A trio of Bracebridge swimmers left many of their provincial rivals all wet in an Ontario-wide swimming tournament last week.
Muskoka Aquatic Club swimmers Emma Barnes, Nathan Griffioen and Emily Hubert made the trek out to Ottawa from June 27-31 for the Long Course Junior Provincial Championships. The tournament was held between the fastest 800 swimmers in Ontario.
“All three swimmers had a great meet. The competition was tough and there were a lot of swimmers in attendance,” said MUSAC coach Morgan Kierstead. “I think for a small club we really showed off our talent.”
In the age 15 category, Griffioen landed a 10th place finish out of 34 swimmers in the men’s 100-metre backstroke and a 14th-place finish out of 29 swimmers in the 200-metre backstroke. He also placed 12th out of 49 swimmers in the 200-metre individual medley, and 15th out of 28 swimmers in the 400-metre individual medley.
In the same age category, Barnes scored placed 12th out of 29 swimmers in the 100-metre backstroke, 13th out of 25 swimmers in the 200-metre backstroke, and 19th out of 31 swimmers in the 200-metre freestyle.
In the age 13 category, Hubert earned an 18th place out of 49 swimmers in the 50-metre freestyle event. She also landed in 27th place out of 49 swimmers in the 200-metre freestyle, and 34th out of 41 swimmers in the 100-metre freestyle.
“Nathan Griffioen had an especially great swim meet, being the 10th fastest 15-year-old boy in the province for 100-metre backstroke is something to be really proud of,” said Kierstead. “Emily and Emma had some outstanding races, too. They both took off a huge amount of time their 200-metre freestyle events and placed well in all of their other events too. All in all I would say it was a very successful swim meet.”
At the end of this month, both Barnes and Griffioen will be swimming in the Age Group Nationals — a Canada-wide competition in Calgary from July 24 to July 30. The pair will be joined there by fellow MUSAC swimmer Hailey Morris. The Age Group Nationals feature the top 800 swimmers from across the entire country.