Local swim team finishes in top 5 at Sudbury meet

Eighteen members of the CFB Thunderbirds Swim Club swam in the NEOR Huronia A Long Course Championships at Laurentian University June 10th to 12th. Nineteen teams from Northeastern Ontario and the Huronia region participated in the three day swim meet.

The Thunderbirds finished 5th overall with 274.50 points, with the top points for the team being earned by Bryanna Penno (34), Jennifer Piper(32), Sierra McCourt (31), Emma Hives(29), Andrew Palangio(25), Megan Menard(19), Constance Leavitt(7), MacKenzie Rodger(4), Megan Hives(4) and Jane Ferguson(3). The relay team were also big point getters with the Women 11 7 under 200 Medley team of Menard, McCourt, Jesse Hives and Megan Hives finishing with a silver and the Women 11 & under 200 Free team of Menard, Jamie Lee Udeschini, Jesse Hives and McCourt also earning silver as did the Women 12-13 200 Medley team of Leavitt, McCourt, Penno and Emma Hives while the same girls teamed up in the Women 12-13 200 Free to earn bronze. The Women 14-15 team of Emma Hives, Penno, Antoinette Busch and Piper earned 4th in both the 200 Medley and 200 free relays. The Men 12-13 team of Rodger, Greg Katsuno, Dylan Jackson and Palangio earned 6th place finishes in both their 200 Medley and 200 Free relays.

Individually Jennifer Piper(15) earned two gold medals in 50 free and 100 Butterfly, a silver in 200 freestyle, bronze in 100 freestyle and 7th place ribbon in 100 backstroke as well as 1 personal best time, Jennifer went on to qualify to swim in the Senior Championship and earned a 1st, 4th and two 5th place finishes; Bryanna Penno (12) earned two silver medals in 200 Breaststroke and 400 Individual medley, a bronze in 100 Breaststroke, 2 -4th place ribbons in 200 Butterfly and 200 Individual medley and a 5th in 100 Butterfly; Sierra McCourt(11) earned three bronze medals in 50 Free, 100 and 200 Butterfly, a 5th in 200 backstroke and two 6th place ribbons in 200 free and 400 Individual Medley and 5 personal best times; Emma Hives (13) earned three bronze medals in 50 & 200 freestyle and 100 Backstroke, two 4th place ribbons in 100 free and 200 backstroke and an 8th in 400 free as well as 4 personal best times; Andrew Palangio (13) earned a bronze medal in 50 free, three 4th place ribbons in 100 & 200 Butterfly and 400 Individual Medley a 6th in 100 Freestyle and 8th in 400 free and 3 personal best times and qualified to swim in the senior championships; Megan Menard (11) swam to a 4th place finish in 200 backstroke, 5th in 50 free and 100 backstroke, 6th in 100 freestyle, 7th in 200 free and 8th in 200 Individual Medley while Constance Leavitt ( 13) finished 5th in 100 backstroke and 6th in 200 backstroke and 2 personal best times; Mackenzie Rodger (13) earned 7th place ribbons in 100 and 200 backstroke and 3 personal best times; Megan Hives also earned two 7th place ribbons in 100 and 200 butterfly and 3 personal best times and Jane Ferguson (11) swam to a 6th place ribbon in 100 Butterfly and 6 personal best times.

Other Thunderbirds swimmers who swam in the NEOR Huronia "A" Long Course Championships and earned personal best times were Antoinette Busch (14), Carla De Ciccio (14), Jesse Hives (9), Dylan Jackson (13), Jayden Jackson (10), Greg Katsuno (12), Jessica Stephens (16) and Jamie Lee Udeschini (11).

Jennifer Piper, Sierra McCourt, Bryanna Penno and Andrew Palangio are busy training for the Ontario Provincial Long Course Championships to be held July 7th to 10th in Toronto, while the rest of the team is taking a well deserved break.

While the "A" swimmers competed in the morning the nine members of the team swam in NEOR Huronia B Long Course Championships in the afternoon earning a 5th place finish against 16 other teams with 197.50 points.

Top points were earned by Taylor Russell (28), Teagan Preston (27), Jayla Preston (25), Colin Rodger (17), Marissa Rodger (16), Meghan Bonnah (14), Sierra Guido (11) and Tessa Preston (7). The relay teams also did very well with the Women 10-11 200 free and 200 Medley relays earned gold while the Women 12-13 200 free and Medley relays earned 5th place finishes.

Individually Taylor Russell (9) earned gold in 50 freestyle, bronze in 100 free, two 4th place ribbons in 100 backstroke and 50 butterfly and 6th in 50 backstroke as well as 5 personal best times; Teagan Preston (10) finished with 3 bronze medals in 100 backstroke, 100 Breaststroke and 50 Butterfly, a 4th 50 breaststroke, 5th in 50 backstroke and 3 personal best times; Jayla Preston (9) two bronze medals in 100 freestyle and 50 backstroke, two 4th place finishes in 100 backstroke and 50 Butterfly, 6th in 50 freestyle and 5 personal best times; Colin Rodger ( 9) earned 2 bronze medals in 50 backstroke and 100 breaststroke and a 4th in 50 free as well as 2 personal best times; Marissa Rodger (11) silver in 100 Butterfly, bronze in 50 backstroke, 6th in 200 Individual medley and 2 personal best times; Meghan Bonnah (13) bronze in 200 Individual Medley, 5th in 50 Butterfly and 7th in 100 and 200 freestyle ; Sierra Guido (11) bronze in 100 butterfly and 3 personal best times; Tessa Preston (13) swam to a 6th place ribbon in 100 backstroke as well as earned 2 personal best times and Alanna Servos (11) earned 3 personal best times.

Submitted to BayToday.ca