his past weekend we attended the Beach Bash meet in Topeka. We had fifteen swimmers in attendance, and everyone swam very well. We had 16 top eight finishes, and over 70% best times.

Alana Bucholtz had several best times, including a five second drop in her 200 IM, a 15 second drop in her 400 Free, two seconds in her 100 Free, six seconds in the 100 Fly, four seconds in the 200 Free, and four seconds in her 100 Breast. She also had a sixth place finish in her 50 Fly. Austin Bullock posted a 25 second drop in his 200 Back, five seconds in both the 400 Free and 200 IM, and a second in the 50 Free, 100 Free, and 200 Free. He placed 6th in the 50 Free as well.

Madison Monaco dropped significant time in each of her races, cutting over 18 seconds in her 200 IM, two seconds in the 50 Back and 50 Breast, a whopping 45 seconds in the 200 Free, eight seconds in the 50 Fly, 12 seconds in the 100 Back, 10 seconds in the 100 Breast, and over five seconds in the 50 Free. Levi Jones dropped almost 10 seconds in the 200 IM, depsite being sick for the weekend. Pilar Dritz also had several large time drops, cutting 11 seconds in the 200 IM, two seconds in the 100 Free, one second in the 50 Back, and five seconds in the 200 Free. Mariah Scipio dropped five seconds in the 100 Back and two seconds in the 50 Fly.

Emily Cox dropped 21 seconds in the 100 Free, eight seconds in the 50 Back, seven seconds in the 50 Breast, 19 seconds in the 100 Back, 31 seconds in the 100 Breast, and four seconds in the 50 Free. Bailey McCardell also dropped time in her races, cutting six seconds in the 100 Back and almost a second in the 50 Free. Annemarie Bucholtz dropped three seconds in the 200 IM, one second in the 50 Free, and almost four seconds in the 200 Free.

Also posting best times were Brianna Heikkinen in the 50 Free, 100 Back, and 200 Free, AJ Parish in the 200 Back, 100 Free, and 100 Back, and Kelly Wichmann in the 50 Fly and 100 Breast. Tiesha Scipio posted a season best time in both the 50 Free, in which she finished third, and the 100 Back. Reid Carlson posted two top eight finishes, placing eighth in the 100 Fly and fifth in the 200 Fly. Alanna Brannam had a total of 10 top eight finishes, and posted a best time in the 400 Free, 100 Fly, 50 Breast, 200 Free, 50 Fly, 100 Breast, and 50 Free. She also won the 400 Free.

Overall this was a very successful meet and a great way to start the long course season.

Thanks - Todd

Complete Results
 

This past weekend we attended a swim meet in Topeka. Our swimmers did very well, with all but two posting at least one personal best time. We had 12 top eight finishes, including three victories.

Alanna Brannam had a fantastic meet, posting a personal best time in each race. She won three events and placed second in her other two races. She also won the high point award for 10&Under girls. She won the 200 IM, 100 Free, and 400 Free, and took second in the 100 Breast and 100 Back.

Oliver Boede had three top eight finishes, placing 2nd in the 200 Breast, 5th in the 100 Breast, and 7th in the 100 Free. Alana Bucholtz had two top eight finishes, placing 7th in the 100 Free and 5th in the 100 Fly. She also posted a best time in her 50 Freestyle, dropping a second and missing a Zone qualifying time by half a second. Levi Jones also posted two top eight finishes, placing 2nd in the 100 Breast and 4th in the 50 Fly. He also dropped two second in the 100 Free and 50 Back, and nine seconds in his 400 Free.

Mariah Scipio had several large time drops, cutting almost three seconds in the 50 Free, two seconds in the 50 Back, and 13 seconds in her 100 Free. She also cut almost three seconds in the 50 Fly. Kelly Wichmann had two big time drops, cutting six seconds in her 50 Breast and almost 10 seconds in her 50 Free. Annemarie Bucholtz dropped almost 17 seconds in her 200 Back, as well as two seconds in her 100 Free. Austin Bullock dropped five seconds in his 100 Breast.

Katie Bussmann dropped five seconds in her 100 Breast, over a second in her 50 Breast, and three seconds in her 100 Free. Mary Harner also cut alot of time, dropping nine seconds in her 50 Free, 13 seconds in her 100 Breast, almost nine seconds in the 50 Back, and 12 seconds in the 100 Free.

We had several swimmers competing in their first ever long course meet. Emma Chamberlayne, Linda Liu, Mary Matthews, Bailey McCardell, Casey McCardell, Riley McCardell, and Allen Su all swam in a long course meters meet for the first time. Eddie Chamberlayne swam in his first ever swim meet, competing in the 50 Freestyle.

Congratulations to all of our swimmers who attended this meet, they swam very well and the coaches are very proud of their accomplishments.

Thanks - Todd

Complete Results
 

Sarah Hettenbach qualified in the 50 Free and 100 Free, and also time trialed the 100 Fly. She posted a season best time in her 100 Free, going a 53.76. She also went a personal best time in her 100 Fly, dropping over a second to swim a 1:00.45. Her best race of the meet came in the 50 Freestyle where she swam a time of 24.43. That time placed her 85th overall out of over 270 competitors. She continued to prove herself to be one of the best sprint freestylers from the area, as only one girl from Missouri Valley finished higher than Sarah at Juniors in the 50 Free. Sarah was also the first Marlin swimmer since 1994 to attend Junior Nationals. Congratulations to Sarah on her accomplishments.

Thanks - Todd
 

This past weekend we attended the Missouri Valley Division 1 Championship meet in Wichita. While we took a smaller team to this meet than we have in past years, we still had some very good individual performances.

Alanna Brannam led the way, posting five personal best times, as well as placing in the top 16 in all but one of her races. She placed 12th in the 10&Under girls age group in the 50 Back and 9th in the 100 IM. She also placed 8th in the 50 Free, 5th in both the 200 IM and 100 Free, and 2nd overall in the 200 Free. Also scoring top 16 finishes were Brianna Heikkinen who placed 15th in the 13-14 girls 100 Breast, and Austin Bullock who placed 11th in the 13-14 boys 100 Breast and 16th in the 50 Free. Austin's time in the 100 breast was a best time by almost a second. He also posted a best time in the 200 IM.

James Grinter also had a very nice meet, dropping over a second in his 100 Breast and over three seconds in his 200 Fly. Alana Bucholtz also competed in the meet, swimming the 50 Free and 100 Back.

Thanks - Todd

Complete Results
 

This past weekend we attended the Region 8 Sectional Championship meet in Columbia, Missouri. This meet had the fastest swimmers from Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and parts of Iowa and Illinois. Attending the meet for the Marlins were Sarah Hettenbach, Tiesha Scipio, Oliver Boede, Reid Carlson, Austin Bullock, and Eric Reichling. We swam very well at the meet, with every tapered swimmer posting a lifetime best in each race.

Oliver Boede led the way for the Marlins with a 24th place finish in the 100 breast, where he dropped two seconds from his previous best time. He also dropped almost seven seconds in his 200 breast while qualifying for the Championship finals. He placed 8th overall in that event, becoming the first Marlin swimmer since the 90's to place in the top 8 in an individual event.

Sarah Hettenbach also had a very nice meet despite not being tapered. She qualified for finals in the 50 free, where she placed 19th overall. She posted a best un-tapered time in all but one of her races. Sarah will be competing in the NCSA Junior National Championship meet in Orlando, Florida from March 18 to March 22.

Tiesha Scipio posted a personal best time in both of her races, dropping over a quarter of a second in her 50 free, and a second and a half in her 100 free. Reid Carlson also posted a personal best time in his 100 fly.

Our boys also competed in the 400 Medley and 400 Free relays. Austin Bullock led off the 400 Medley relay with a best time for his 100 back, dropping over five seconds. Eric Reichling had a great anchor leg, taking out the 100 free in a best time at the 50 by almost a second in a very gutsy swim. In the 400 Free relay Oliver led off the relay with a very nice 59.02, a best time for him by several seconds. Eric split a 1:00.20 for his 100 free in that race, which is over two seconds faster than his best 100 meter free. Austin Bullock anchored the relay, splitting a best time at the 50, and finishing his 100 with a time that was three seconds faster than his previous best 100 free.

Thanks - Todd

Complete Results
 

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