They came, they swam, they conquered: The tiny band of 13 Stowe Swimmers took on 830 swimmers from 20 teams at the 2014 Vermont Swim Association State Championships, held Aug. 2-3 at the Upper Valley Aquatic Center in White River Junction.
The Stowe athletes swam away with the overall team win, after two grueling days of competition and six separate age group sessions.
They were crowned the 2014 Vermont Swim Association Division 5 State Champions, amassing 340 total team points. Winooski took a close second with 326 points; Rockingham was third with 176.
The Stowe Swimmers achieved 24 out of 40 possible lifetime best swims.
Lula Andrae swam away with three gold medals and three personal bests: 100-yard individual medley, a swim that showcases 25 yards of all four competitive strokes in order (butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle); 50 freestyle in a very close race, winning by only .04 seconds; and 25 butterfly, setting an all-time Stowe Swimmers club record with a time of 15:14.
Heidi Brynn placed eighth in the 100 backstroke, 10th in the 50 breaststroke, 10th in the 100 IM, and 13th in the 50 freestyle.
Thomas Cooney set personal bests in all three of his swims: 25 freestyle, 25 backstroke and 50 freestyle.
Rudd Day placed third in the 25 freestyle and the 50 freestyle (lifetime best), and placed fourth in the 25 backstroke.
Tess Day placed fifth in the 25 backstroke and seventh in the 25 freestyle, setting two bests.
Natalie Doehla set a best in the 50 butterfly.
Alexis Faith set four bests: third place in the 100 butterfly, third in the 100 breaststroke, fifth in the 50 freestyle, and fifth in the 100 freestyle.
Carter Friedrich set a lifetime best in the 25 freestyle by 2.5 seconds.
Tanis Hoekstra achieved personal bests and placed fourth in the 100 backstroke, seventh in the 100 butterfly, ninth in the 50 butterfly, and 12th in the 100 IM.
Yvain Hoeskstra set two personal bests in the 100 IM and 50 backstroke, placing 11th and 12th respectively, and placed sixth in the 100 backstroke and ninth in the 100 breaststroke.
Michael Mallen set three lifetime bests in the 50 breaststroke, 50 freestyle, and the 100 backstroke, placing 16th, 18th and seventh, respectively.
Emaline Ouellette set a lifetime best in the 50 freestyle, taking off almost 2 seconds.
Eugene Petrow placed 19th in the 50 freestyle.
The 20 teams represented the three swim leagues of Vermont: Champlain Valley, Southern Valley, and the Green Mountain Swim League (Stowe’s league). Some races had as many as 80 swimmers vying for the top spots.
This event concluded the 2014 summer swim season. The Swimmers will turn their focus to the USA Swimming 2015 winter swim season
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