WILLITS — Sixteen swim teams from throughout Northern California participated in a swim meet hosted by the Willits Otters on July 28-29 in Willits, including 42 members of the Lake County Channel Cats team.
“(The effort at) Willits showed great commitment,” said Jennifer Hanson, LCCC president. “I am very proud of the team.
“We had more swimmers at this meet than ever before,” she added. “Every single swimmer improved his or her time.”
Among those Channel Cats bringing home first-place finishes were 9-year old Paloma Colacion, who won the BB division 50-yard freestyle and the B division 50 butterfly, both races for girls ages 9-10.
Floranne Ellington, 10, brought home a first-place ribbon for her 100 backstroke in the C division. Ellington and Colacion joined with teammates Olivia Gamber, 10, and Paige Lavrar, 9, to win the 100 freestyle relay.
Nadine Bradley, 12, won the C division 100-yard breaststroke for 11-12 girls, Annie Gall, 15, won the B division 100 freestyle for 15-16 girls, and Rachel Stanley, 16, won the B division 100 breaststroke. Gall also won the 200 individual medley in the C division.
Among the boys, seven Channel Cats brought home firsts and many of them won multiple races.
Holden Braider, 8, won the C division 50 freestyle for 7-8 boys, and Seth Crail, 9, took first in the C division 50 backstroke for 9-10 boys.
Twelve-year-old Sam Omiotek won both the 50 and 100 backstroke for 11-12 boys. Brian Bradley, 13, won the C division 50 freestyle in the 13-14 division, and Jeffrey Mulligan, 14, won both the 100 and 200 freestyle races in the B division as well as the 200 individual medley in the C division.
Also visiting the winner”s circle was Matteo Merodio, 13, in the 100 and 200 breaststroke in the C division.
Merodio, Mulligan, Bradley and junior assistant coach Guy Conger, 17, teamed up to win the 200 medley and the 200 freestyle for the 13-plus age group.
