The facility is immense, with a pool that is over three times as wide as the pool at Canton. It is loud, large, and exciting. In the preliminary heats on Friday, there are over 300 athletes vying for a spot to compete in the finals on the second day. The squad from Canton is small, but not the smallest. They are excited to compete on such a big stage.
On Friday morning, the 200 Medley Relay of Alexis Stuntz, Kaitlyn Redfern, Maya Thomas, and Tessa Alguire started the meet strong with a 31st place finish. In the relay Maya Thomas swam a strong 50 butterfly to set up Tessa Alguire’s season best time of 26.36 on her 50 freestyle.
Kaitlyn Redfern, competing in two individual events as an 8th grader, swam to two lifetime bests. She dropped 2 seconds off her 200 Individual Medley time to finish 40th with a time of 2:18.23. Redfern then stormed back in the 100 breaststroke taking 36th and lowering her Section X record with a time of 1:11.69.
Alexis Stuntz rounded out the Canton squad with her two individual swims. She swam a gutsy 100 backstroke on the heels of the 500 freestyle, finishing 38th in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:04.83. As the sole Canton competitor in finals on Saturday, Stuntz swam the 500 freestyle and took 24th overall with a time of 5:38.42.
Overall, a great experience for the girls with some great swims. They swam on the biggest stage in the state and did well.
This post comes courtesy of Coach Conrad Stuntz.
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