Area swimmers compete in the Celina Pentathlon

Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry

Around 200 swimmers traveled to Bryson Pool on Saturday for the annual Celina Pentathlon invitational. The event features older swimmers swimming heats of the freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly followed by a 100-yard individual medley with the times of all heats combined. The lowest combined time was the winner of the pentathlon. The younger swimmers swam just the four strokes for a quadathlon.

In the boys' 13-14 year old division, Celina Dolphin teammates Justin Fleagle and Keaton McMurray combined to break five pool records. McMurray set marks in the individual medley with a time of 1:01.71, 50 butterfly in 27.04 seconds and 50 breaststroke in 32.68 seconds. Fleagle set new marks in the 50 backstroke (27.78 seconds) and 50 freestyle (24.64). When the final times were tallied, Fleagle edged McMurray 2:54.26 to 2:55.0 to win the division title.

Kennedy Newell added three new records en route to winning the girls' 13-14 age group. Newell set new standards in the individual medley (1:10.28), 50 butterfly (31.35) and 50 backstroke (32.90) and won the division in 3:22.56, beating teammate Claire Gass, who set a new record in the 50 breaststroke with a time of 34.70 seconds.

Also setting a new record was St. Marys' Bradey Triplett in the boys' 8-under division. Triplett swam the 25 breaststroke in 22.65 seconds and won the division with a time of 1:21.24.

In the girls' 8-under quadathlon Audra Clark of the St. Marys Seahawks won with a time of 1:25.72, nearly 10 seconds ahead of teammate Zara Spees. Celina's Griffin Luebke won the boys' 9-10 pentathlon with a combined time of 2:35.33, edging St. Marys' Reese Triplett by just .39 seconds. The Troy Dolphins claimed the girls' 9-10 and 11-12 titles thanks to the effort of Anika Hurley in the 9-10 division in 2:44.99 and then Kendra Kern in the 11-12 group in 2:24.50.

Wapakoneta's Grant Honigford won the boys' 11-12 division with a time of 2:22.62. Finally in the girls' 15-18 division, Fort Recovery Eels swimmer Alexis Bubp edged teammate Cassidy Martin by just under a second to claim the title. The boys' 15-18 champion was Charlie Sutton of Wapakoneta, who finished in 3:01.36 to beat out teammates Michael Johnston and Ryan Schneider.

Celina hosts the New Bremen Barracudas tonight at Bryson Pool as area teams gear up for the Tri-County championships later this month. Coldwater hosts the diving championships on July 16 and Celina hosts the A-level swimming championships on July 23.