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AVON SWIMS TO FOURTH STRAIGHT TITLE

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AVON SWIMS TO FOURTH STRAIGHT TITLE

By
Alyssa Mathis
The Avon swim team has done it again. For the fourth year in a row, the Avon swim team took home the team title from the League Championship Swim Meet in Platte on July 17th and 18th. The team had 57 swimmers compete at the event. Not only did Avon win with the highest team points, but they also had many swimmers come home with high point trophies and other outstanding achievement awards. Coaches for the Avon swim team include head coach, Becky Haenfler, and assistant coaches, Macy Voigt, Landon Mudder and Jordyn Voigt. Avon had 20 swimmers place in the top of their age group for individual points. For 6 and under boys, Levi Paulsen placed 3rd and Jorden Ratzlaff took home fourth place. In the 8 and under girls, Addy Fathke come home with 1st place finish. Hartison Thorson ended the season with 2nd place and Eli Olson came in with 4th place finish in the 8 and under boys’ division. In the 10 and under boys’ division Blake Olson won 3rd place and teammate Dayton Brandt followed right behind with a 4th place finish. In the girls 11-12 group, Stella Ratzlaff took home 1st place and Rowan Brandt finished with 3rd place. For the boys 11-12, Tucker Tjeerdsma came home with a 3rd place finish. Raegan Brandt in the 13-14 girls’ division took 2nd place. Avon led the way in the 13-14 boys’ division taking home 1st place was Thayne Tjeerdsma with teammate, Brenson Ratzlaff, right behind him with a 2nd place finish. In the 15-16 girls’ division Jordyn Voigt took 1st place. Grayson Ratzlaff ended the season with a 4th place finish in the boys 15-16 division. For the 17-18 boys’ division, Landon Mudder brought home a 3rd place finish followed by teammate Trey Akridge taking 4th place. Emersyn Haenfler came in 3rd place in the open girls’ division. In the open boys’ division, Tyler Tjeerdsma brought home 1st place with teammate Easton Sees finishing in 3rd place. Each year one female and one male swimmer receive the James River Valley Swimmer of the Year Award. In order to receive this award, a swimmer is nominated by his or her coaches for their dedication, hard work, skills, leadership and love of swimming. The league coaches then all vote on the winners. Both female and male swimmers of the year are from the Avon team this year. Raegan Brandt won the James River Valley Female Swimmer of the Year and Landon Mudder won the title of James River Valley Male Swimmer of the Year. Coach Haenfler said that both swimmers are very deserving of this honor. There were also several swim records broken this year. Stella Ratzlaff broke the 11-12 girls’ division 50-meter Freestyle Swim record. Brenson Ratzlaff, Thayne Tjeerdsma, Linkin Akridge and Easton Sees broke the 13-14 boys’ division Medley Relay Swim record. Interestingly enough, the record that the team broke, was a record set by members of the 2013 Avon Swim team. The final award was the Dedication Award which was awarded to Avon Swim team member, Trey Akridge. This was Trey’s last year as an Avon Swim team member as he is 18 years old. Trey has been swimming competitively for the last 10 years. The team will greatly miss him next year and want to thank him for his dedication to the team. Congratulations to the Avon Swim team on their fourth-peat of winning the Swim League Championship Swim Meet and to all of the individual winners who did a great job at the championship meet!