Ad Astra Finishes 3rd Overall at Jim Devine Invitational
With over 40 teams competing and over 1100 athletes in attendance, Ad Astra made a statement loud and clear at the Jim Devine Invitational in Columbia. We had 41 athletes compete and they all helped us finish 3rd as a team overall. Finishing 3rd as a team is a reflection of the growth that we have experienced in numbers and in quality. This was a team effort as we had relays competing in boys and girls events. We had a great balance of scoring points from our youngest athletes to our oldest swimmers. Way to Go AAAA!
Claire Campbell lead the way for Ad Astra as she finished 4th overall in the Girls Division for Points. This is including all ages- Claire scored points by taking home Gold in three events (100 free, 50 free, 100 fly) and being in the Top 8 for the remainder of her events. Claire had personal best times in all events. She also achieved three AAAA time standards. Congrats Claire!
First Place Finishers:
Marian Frick
Claire Campbell
Adin Florence
The following is a recap for each athlete that participated in Columbia:
Susan Frick- Susan swam personal best times in the 200 breaststroke by 8 seconds and the 100 free by 3 seconds. She also went a personal best time in the 50 free by over a second. She added events for D2’s and it was fun to see Susan race!
Marian Frick- Marian swam her last meet as a 10 & under and went out in style. Marian took home first place in the 50 and 100 breaststroke. Her 50 yd. breaststroke time was an 11-12 year old AA time standard. Marian also swam six personal best times.
Gretchen Frick- Gretchen just came off the Minnesota Grand Prix where she swam great. She kept the ball rolling for Columbia. She swam personal best times in events that she did not swim at the Grand Prix.
Canaan Campbell- Canaan just competed at the Minnesota Grand Prix where he swam all personal bests, and he did the same at Columbia. He focused on his underwaters for the meet and it made the difference as he swam personal best times.
Cierra Campbell- Cierra ran cross-country this fall for high school and she was in great shape to swim this weekend. Cierra swam personal best times and dropped over 9 seconds in the 100 backstroke. She also went a best time in the 50 free and the 400IM.
J.T. Amrein- J.T. was almost always seeded in the Top Heat for the weekend in all of his events. He came to race and swam several personal best times. He also finished in the Top 8 in a few of his events achieving A time standards
Payton Krug- Payton excelled in the 200 yard races this weekend as she dropped over 25 seconds in the 200 Free and 15 seconds in the 200IM. She also added a few more events to her D1 Schedule for March. Payton has 5 personal best times over the weekend. Payton scored points for Ad Astra when she finished 3rd in the 100 Fly. She also finished in the Top 10 in the 200 Free(7th), 50 fly(10th), and 200IM(7th).
Emily Venters- Emily was our only female swimmer to compete in the Iron Women over the weekend. Emily swam the mile, 500 free, 400IM, and 1000 free. She swam all personal best times in all of her events over the weekend. A highlight race for her was the 200 breaststroke as she cut 7 seconds and got very close to her first sectional cut.
Mary Reed-Weston- Mary’s breaststroke was spot on over the weekend as she cut time in the 100 and 200 breaststroke and achieved the Pro-Am cut in both of the events. Mary also swam the mile and went a personal best time. She also went a best time in the 400IM.
Grace McCalla- Grace was out of the water for about three weeks, but that didn’t stop her from swimming personal best times. Grace achieved D1 times over the weekend and broke the 28-second mark in the 50 free. Grace also cut 40 seconds in the 500 yd. freestyle. Grace swam 7 personal best times.
Adin Florence-Adin is only 8 years old, but he competed with the big boys. Adin achieved all D2 times for 9-10 boys and went personal best times in all of his races. He had time drops that were over 30 seconds. Adin also finished first in the 25 backstroke for 8 and Under Boys.
Elijah Florence- Elijah has been working on his tight streamlines and underwaters for the past few weeks and it has paid off. Elijah had time drops in six of his races. He also came very close to breaking the 1-minute barrier as he finished with a 1:00.05.
Iris Sherron- Iris came to Columbia with the goal to achieve D2 times in the backstrokes and that is exactly what she did. Iris cut 4 seconds in the 50 backstroke and 3 in the 100 backstroke to qualify for D2’s. This was the first time Iris qualified for D2’s. Iris also swam personal best times in her other races.
Faith Baxter- Faith was ready for some huge time drops when she got to Columbia. Faith cut over 30 seconds in the 100IM. She also cut 8 seconds in her 50 free to qualify for D2’s.
Riley Sirimongkhon-Dyck Riley swam new races for the first time this weekend. He swam the 200 free and broke the 3-minute mark the first time. Riley also qualified for D2’s in the majority of all of his swims. He came very close to achieving D1’s. Riley finished 16th in his 50 breaststroke.
Noah Florence- Noah finished in the Top 8 in three of his races this weekend. He finished 2nd in the 50 breaststroke with an AA Time Standard. Noah also achieved all D1 time standards in his age group. Look for Noah to be at the top for Missouri Valley in March for 9-10Boys.
Maggie McCalla- Maggie started the meet on Friday night with a great 200IM. Maggie dropped over 10 seconds and she kept it that way for the whole weekend. Maggie swam personal best times and her stroke technique looked strong. Maggie finished in the Top 8 in the 100 fly.
Nicholas Stefanov- Nicholas is only 7 years old, but came very close to his D2 times for the 9-10 age group. Nicholas swam personal best times and every time was focused on great turns. Nicholas did great in the 25 yard races and finished in the Top 16.
Janet Stefanov- Janet had some great races over the weekend as she swam personal best times. She swam best times in the 100IM and the 200IM. Janet finished 10th in the 50 backstroke and finished 14th in the 100 backstroke.
Maddie Dean- Maddie did a lot of racing over the weekend and swam 7 personal best times throughout the weekend. Maddie made an effort to work on her underwater dolphin kicks on each wall and the coaches took notice on the improvement.
Ainsley Krug- Ainsley swam 8 personal best times this weekend, with time drops coming in all strokes. Ainsley achieved 6 AA Time standards over the weekend, coming very close to AAA time standards. Ainlsey had a Top 10 finish when she finished 9th in the 200 Free.
Megan Dailey- Megan swam two personal best times this weekend. She had a highlight race when she swam the 200 breaststroke. Megan broke the 3-minute mark for the first time.
Evan Dusselier- Evan had a break out swim in the 50 fly over the weekend. The race had great technique the whole 50 yards. We were impressed! Evan swam 7 personal best times throughout the weekend.
Lauren Amrein- Lauren swam all personal best times for Ad Astra this weekend. She continues to travel to meets and swim personal bests at each meet. She had a Top 25 finish in the 100 breaststroke.
Lucy Sirimongkhon-Dyck- Lucy has been working on her breaststroke over the past month. Lucy competed in the 200 breaststroke and cut 10 seconds. This also helped out her 200 and 400IM races, where she swam close to best times. Lucy will be competing at the Pro-Am in December where she will suit up and focus on other races.
Josh Florence- Josh had two races where he finished in the Top 8. Josh finished 7th in the 100 fly and 6th in the 200 free. Josh is one the Top 11-12 year old boys for Missouri Valley. Josh ended the weekend with 8 personal best times including a AA Time standard in the 200 free.
Chris Berry- Chris had a great weekend full of new best times. Chris achieved 7 personal best times and we saw huge improvements in his technique. The highlight for Chris’s weekend was when he swam a personal best time on the Boy’s Relay by over one second and half in the 50 free. It was fun to watch him race.
Lanie Whitehill- Lanie had a stellar meet as she swam personal best times in all of her races. She also swam the 200 free for the first time. Lanie achieved all D2 times and came close to D1 time standards for 9-10 girls.
Miranda Rohn- Over the weekend, Miranda went in season best times for Ad Astra in her events. She also went a best time for Ad Astra in the 100 Fly.
Brittany Archer- Brittany achieved her first D1 time with Ad Astra in the last event of the weekend. Brittany went a best time in the 1000 free and got the D1 time as well. Brittany also had achieved 7 personal best times over the weekend. She also broke the 30-second barrier in the 50 free.
Simone Herlihy- Simone Herlihy was one of the swimmers that had great underwaters over the weekend. This helped her break the 1-minute barrier for the 100 free. She also swam 8 personal best times over the weekend.
Stephen Johnson- Stephen Johnson is swimming at the Top of his age group and swam 6 personal best times for the weekend. He had his highest placing when he finished 3rd in the 500 free. Stephen was just a few tenths away from his AAA time standard. This was the first time he swam the 500 free. He also finished in the Top 8 in six of his events.
Oliver Tillinghast- Oliver had a handful of personal best times over the weekend. All weekend long he was working on his turns and you could see his effort to make them faster. Oliver had 6 personal best times with his highest finish coming in the 200 fly, where he finished 14th.
Evan Eskilson- Evan’s highlight race over the weekend was his 200 backstroke, as he cut over 3 seconds and just missing his Pro-Am cut. Evan finished 10th in the event. Evan just aged up in between seasons, and is enjoying swimming the longer races. He swam personal best times over the weekend.
Kara Krannawitter- Kara swam a full schedule of events over the weekend. Kara swam 5 personal best times throughout the weekend. Kara added a few new events to her D1 schedule by achieving the D1 time standard.
David Christie- David swam a full load of events at the meet and swam two personal best times over the weekend. David went best times in the 50 free and the 200IM. In his other events, he was close to personal best times.
Danny Christie- Danny Christie aged up to 13-14 over the break and has started swimming the longer races. Danny cut over 15 seconds in his 500 free and also went best times in all of his other races. Danny finished in the Top 8 in seven of his races.
Jacob McCalla- Jacob had a fun time swimming with the 10 & Under Boys at Columbia. Jacob finished in the Top 24 in the 25 yd. races, including Top 16 in the 25 Free and the 25 breaststroke.
Marisa Kearns- Marisa swam in a few new races for the first time and she did very well. She swam 5 personal best times and just aged up to 11-12 age group. Marisa used the skills we have been stressing in practice in each of her races.
