The Barton Community College swim teams competed Saturday at the Mustang Invitational in Sioux City, Iowa, as the young squad continued to post personal best times leading to a third place for the Cougar men with fourteen top-5 finishes while the ladies' squad came in sixth overall.
Barton scored 560 points on the day, finishing behind host NAIA Morningside College's 794 and the 695 points recorded by NJCAA power Iowa Central Community College. The Lady Cougars compiled 72 points against six other squads as NCAA Division II Augustana University took the title racking up 973 points.
"We swam a little tired probably more some from the long travel," said Head Coach Jonathan Reeder. "The meet exposed some issues we need to correct before our next competition but in saying that, we also set a lot of new personal bests. We had some individuals swim in events they haven't competed in and tried some new positioning on our relays, so everything considered along with the overall improvements, I was really proud of the team and how they dug deep and competed."
Keagan Wilson led the Cougars with sixty-six points and notched the lone victory of the day in a wild 50 freestyle, sharing the title with two others at 22.46 as the top six were within .06 seconds of each other. Wilson also went on for a 100 butterfly runner-up in 54.57 and just missed another silver in the 200 butterfly by .14 seconds in settling for third at 2:06.90.
Three other Cougars had runner-up finishes on the day with Phane Pedigo's 5:29.25 in the 500 freestyle, Dawson Gantenbein in the 200 backstroke in 2:05.89, and Sean Williams's 2:26.28 beating out teammate Bailey Chavez' 2:27.59 in the 200 breaststroke. Chavez would accumulate the second most points on the day for the Cougars with fifty-eight by also taking fifth in the competitive 100 breaststroke (1:06.57) and sixth in the 200 IM (2:13.86).
Barton's relay teams also fared well on the day, entering two squads in each race in earning a pair of third and sixth placings. Clocking a third place 1:42.17 in the 200 medley, the tandem of Gantenbein, Chavez, William Spitz, and Wilson also placed third in the 200 freestyle in 1:31.65.
On the women's side, Regan Smyth piled up thirty of the team's seventy-two points with her highest placing coming in the 50 freestyle at 27.09. Kayla Hennan had the highest individual placing for the Lady Cougars with a sixth place finish in the 200 breaststroke at 2:49.96 and just a little over a second out of the fifth spot.
Barton's next action will come December 1-2 as the Cougars make the eight hour trip to Conway, Arkansas, for the 2nd Annual Hendrix Invitational.