By Cort Reynolds
LIMA__The Ada High School swim teams competed at the annual Lima Holiday Invitational Thursday, December 28, at the Lima YMCA.
Bulldog junior ace Lily Baumgartner won the 200 individual medley in 2:09.83, breaking the school and meet record in the process. She also won the 100 butterfly in 58.02.
The Bulldog girls finished 13th out of 24 teams with 55 points. Ottawa-Glandorf won the girls team crown with 270.5 points, followed by St. Marys (247) and Versailles (208).
Shawnee won the boys meet with 284.5 points. St. Marys was second (235) and O-G third (221). Ada came in 22nd among the boys squads with nine points.
O-G won the combined meet with 491.5 points, with St. Marys close behind in second at 482. Shawnee ended up third (451).
The Bulldogs finished 17th out of 29 squads in the combined boys/girls standings with 64 points.
Several Ada swimmers set personal-best times at the huge meet.
“Lily won both of her events and broke the meet record as well as her school record for the 200 IM,” said second-year Ada head coach Ashley Robey. “We had a lot of PRs and time drops.
“Lily dropped almost four seconds in her 200 IM and continues to impress,” she continued. “Lydia and Jacob edged off some more time on their backstroke, as well as Alyssa in her breaststroke. Multiple others posted best times as well, and the hard work they have been putting in at the pool is paying off.
“These bigger invitationals give them the opportunity to compete against swimmers they would come across at sectionals or districts or even state,” she added. “It also provides a lot of time for the team to bond.”
Sophomore Lydia Demascio finished 20th out of 65 girls in the 100 backstroke in 1:14.08. Freshman Jacob Szippl came in a solid 16th amid a field of 47 boys in the 100 back in a time of 1:09.15.
Sophomore Alyssa Nau finished 16h out of 60 girls in the 100 breaststroke in 1:23.69.
Freshman Tim Chrissobolis touched 19th in the 100 breaststroke (1:17.4) in a field of 42 swimmers.
Ada senior Jack Baumgartner finished 11th in the 500 free (6:15.78).
Ada swims next at the Jay County Invitational in Portage, Indiana on Saturday, January 6.
