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The annual Meet of Champs inviteds swimmers from all over the area to compete in a variety of Olympic style swim racing events in several different age groups. The Columbus CATfish had a strong performance with many of their swimmers taking top three spots and claiming medals for their respective events. With several taking firstplace medals, the CATfish were well-represented in the top placements as they found winners in nearly every age group that participated.
The 6U girls’ Sara-May Barnett took third place for the 25-yard freestyle race with Kerin Kulhanek and Ava Vasquez taking fifth and sixth respectively. Barnett took another medal with the bronze in the 25-yard backstroke. The boys’ 6U team saw Esten Price take first place in the 25-yard freestyle for Columbus. Price took another gold medal in the backstroke race. The 6U mixed category saw the CATfish take first with the efforts of Barnett, Vasquez, Price and Kerin Kulhanek taking the medal.
The 8U boys’ freestyle race saw Miles Pflughaupt take the gold medal with Cody Copeland just behind in second place. Tucker Stancik took fourth place in the event. In the 100-yard freestyle relay, the team of Pflughaupt, Stancik, Copeland and Cardinal Gertson won the gold medal. The relay team also took first place in the 100-yard medley relay. Pflughaupt finished in first place for the backstroke with Copeland and Stancik in second and third place respectively. The boys finished in that same order in the 25-yard butterfly and the 25-yard breaststroke races.
The girls 8U team took on the medley relay as well, taking first place with Ila Hargrave, Landry Stancik, Olive Vasquez and Natalie Vasser as the swimmers for Columbus. Hargrave took first in the individual 25-yard freestyle with Olive Vasquez taking the silver medal in the event. Hargrave took another gold medal in the backstroke competition with Vasquez taking third place. The 100-yard relay team of Hargrave, Vasser, Vasquez and Oliva Lowe took the gold medal in the event. Vasquez took the silver medal in the 25-yard butterfly. Stancik took silver in the 25-yard breaststroke for Columbus.
The girls’ 10U 25-yard freestyle race saw Savannah DeMers take the gold medal with Brook Yearwood and Elliot Polasek taking third and fourth place respectively. In the same race, the 10U boys had Max Barnett claim a bronze medal with Eli Vasquez coming in at fifth place. The girls’ 10U age group took first place in the 100-yard freestyle relay with Polasek, Yearwood, DeMers and Hadley Divin contributing to the effort. DeMers, Yearwood, Polasek and Bailey Price also took the gold medal in the 100-yard medley relay. Price took first in the 25-yard breaststroke with Paisley Stancik taking the bronze. DeMers took first in the 25-yard butterfly race with Yearwood just behind her in second. The 10U boys’ Max Barnett took first place in the individual medley race. He also took the gold in the 25-yard backstroke race and the bronze in the 25yard butterfly.
The 12U girls took bronze in the freestyle relay race as Abby Fuller, Eden Hargrave, Aletheia Dooley and Emily Fuller combined for third place. The 12U boys found a gold medal in the same race with the team of Joshua Mick, Nathaniel Hayner, Jacob Koy and Kelly Barnett. Barnett took first place in the 50-yard freestyle race with Koy and Mick taking fifth and seventh place respectively. Barnett took first in the individual medley race as well with Joshua Mick finishing with the silver medal. Barnett took on the 50-yard backstroke and finished with the gold medal in that event as well. Barnett took another gold in the 50-yard breaststroke with Mick just behind him in second. Barnett and Mick took first and second place respectively in the 50-yard butterfly race.
The 14U boys saw Alex Rester take a bronze medal for the 50-yard breaststroke race.
The 18U boys earned a silver medal in the 50-yard freestyle as Rayce Johnson competed for Columbus. The boys also sent a team of Johnson, Mason Westfall, Morgan Westfall and Ryan Goodwin to take a silver medal in the 100yard freestyle relay race. Johnson also took first place in the individual medley race, the 50-yard breaststroke and backstroke races. He came up just short from first place in the 50-yard butterfly with a silver medal in the event. Joshua Cardarelli took the bronze in the backstroke race as well.
Micah Ehlert took the bronze in the 100-yard individual medley race for the 18U girls. She also took a bronze medal in the 25-yard and a silver medal in the 50-yard breaststroke races.
