Blenheim Blast Host Meet, Own the Podium

Last Sunday may have been April Fool’s Day, however the Blenheim Blast Swim Team were not fooling around in the pool when they played host to the sixth S.E.A.L (St. Clair Erie Aquatic League) meet of the season. Blast hosted a total of 200 swimmers from the Leamington Lasers Swim Team, the Windsor Essex Swim Team and the Windsor Aquatic Club at the Gable Rees Rotary Pool. The Blenheim Blast Swim Team swam away with forty top five performances; rounding out the day with seven first place, 9 second place, and 10 third place podium finishes.

11 year old Grace Hansen raced to three first place finishes in the girls 10-11 year old 50m backstroke (43.30), 100m freestyle (1:19.81) and 100m I.M. (1:28.72). Grace also placed second in the 11 & under 200m I.M. in a time of 3:14.72. 15 year old River Pfaff raced to two first place finishes, winning the men’s open 200m backstroke in a new personal best time of 2:47.72 seconds. River secured first place in the men’s 14 & over butterfly (32.82) and raced to a second place finish in the 100m I.M. in a new personal best time of 1:32.06. River also placed
Fourth in the open 50m freestyle ( 29.62).

14 year old Mackenzie Rajki raced to a first place finish in the 14 & over 100m I.M. with a new personal best time of 1:21.49. Mackenzie had three other top ten finishes, placing second in both the 100m freestyle (31.84) and open 200m backstroke (2:57.98). Mackenzie was sixth in the open 50m freestyle with a new personal best of 31.84 seconds. 12 year old Brendan Van Herk placed first on the boys 12-13 year old 100m I.M., knocking over two seconds off his previous time to finish the race in 1:15.07. Brendan also placed fifth in the open 50m freestyle (30.23).

13 year old Rain Pfaff had four top ten finishes, placing second in the 12-13 year old girls 100m I.M. in a new personal best time of 1:19.00). Rain knocked sixteen seconds off her race to place third in the women’s open 200m breaststroke (3:16.61). She was fifth in the 12-13 year old 50m butterfly (37.45), and seventh in the women’s open 50m freestyle (31.98). Delainey Johnson (11) had four top five finishes at the meet, racing to a third place finish in the 100m I.M. (1:37.91). Delainey was fourth in both the 50m breaststroke (52.79) and 100m freestyle (1:27.47), and finished fifth in the 50m backstroke (46.46). Paige White (11) had two top finishes at the meet, placing sixth in the 50m breaststroke (53.94) and ninth in the 100m I.M. (1:47.58) .

8 year old Emma Pegg had four top ten finishes at the meet; placing third in both the girls 8-9 year 25m backstroke (in a new personal best time of 25.84) and 25 m backstroke (another personal best time of 22.48 seconds). Emma was eighth in the 25m freestyle (43.98). 6 year old Regan Vlasschaert participated in her very first swim meet with the swim team, placing fourth in the girls 7 & under 25 m freestyle in a time of 34.21. Regan went on to place fifth in the girls 25m backstroke in a time of 25.58. Team mate 7 year old Laurel Johnston also celebrated her first competitive swim meet, finishing third the girls 7 & under 25m freestyle in a time of 33.83 seconds. Laurel also finished third in the 25m backstroke (30.28). 7 year old William Reynolds knocked over four seconds off his time in the 25m breaststroke to finish in second place in the that event. Willam was also second in the 25m freestyle in a time of 28.46 seconds.

Sophia MacLean (14) had three top ten finishes, placing fourth in the 14 & over Breaststroke in a personal best time of 1:38.10. Sophia was fifth in the open 200m breaststroke (3:38.4) and eighth in the 100m freestyle (1:19.11). Nikki McIntyre (14) had three top ten performances, placing fifth in the 14 & over 100m backstroke in a new personal best time of 1:43.11. Nikki was ninth in both the 100m breaststroke (1:43.11) and open 200m I.M. (3:37.88). Olivia Ermers had two top ten races, finishing ninth in the 100m I.M. (1:35.27) and tenth in the 100m breaststroke (1:48.13) .

Catherine Thompson (15) raced to three top ten finishes, securing second place in the women’s open 200m breaststroke after shaving over eight seconds off her time to finish the race in 3:15.94. Catherine knocked four seconds off her time in the 14 & over 100m I.M. resulting in a third place podium finish, and placed fourth in the 50m butterfly (39.93). Brandelyn Kelly (15) had two top ten finishes, finishing second in the girls 14 & over 100m backstroke (1:19.35) and third in the 100m freestyle (1:12.03). Mikayla Pelcz (15) finished in sixth place in the 14 & over girls 100m backstroke, shaving three seconds off her previous best time.

Other top ten performances include 9 year old Abigael Johnston was sixth in the 8-9 year old girls 25 m breaststroke, completing the race in 27.10 seconds. 10 year old Mackenzie Homes raced to a ninth place finish in the girls 10-11 year old 50m backstroke ( 49.96 ). Ryann Fink (13) was tenth in the women’s open 200m I.M. in a time of 3:39.51.

A small group of our swimmers will travel to London this week to participate in the Good Friday Pentathlon at the Aquatic Games Centre. The yearend S.E.A.L. Championship meet will be hosted by the Chatham Pool Sharks April 28.