Thunderbirds Storm Southern Ontario!

Seventeen Thunderbirds took on Southern Ontario swimmers in the 2005 Barrie Autumn Aqua-Fest swim meet held in Barrie last weekend. All T-Birds performed extremely well coming home with personal bests and more than half the swimmers finishing in the top ten. Top ten finishers included Jesse Hives (9) and Sydney Hughes (9), Kylie Weber (10), Jaydan Jackson (10), Sierra McCourt (11), Megan Menard (12), Dylan Jackson (14), Andrew Palangio (13), Bryanna Penno (13), and Jennifer Piper (15). More details on results are posted below.

A total of 72 personal bests were achieved in 115 starts including 1 personal best by Antoinette Busch (15), 6 personal bests by Jane Ferguson (11), 6 personal bests by Sierra Guido (11) and Megan Hives (11), 3 personal bests by Constance Leavitt, 3 personal bests by Taylor Russell (11), and 5 personal bests by Jaime Lee Udeschini (11).

The meet, hosted by the Barrie Trojans Swim Club challenged 441 swimmers from 14 clubs; the Thunderbirds Swim Club was the only Northern Ontario team in attendance. Coaches Pierre Simard and André Udeschini were in attendance.

“The Barrie swim meet is a very competitive meet and the swimmers responded very well,” said Simard.

“These athletes are really committed to succeeding in this sport and reaching their goals, which is why we experienced such great success at this meet.”

This meet followed time trials hosted November 6 by the Thunderbirds Swim Club that saw 29 swimmers achieve 57 personal bests. Lexie Howard (10), Angelos Labrakis (11), Catherine Bower (10), Brooklyn Jones (10), Caitlyn Jones (8), and Danielle Rice (10) posted their first personal best times as new T-Bird swimmers. In the 10 and under category, Karen Busch (8) performed 3 personal bests while Sydney Hughes, Evan Lechlitner (8), Kylie Webster (9), Mary-Eve Gauthier (8) and Kylie Weber carried out 2. Another personal best was accomplished by Jesse Hives and Jayden Jackson.

In the 11 and 12 year old category Jane Ferguson, Sierra Guido, and Taylor Russell attained 2 personal bests, while Katty Larocque(11), Megan Menard, Megan Hives and Jaime lee Udeschini performed 3 personal bests. Sierra McCourt made waves achieving 4 personal best times.

Those 13 and older also realized great times as Emma Hives and Andrew Palangio achieved 1 personal best. Bryanna Penno performed 3 personal bests and Dylan Jackson, Gregory Katsuno, and Constance Leavitt set personal bests - 4 times in four races.

Submitted to BayToday.ca