily Jenkins and Shaner finished fifth.
Also for the Lady Lakers, Wagner was ninth in the 200 freestyle in a school-record time of 2:33.37 and also took ninth in the 100 breaststroke, Shaner was eighth in the 100 freestyle and 10th in the 200 freestyle, Crockett finished sixth in the 100 backstroke and seventh in the 50 freestyle, Shutway finished 10th in the 100 breaststroke and 12th in the 200 individual medley, the 200 freestyle relay team of Lily Jenkins, Allison Culp, Macie Robinson and Shaway was eighth and the 400 freestyle B relay team of Culp, Kendall Cotterman, Elizabeth Kerns and Robinson took 10th.
Ryan Braig sparked the Indian Lake boys by finishing second in the 100 freestyle and fifth in the 200 individual medley, while Caden Paavola was fifth in the 200 freestyle and 11th in the 100 backstroke.
Also for the Lakers, the group of Paavola, Reid Vance, Lane McPherson and Braig took fourth in the 200 freestyle relay and fourth in the 400 freestyle relay.