On Saturday, Ionia Girls Varsity Swimming traveled to the Mason Invitational.  With seven team competing, Ionia finished fifth with 231 points.  There was some good competition in the pool, and the event was an excellent opportunity for our newer swimmers to see how a bigger meet runs.  Several swimmers competed in new events for them, and it was a learning experience for all.   

Highlights of the meet include first place finishes by Madeline McGee in the 200 yard freestyle and Maelys Bonafe in the 200 yard individual medley.  Anouk Demel raced to the finish in the 100 yard butterfly, out-touching her competition and taking third by 0.17.  Sage Brown took 13th in the 100 yard freestyle, out-touching the competition by 0.02.  Calah Holman gave it everything she had in the 100 yard breaststroke, beat her own person best time, and took 8th by 0.28.  In all fourteen out of twenty-two of our swimmers in the water had personal best times.  The last event of the day was an 8 x 50, 400 freestyle relay.  It was an exciting race that had the whole deck screaming and cheering.  Ionia took first by just over a second with the team of McGee, Lepien, Katelyn Lamphere, Brown, Holman, Josie Phelps, Demel, and Bonafe.  

Ionia is currently 1-0 in the CAAC Red Conference and 3-2 for the season.  Ionia will host Charlotte on Thursday for the Ionia Community Awareness Purple Meet.  Competition starts at 6 p.m.  The meet will be followed by a fun competition and the shirt ceremony.