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During the past two months, Birmingham Swim League swimmers have performed in three meets. In September, BSL hosted its Sprint Into Fall meet at the CrossPlex; in October, they traveled to Mobile for the Vance Rose Invitational; and in early November, they hosted the Speedo Cranberry Classic Invitational at the CrossPlex.
Each meet at the CrossPlex included more than 600 swimmers and featured teams from Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. The meet in Mobile featured almost 400 swimmers and included teams from Lower Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. Even with well over 1,000 swimmers coming from all over the Southeast, BSL performed impressively from top to bottom.
Homewood resident Jakob Icimsoy, 16, led BSL with nine individual wins, while fellow resident Birch Ely, 16, finished with three individual wins. Wells Ely, 11, Lily Blish, 12, and Isabel Blish, 15, helped to contribute to team scoring by finishing in the top eight of several events.
Vestavia residents bolstered BSL’s point totals with Adeline Carroll, 13, Jake Casey, 17, Rachel Morris, 15, Chris Rubin, 15, and John Shields, 18, placing in the top eight over several events each.
Mountain Brook residents Lauren Crabtree, 16, and James Hoyt, 18, combined to win four individual events, including the Girls 50 Fly and Boys 25 Free, respectively.
Several Hoover residents impacted the team point totals. Erica Han, 14, Dana Mays, 13, Nicole Smith, 17, and Ariana Zamani, 13, combined to win 10 individual events. Fellow Hoover swimmers Caron Muir, 11, Abby Williamson, 15, and Justin Zhang, 16, also contributed points to the BSL total.
To top off the impressive run, BSL swimmers have combined to qualify in 31 events for the 2017 Short Course Southeastern Championship.
John Nicholson, 9, leads the team with five new qualifying events, followed closely by Dana Mays, 13, with four new qualifying events. The championship meet will be conducted in February at Auburn University.
In December, BSL split between several meets, with the 12 & Unders swimming at the Santa Splash at the CrossPlex; 13 & Overs competing in Nashville; and a few select qualifiers competing at USA Swimming’s Winter Junior National Championship in Columbus, Ohio.
For more information on BSL or to join the team, visit BirminghamSwimLeague.org or email the coaches at Swim4BSL@gmail.com.
– Submitted by Angela Morris.
