Six members of the Unsinkable Swim team, from the Wiscasset Community Center, competed at the 2011 Eastern Zones Swimming Championships at the Webster Aquatic Center in Webster, N. Y. from March 31 to April 2. “They did fantastic. All but one had personal best times,” coach Lori LaPointe said.
Swimmers competed in the Webster Aquatic Center’s 25 yard, 10 lane indoor pool. Age 11 and over swimmers competed in preliminaries and finals, except in the distance events; all aged 10 and under races, and all relays, were timed final events.
All swimmers had to be 2011 USA Swimming registered athletes to compete. Team points and awards are presented for the top 10 finishes.
John McLeod, 18, swam to five top 10 finishes in the male 15-18 age division and registered personal best times in all six of his events. Ross Hanley, 17, collected three top 10 finishes in the male 15-18 division. Both McLeod and Hanley swam for Wiscasset High School this past winter.
McLeod collected 3rd place in the 50 free in 22.47, taking .42 off his time. McLeod placed 10th in four events with personal best times, including the 100 breast in 1:04, the 100 fly in 56.03, the 100 free in 50.65, and the 200 fly in 2:15. McLeod was 13th in the 200 IM preliminaries in 2:07 and did not make the finals in the event. The top 10 scorers in the preliminaries move on to the finals.
Hanley qualified for Zones in six events, and place in the top 10 in three of them with personal best times. Hanley placed 8th in the 100 free in 50.04, 9th in the 50 free in 22.9, and 9th in the 100 back in 57.38. Hanley also competed in the preliminary round of the 200 free (15th in 1:53), 100 fly (13th in 57.6), and 200 fly (15th in 2:18).
Noah Jordan, 11, qualified for Zones in two events. Jordan placed 27th in both the 50 breast (37.2) and 100 breast (1:19) prelims.
Benjamin Milliken, 11, qualified for Zones in two events in the male 11-12 division. Milliken placed 27th in the 100 fly prelims (1:15) and 30th in the 100 back prelims (32.01). Milliken swam to a personal best in the 100 fly.
Samantha Ober, 10, qualified for Zones in four events. Ober placed 26th in the 100 breast (1:31), 28th in the 100 fly (1:45), 29th in the 50 breast (41.28) and 30th in the 200 IM (3:16) in the female 10 and under division. Ober had personal best times in the 50 breast and 100 fly.
Jacob Stafford, 10, qualified for Zones in three events. Stafford placed 24th in the 200 IM, 25th in the 50 breast and 26th in the 100 fly in the male 10 and under division, and had personal best times in all three events.
