Cougars Shine in Region III Championships with Major Time Drops

Henrietta, New York - 

The Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving competed at the Region III/ Northeast District Championships, held at Monroe Community College Friday, February 16th to February 18th. The men’s team finished in 4th place with a score of 194.5 and the women finished in 5th with a score of 80. 

Team leaders for the cougars were Joshua Beardsley scoring a total of 48 points of the 194.5 for the men and Grace Gregoire scoring a total of 36 points of the 80 for the women. 

Day 1: 

Ethan Merrill led thing off for the cougars in the 50yd Breaststroke, placing 4th place and dropping a 34.73 time, which was 4 seconds faster than his seeded time. Joshua Beardsley would kick off his outstanding weekend in the 200yd IM taking 3rd with a time of 2:23.03. Following that began the 50yd freestyle, where Mackenzie Winnie placed 10th with a time of 36.73. The men would be stacked up in the 50yd freestyle as Thomas Strzelec took 7th with a national qualifying time of 26.78, Merrill coming in at 12th (29.47) and Austin Layne taking 13th(31.67). 

Day 2:

The men began the day with the 200yd freestyle relay, placing 4th and dropping their previous seeded time by 3.5 seconds, Led off by Strzelec, then Layne, Merrill and Beardsley. In the women’s 50yd Backstroke, Gregoire broke out to earn herself a 2nd place finish with a time of 35.16 and a national qualifying time, Winnie also taking 5th place on the podium, with a time of 50.01. Beardsley would continue the trend, taking 2nd in the 100yd Butterfly and a season best of 1:01.57. 

Women’s diving would take place in the early session, where Gregoire and Meaghan Bray would compete on the 1-Meter board. Bray would finish in 3rd with a score of 154.55 and Gregoire finishing in 5th with a 118.25. 

In the evening, Beardsley came in hot with a 3rd place finish in the 100yd IM (1:05.00), followed by Gregoire finishing 2nd in the 100yd Backstroke. Ethan Merrill jumped up 3 spots to tie for 5th place in the 100yd Breaststroke, with a time of 1:15.54, a 7 second drop from his seeded time. 

The men would finish off the evening with the 200yd Medley Relay coming in 3rd. 

Day 3:

On the final day of racing Winnie started things off with the 50yd Butterfly, taking 3rd with a time of 48.85, Beardsley also swimming the 50yd Butterfly, placed 4th with a time of 28.44. The yet again stacked 100 free, Winnie took 7th with a 1:23.01 dropping 6 seconds. Strzelec taking 3rd with a 1:01.23, Merrill taking 5th with a 1:04.11 and Layne taking 7th with a 1:12.33. 

On the board for 1-Meter diving Strzelec would finish 3rd with a score of 140.00. 

To end the weekend of swims, the Men’s team took to the 400yd Freestyle Relay where they would finish with a solid 3rd place. 

The Cougars would finish with a total of 20 Personal Records and 24 Season Bests to cap off the weekend of swims.

Swimming and Diving looks to complete their season at the National Championship hosted by Indian River State College in Fort Pierce, FL. The team will fly out the 4th of March and begin competition the 6th of March.