Braden Osborn’s 45.13 100 Free Breaks Pool Record at Mason Manta Rays Invite

2020 MASON MANTA RAYS START OF WINTER SLAM

• December 4-6, 2020
• Mason Community Center, Mason, Ohio
• Psych Sheets
• Results on Meet Mobile: “2020 OH RAYS Start of Winter Slam”

The final day of the 2020 Mason Manta Rays Start of Winter Slam was competed today, with even more personal bests.

Carl Bloebaum, a Mason Manta Rays 18-year-old, was back on Sunday with another pair of event wins. Bloebaum narrowly missed his personal best of 1:46.35 in the boys 200 fly, finishing in 1:46.46, but still got his hands on the wall 7 seconds ahead of the field. He was back in action in the boys 100 back, again narrowly missing his lifetime best of 49.63 with a 49.86. Bloebaum still won the race as the only swimmer in the field to break the 50-second barrier. Teammate Avery Clapp dropped a little over 1.5 seconds, finishing in 50.52 for 2nd.

RAYS 18-year-old Braden Osborn dropped a new personal best and pool record time of 45.13 in the boys 100 free. Osborn got his hand on the wall nearly 2 seconds ahead of the field, dropping a little over half a second from his previous best. With the swim, Osborn has inched a little closer to breaking the 45-second barrier.

After a big drop in the 100 breast on Saturday, Mason Manta Rays 16-year-old Adam McDonald won the men’s 200 breast with a nearly 2-second personal best of 2:02.08. McDonald got after the race early, splitting 57.44 on the first 100, which less than 2 seconds slower than he swam in the 100 breast on Saturday. He faded just a bit on the back half of the race, splitting 31.61 on the 3rd 50, and 33.03 on the last 50, for a 1:04.64 on the final 100.

Northern Kentucky Clippers 15-year-old Lainey Kruger posted a massive lifetime best in the women’s 200 breast, winning the event with a 2:13.91. Kruger’s race marked a 3.56 second improvement. She swam the race brilliantly, taking it out in 1:04.97, then holding on to bring it home in 1:08.94. Mason Manta Rays’ Reese Lugbill took the race out faster than Kruger (1:04.33), but was back just a bit slower (1:09.62), finishing in 2:13.95 for a 2.4-second personal best. Lugbill’s sister Ashley also had a big drop (3.55 seconds), finishing 4th with a 2:16.32. RAYS’ Jessey Li hit a milestone in the race, breaking 2:20 for the first time with a 2:15.33 for 3rd place.

Eli Shoyat of Northern Kentucky Clippers won the men’s 1000 free by 40 seconds, establishing a new lifetime best of 9:11.67. The swim clipped 2 seconds of Shoyat’s previous best.

Age Group Winners:

• Mason Manta Rays 13-year-old Ethan Fang broke 2:20 for the first time when he won the boys 13-14 200 breast with a 2:19.48.
• Buckeye Swim Club 14-year-old Cameron Petitt broke 2:00 with a 1:59.65 to win the boys 13-14 200 fly. Petitt had a personal best of 2:04.52 coming into the meet.
• Buckeye Swim Club 14-year-old Kaitlyn Sallows won the girls 13-14 100 back with a 59.64. She entered the meet with a personal best of 1:02.89, marking the first sub-1:00 performance for Sallows.
• Sallows was back in action in the girls 13-14 200 IM, dropping 5.03 seconds with a 2:08.51 to win the event.
• Northern Kentucky Clippers 11-year-old Chanith Abeysinghe dropped over a second in the boys 11-12 100 free to win the event. He swam a 54.68, marking his first time under 56 seconds.