The Barton Community College swim teams competed this past weekend at the Colorado College Classic in Colorado Springs, Colorado, coming home with a third place finish on the men's side and a fourth placing by the women.
Two tough challenges faced the Cougars over the course of the weekend, altitude and a deep competitive squad of athletes. Head Coach Jonathan Reeder also pushed his Cougars over the two-day event utilizing the training opportunity resulting in a host of positive results in preparation for upcoming challenges.
Ahead for the Cougars is the program's first ever home meet as four other teams will invade the Barton pool on Saturday for the Barton Winter Invite. Free and open to the public, the meet is set to begin at 2:00 p.m. with live web streaming also offered at BartonSports.com.
Highlighting Saturday's competitions was the individual title from freshman Elizabeth Spitz. In a neck and next 100 breaststroke, finding a new gear in the final twenty-five yards Spitz was able to turn an injury at the wall into an advantage in winning the race by a half of a second in stopping the clock at 1:09.65. Fellow freshman Elizabeth Schrock was also strong in the vent with a 1:13.89 to place fourth overall.
The women also received two runner-up placing on day one with freshman McKayla Siemiller taking second in the 100 backstroke in 1:04.48. Siemiller was joined by Spitz and sophomores Reagan Smyth and Kayla Hennen to earn the Cougars' other runner-up finish with a 4:40.06 time in the 400 medley relay.
The Cougar men were also strong in the event with Noah Childs, Rory Smith, Leonard-Andrei Olaru, and Isaac Panzer posted a 3:46.79 time to finish 3rd. Barton's other relay entry placed four seconds behind in fifth as Christian Taylor, Simon Botton, Gabrial Ozanne, and David Garcia compiled a 3:50.82 time.
Barton gained a lot of confidence headed into day two, with the two days of training and getting accustomed to the altitude produced another big day in the pool to wrap up the classic.
On the women's side it was the tandem of Smyth, Hennen, Schrock, and Siemiller making their mark again by winning the 200 freestyle relay by nearly two seconds with a 1:43.56 time.
Highlighting the men's performances on the final day was in the 200 breaststroke as four Cougars were in the Top-8 of the tough event. Taylor led the way with a fourth place 2:21.28 time to edge out Rory Smith's 2:21.51 clocking while Botton placed 6th in 2:25.50 and Sean Williams' 2:34.97 grabbed the eighth placing.
The women were equally impressive in the 100 freestyle with four in the Top-8 and five within the Top-11. Smyth was first to touch the wall of the Cougars with a fifth place 56.94 with Schrock in sixth at 57.59, Siemiller seventh in 59.50, and Spitz powering through injury in falling to eighth place with a 1:02.45 after posting a 57.99 preliminary time. Hennen rounded out the five into the finals with a "B" final time of 59.29 to place eleventh overall.