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Asheville – The Tri-County Early College varsity swim team dove back in over the weekend.
The team of 11 swimmers headed to the A.C. Reynolds Invitational to start their season Saturday. The team features five new swimmers who hadn’t previously competed.
The girls team came in third place overall, while the boys team came in fourth out of six teams invited to the meet. In the girls relays, both the 200-yard medley and 200-yard freestyle relay teams came in fourth place.
The 200-yard medley relay team is Tori Jimenez, Bryanna Ramirez-Jaime, Jasmine Tran and Jennie Ramirez-Jaime. The 200-yard freestyle relay team is Sophia Evans, Tori Jimenez, Bryanna Ramirez-Jaime and Fern Crayton.
In the girls individual events, Evans came in second place in the 50-yard freestyle and third in the 100-yard freestyle. Crayton came in second in the 100-yard freestyle and fourth in the 200-yard freestyle.
Jimenez came in eighth place in the 200-yard freestyle. Bryanna Ramirez-Jaime came in sixth place in the 100-yard breaststroke.
For the boys events, the 200-yard freestyle relay came in fifth place. The relay team is made up of four swimmers competing in their first meet – Robert Kominowski, Daniel Bickham, Leo Henningfeld and Mason Smith.
In the boys individual events, Kominowski came in third place in the 50-yard freestyle and fourth in the 100-yard freestyle.
Ellis Diaz-Menchu came in sixth place in the 100-yard breaststroke. Smith came in ninth place in the 100-yard freestyle, while Bickham came in 10th place in the 100-yard freestyle.
Head coach Frank Bachteler said he is proud of how the team swam after two weeks of practice. The new swimmers “combined skill and heart to earn points for the team.”
The Tri-County swim team’s next two meet will be in Franklin, with the next one set Saturday. They will then return to Franklin on Saturday, Dec. 6.
The local team will host the eighth annual Candy Cane Invitational meet Saturday, Dec. 13, at Murphy Health & Fitness.
Tri-County Early College is the only high school in the country with a swim team.