MALST Swimmers Bring Home Spirit Award

Who’s got the spirit? Clearly it’s the swim team! The team won the 2018 Wayne Stillson Team Spirit trophy at the Seasonal Championship Meet held in Webster from August 3-5. This was the first year the championship has been held in a short course pool, and the first time since 2010, Milbank has received the Team Spirit trophy.

The team also brought home the third place trophy to go with their Spirit Award, along with a slew of other hardware won by individual swimmers.

Standing out among the winners was Emma DeBoer, who was the recipient of this year’s Matt Rowan Team Dedication Award. The award winner is chosen by the family of Matt Rowan, a swimmer from the Huron swim team who passed away. Each team can nominate one swimmer from their team who has displayed determination and hard work and possesses a positive outlook on competitive swimming. Coach Jodi Street said, “Emma has done an amazing job this year in the role of one of our leaders. She is always there to cheer on the team and support swimmers of all age groups. She has really shown commitment throughout the whole season.”

Trey Gloe was also recognized for his hard work. Gloe was awarded the 2018 Coaches Award in the male category. Street said, “Trey works very hard and puts in extra time in practice to reach his goal of qualifying for the State A Meet. He finished his season very strong with first place finishes in all seven of his events and high pointed in first place in his age group.”

The top eight swimmers in each category took the podium and received their High Point hardware. They were:

Girls 6 and under age group : Timbree Spors – 3rd place, TyLynn Wellnitz – 4th place, Lennox Spors – 6th place

Girls 7-8 age group: Isabella Pauli – 5th place

Boys 7-8 age group: Logan Dexter – 5th place

Girls 9-10 age group: Jacy Dexter – 1st place

Boys 9-10 age group: Carter Gloe – 1st place, Liam Street and Layten Osowski tied for 4th place

Girls 11-12 age group: Maurina Street – 1st place, Aubrey Fraasch – 3rd place, Jenna Dexter – 7th place

Boys 11-12 age group: Trey Gloe – 1st place

Girls 13-14 age group: Hallie Schulte – 6th place, Laney Forrette – 8th place.

Boys 13-14 age group: Isaac Sousa – 8th place

Boys 15-16 age group: Daniel VanDover – 4th place

Multiple swimmers had time drops in all seven of their events. Coach Street gave the stats and said, “That’s really the goal going into this meet to perform as best as we possibly can and see improvements from the first meet. Our top two time cutters were Eleanor Mills with a massive 39.80 drop in her 200 freestyle and Lennox Spors with a huge cut of 47.92 seconds in her 50 backstroke.”

MALST set 16 new short course records. Isabella Pauli broke her current record in the 100 backstroke. Swimming against his own time, Carter Gloe broke six of his own records in the 50, 100, and 200 freestyle; 50 and 100 backstroke; and the 200IM. He also broke Adam Thomas’ 2005 record in the 50 breaststroke.

Breaking records seemed to be the theme of the meet as Jacy Dexter broke Aubrey Fraasch’s 2011 record in the 100 butterfly, and Maurina Street broke three of her own records in the 50 freestyle, 50 breaststroke, and 100 freestyle.

Swimmers of the Meet were Aubrey Fraasch, Hope Karels, and Rylie Overby. Fraasch dropped time in all of her events. She swam seven personal best swims, placed first overall in the 100 breaststroke, and high pointed in third place. Karels swam six personal best swims and finished in the top eight in each of those events. She also took 30 seconds off her 200 freestyle time. Overby cut time in five of her events and swam two new events for her swimming career – the 200 breaststroke and 400IM.