In an exciting meet, Ionia finished fifth at the DK-TK-Hastings Relay invitational today with a score of 286.  It was a successful meet because everyone finished their race, we had no disqualifications, and everyone in the water scored points for the team.  Every swimmer came home with either a top 16 ribbon or a top 3 medal for their relay.  Most of the relays improved on their entered  seed times.  We had 25 individual personal best times in their relay leg.  

The 200 yard medley A relay team of Abbye Wood, Madeline McGee, Brynn Lepien, and Sydeny Estep took 5th by finishing just over a second ahead of the team DK-TK-Hastings.  The 500 progressive relay is a different event than normally appears in dual meets.  The B team of Katelyn Lamphere, Johnah Hixon, Brynn Labadie, and Sally Ruehs out-touched the competition by 0.42!  The A team of Martina Sierra Clemares, Calah Holman, Eily Martinez, and Estep raced to the end but came up 0.7 short to finish 12th.  The 200 freestyle relay was exciting.  The A team of Maelys Bonafe, Lepien, Anouk Demel and McGee dropped time and finished second, taking home silver medals.  The 200 backstroke A relay of Bonafe, Martinez, Estep and Lepien took 4th by just over a second.  The A team in the 200 breaststroke relay really raced to the finish.  They took 8th by 0.1 in spite of a come-from-behind push by Calah Holman.  

The meet finished on a high note in the 400 freestyle relay.  The A team of McGee, Lepien, Demel, and Bonafe raced their hearts out and took home gold medals!  They finished 0.17 ahead of the Hudsonville Unity Christian team.  The race earned McGee a state qualifying time for the 100 yard freestyle, and it earned the relay team a cut time to swim at the MISCA meet in a couple weeks.  It was a great way to finish a fun day of relays.

Ionia hosts Grand Rapids Union on Tuesday at home.  The meets starts at 6 p.m.