On an unseasonably cool June day, the Poplar Bluff Piranhas youth swimming team stayed hot and in the hunt at Huntington Pool.
Although the brisk breeze chilled swimmers on the starting blocks, the Piranhas managed a great day and searing times in the water.
Seven swimmers punched their tickets to the AAU Junior Olympics with qualifying times in the regulation-sized 50-meter pool. Swimmers had to achieve qualifying time standards or place 1st, 2nd or 3rd in the championship long course meet. They will each have the opportunity to take a trip to Detroit, Michigan, to compete for the championships on July 15.
The Piranhas have been swimming hard all year to get to this point.
"We started around the end of May and they've been going pretty much non-stop," Piranhas coach Julia Dragon said. "I'm very impressed with my swimmers, they've come a long way since the beginning of the season, making improvements and trying a lot of new events."
The field of 68 swimmers was smaller than most years, mainly due to the vast amount of vacationers this time in the season. Some stuck it out for one more meet before hitting the road.
"Some of my swimmers came and swam for a few more hours, jumped out of the water and drove to get on a plane to go on vacation. So to me that just shows how dedicated they are," Dragon said. "Even though we did have a lot who were on vacation or out sick, the swimmers we had did a phenomenal job. This is the meet where the kids can experiment and see what they really like, and I think everybody had a really fun time with that."
Nine Poplar Bluff swimmers had two or more wins as the Piranhas won 44 of the 72 individual races and placed first as a team with 233 points.
Jack Harrison won the 100-meter freestyle at 1:25.85 in the boys 15-18 year old division. He then took first in the 200-breastroke (3:24.46), 200-IM (2:53.21), 200-butterfly (3:23.05), 100-breaststroke (1:31.59).
Gavin Vaughn, meanwhile, was first in the boys 13-14 division in the 100-freestyle (2:43.27), beating teammate Kastin Caudel by 16 seconds. Vaughn also won the 100-butterfly (1:27.20), 200-IM (3:06.38) and the 400-freestyle (6:02.56).
Teagan Kassing won four races in the boys 10-and-under division and took second in another to qualify for the Junior Olympics.
His times included 1:03.41 in the 50-fly, 1:43.06 in the 100-freestyle, 1:07.91 in the 50-breaststroke, 47.50 in the 50-freestyle and 59.88 in the 50-backstroke.
Caudel beat out two other swimmers to win the 200-breaststroke (3:55.69). He also took first in the 100-freestyle (1:18.66) and third in the 100-breaststroke (1:53.03) to cap his day.
In the girls 11-12 division, Keona Sample won the 200-freestyle (3:09.36) and the 100-breaststroke (1:42.01). She also won the 50-backstroke in 49.24 seconds, edging out teammate Molly Mooney, who also qualified with a time of 58.95. Mooney took home two more qualifying, second-place finishes in the 50- and 100-freestyle races.
Paige Bradley ended the day on a high note for the Piranhas by qualifying for the 400-freestyle in the girls 15-18 division with a time of 6:28.75. She also won the 200-freestyle with an exhibition time of 2:47.50.
Eleven other Piranhas took home exhibition championships to complete a successful day.
Olivia Kirkman led the pack with four wins in the girls 13-14 division.
Kirkman took first in the 100-fly (1:32.52), the 100-backstroke (1:37.17), the 100-freestyle (1:20.43) and the 50-freestyle (34.22).
Carson Todd led the boys with two exhibition wins in the boys 11-12 division 50-fly (52.17) and the 200-IM (4:23.10).
Chloe Fortner, Trinity Tuggle, Kaylin Sullivan, Tristan Gillihan, Maddie Sullivan, Audrey Cisne, Max Seals, Simone Anders and Gabrielle Fortner each took home at least one first place finish apiece in exhibition races.
Chloe Fortner won the girls 8-and-under 50-fly in 1:28.67 as well as the 50-backstroke in 1:18.82. Gabrielle Fortner took first in the girls 11-12 division 50-fly with a time of 44.58 seconds.
Tuggle had the fastest time in the girls 10-and-under 100 breaststroke (1:59.58) as well as the 200-IM (3:53.86).
Kaylin Sullivan was first in the girls 13-14 division 200-breastroke (4:25.39) and the 200-IM (4:45.05) while her sister Maddie won the girls 11-12 division 200-IM in 5:32.66.
Tristan Gillihan edged teammate Jack Fortner to win the boys 13-14 division 100-backstroke and Max Seals won the boys 15-18 100-freestyle, beating teammate Skylar Zitnak by 0.21 of a second in the closest race of the day.
Simone Anders ended her day with a second place finish in the girls 13-14 100-freestyle (1:38.00) and a win in the 100-breaststroke (1:49.98).