Blenheim Blast Kick Off New Season Strong

The Blenheim Blast Swim Team travelled to the Ontario Police College in Aylmer last Sunday to kick off the first S.E.A.L. meet of the 2013/2014season. The Aylmer pool is unique in that it s a 25 yard pool, and swimmers start the first meet of the year without the benefit of the use of starting blocks. Members of our team competed against 8 other teams from Southwestern Ontario. Many swimmers competed in the mixed open division, with boys and girls of all ages competing in the same category to match competitive levels.

Brendan Van Herk swam to three first place finishes in the mixed open 100 Yard Fly (59.83), 100YBack (59.86) and 100 Y Freestyle (54.29). Brendan was second in the 100 Y Breast (1:08.45), touching the wall tenths of a second behind team mate River Pfaff (16) who secured first in the 100 Y Breast in a time of 1:08.09. River swam to second in the open 100 Free (56.14) and Fly (1:01.99) and was third in the Open 100 Back (1:06.83). Shania Van Herk (16) placed first in the girls’ 14 & over 100Y Breast (1:21.91), and in the mixed open divisions placed second in the 100Y Back ( 1:04.87), third in the 100 Fly (1:06.84), and fifth in the 100Y Free (1:00.46). Rain Pfaff (14) also competed In the mixed open age category, placing fourth in the 100Y Breast (1:17.66), fifth in both the 100 Back (1:07.67) and 100Y Fly (1:11.47) . Rain was sixth in the open 100Y Free in a time of 1:01.47.

Grace Hansen (12) swam to first place finishes in the 12 year old girls 100Y Breast (1:25.34) and 100Y Back (1:15.48). Grace placed second in the girls 14 & over 100 Y Free (1:04.07) and placed fourth in the 12 year old Fly (34.53).

13 year old Delainey Johnson placed second in both the 13 year old girls 100Y Free (1:09.07) and 100Y Back (1:19.34). Delainey was fourth in the 50 Y Fly (35.93), and rounded out her day with a tenth place finish in the 100Y Breast (1:36.07). Team mate Jill Clendenning (13) swam to third place finishes in both the 100 Y Free (1:10.43) and 50 Fly (35.33) and was fourth in the 100 Y Back (1:24.04). Jill also finished strong with fifth place finish in the 100 Y Breast (1:31.03). 13 year old Brooklyn Want had two top ten finishes, racing to eighth place in th e100 Y Free (1:14.78) and tenth place in the 100 Y Back (1:32.36).

10 year old Emma Pegg swam to a first place finish in the girls 50 Y Breast in a time of 46.36. Emma followed that with two fourth place finishes in the 50Y Fly (42.03) and 50 Y Back (42.13) and was sixth in the 100 Y Free (1:23.10).Holly Reynolds (10 ) had three top ten finishes at the meet, placing eighth in the 10 year old girls 50y Breast (49.86), ninth in the 50Y Back (44.81) and tenth in the 100Y Free (1:28.09).

13 Year old Ryan Scott had four top ten races, finishing fifth in both the 50Y Fly (28.29) and the 100Y Breast (2:11.33) Ryan was sixth in the 100Y Free (1:40.87) and finished eighth in the 100Y Back (2:11.33)

8 Year old Linnea Mattsson also swam to four top ten finishes finishing fifth in the 25 Y Fly (22.47) and sixth in both the 25Y Bacl (22.81) and Breast (26.15). Linnea was also ninth in the 50Y Free in a time of 46.98. 6 year old Zadie Sunnen finished ninth in the 25Y Backstroke in a time of 34.84.