By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
Eighteen members of the Baranof Barracuda Swim Club, some of them experienced swimmers and others new to the sport, traveled to Ketchikan over the weekend for the First City Invitational Swim Meet.
Currently in the mid-season, the Barracudas were in a high training tempo, and made a good showing at the meet.
MacKenzie Martens, who had been looking forward to the competition, dropped time in multiple events.
“I’ve been practicing for Ketchikan since September,” said MacKenzie, 11. She swam the 100-yard freestyle in 1:39 and the 100 breaststroke in 2:13.
She opened the meet with the 200-yard individual medley, which she described as “kind of tiring.”
MacKenzie, two years younger than her brother Zach, said they have a slight sibling rivalry.
“He always tells me that I can do better. He just does that because he has been swimming way longer than I have,” MacKenzie said. “And he always cheers for me at events and stuff. And, yeah, I don’t really think that I would be able to go to a swim meet without him.”
Barracudas coach Kevin Knox was proud of MacKenzie’s performance.
“MacKenzie did really well, swam some great races. She swam quite a few races, so that was kind of fun to have,” he said. “It’s almost like it’s a swim meet and a training event in one thing.”
MacKenzie’s brother, Zach Martens, is one of BBSC’s top performing swimmers. In Ketchikan, he took first place in the arduous 1,650-yard freestyle in 19:17, second in the 500 free in 5:30 and third in the 200 fly in 2:29.
Erik Chevalier, 12, shaved off a significant amount of time in his 100 breaststroke race.
“I dropped 30 seconds in my 100 breast, that’s a lot of time,” Erik told the Sentinel. He touched the wall in 1:45. He improved in the 50 free as well, finishing in 33.21 seconds.
After a full eight years in the pool, Erik said his favorite aspect of the sport is “mainly the meets. The meets are the fun part about it.”
He’s working on a more efficient butterfly stroke. “Saving some energy on it, so I don’t burn myself out in the first 25,” he said.
Grace Lawler, 11, highlighted a relay in which she improved her 50 freestyle time.
“I swam in a medley relay with Erik, Wyatt (Kirkness) and MacKenzie, and we got fourth place in that and I got my best time for a 50 free,” Grace said at practice Wednesday.
“It feels like I accomplished something, it feels very good. And it feels like I worked hard enough to deserve it,” she added.
Individually, she dropped 33 seconds in the 100 backstroke, finishing in 2:02. She learned to swim on the Seward Tsunamis – the club of Olympic champion Lydia Jacoby – but now enjoys her time with the Barracudas.
“Our team is very good, and we’re like a giant family,” Grace said.
Her teammate Ruby Dunn was happy with her 50-yard butterfly swim, which she finished in 44.87 seconds.
“It feels like I did pretty good,” she said. Ruby also swam in the 200 free, finishing sixth in 3:03, and in the 100 free in 1:22. She’d like to push those times down in the coming months.
The 12-year-old also is working on her backstroke.
“I just don’t like not being able to see where I’m going,” she said, “and flag placement is different in most pools, since you have to count your strokes until you get to the wall. That always messes me up.”
Regardless of that, she said, she’s always enjoyed her time in the water.
“Since I was little, I’ve always loved being near water,” she said. “I’ve always loved the ocean. And what really got me into swimming was this one summer that I started jumping into the ocean, and I loved it. It was the best.”
Ruby also competed in a recent meet in Petersburg, her coach said, and has gained significant amounts of experience this year.
“She’s really starting to learn how racing kind of comes out after training,” Knox said.
The Ketchikan meet was a useful opportunity for swimmers to improve times and work on qualifications for other events.
The meet was a chance “to test where things are at in this season, how training is going and also for some kids that are looking to establish more qualifying times for meets,” Knox added.
Some more experienced swimmers such as Zach Martens, Mia Turner and Klayeah Lozada performed well above expectations.
“To have time drops for swimmers like Zach and Mia and Klayeah at the point in the season right now is pretty remarkable, because they’re kind of in a phase of training where they’re loaded up, as we like to call it,” Knox said. “Generally you don’t go your best times in the middle of the season.”
Mia Turner swept the first place spots in the 200 free in 2:10, the 100 free in 59.85 seconds, and the 500 free in 5:56. She also claimed second in the 100 breaststroke and 400 IM.
Klayeah Lozada was first to touch the wall in the quick 50 free in 27.30 and took first again in the 100 fly in 1:05. She took second in the 100 back and 200 IM.
The Barracudas swim again this weekend in a holiday-themed time trial in Sitka.
