The Boothbay Region Y Dolphins made it down to Portland before the snow hit for their last regular (rescheduled) swim meet of the season on Saturday, Feb. 21. The drive back home was a different story, but saw a number of swimmers very pleased with new personal best times and finishes.

Two swimmers from the team qualified for the New England Regionals at MIT next month: Piper Carleton in the 25 breaststroke and Rowan Kristan in the 50 freestyle.

Swimmers will be heading to the State Meet in Orono starting Friday, Feb 27 through March 1 and have one more chance to swim and qualify for the Regionals. They will be making the most of their last regular week of practice.

Both the girls’ and boys’ teams saw improvements across the board in the Portland meet.

In the eight and under, Suzie Edwards continued to improve her form with confidence and took off 1.8 seconds in her third place finish in the 25 freestyle and robbed the clock 29.6 seconds in her 50 freestyle. Piper Carleton shaved .28 seconds for a first place finish in the 25 butterfly and Hannah Hills sliced 7.86 seconds for 2nd place. Both girls also took first and second in the 25 backstroke and the 25 breaststroke.

For the girls’ 9-10 group, Arden Carleton took home second place in the 50 freestyle by reducing her time .39 seconds and took 3rd in the 50 backstroke. Teammate Callan Eason took first place finishes in the 50 freestyle, 50 backstroke and the 50 butterfly. The girls’ 11-12 group saw fantastic improvement with Zoe Eason’s first place finishes in the 200 freestyle (-9.66 seconds) and 100 freestyle (-2.73 seconds). Marissa Peters motored 2.17 seconds faster in the 50 backstroke to second place. Ella Yentsch moved closer to qualifying for New Englands with her first place in the 50 freestyle — only .10 seconds away.

For the boys’ team, Wyatt Lorrain continued to whittle down his time in the 25 freestyle to take a first place finish and took first in the 25 butterfly. Duncan Hardwick knocked off over 2 seconds in his both his 25 butterfly and 25 backstroke, and took first in the 25 breaststroke. For the 9-10 age group, Gryffin Kristan finished 1st in the 50 freestyle, 50 breaststroke, and 50 backstroke with his personal best time. Rafael Goldhirsch took first place in the 50 butterfly and second in the 100 freestyle by dropping 7.78 seconds. Teammate Marlowe Recoing followed up with 2 points of his own in the 100 freestyle and led the 200 medley relay to first place.

For the Boys’ 11-12 group, Lucas Hardwick stole 13.80 seconds off the clock to tie for a great second place finish in the 200 freestyle and had his personal best in the 50 butterfly, over 10 seconds faster. Ethan Barter added 4 points to the total and was only .20 seconds from first place in his 50 butterfly. Senior Chris Groneng cut his times in every event for male 15 and over group, including a drop of almost 19.60 seconds for his second place in the 200 freestyle and 9.98 seconds in his 100 butterfly.

The team also wanted to sincerely thank all the sponsors, volunteers, swimmers, their families and the Y members and staff in making the first-ever BRYMCA Aquathon on Feb. 15 such a success. A total of $1,007.80 was raised to help support the team.