The inaugural Bluffton Swim Club delivered a strong start to their season at a tri-meet versus Kenton and VanWert high school swim teams on Thursday, Dec. 6, at Kenton. As a team, they finished overall in second place with the men finishing in third and the women in second.

The team’s first event of the night was the girl’s 200 meter medley relay with Ellie Hoffman, Joscelin Reineke, Maria Spallinger and Julia Smallcombe. They tied for first with Van Wert’s team with a time of 2:15:60.

“It was exciting to watch the girls 200 medley relay tie for first place on the first event of our first ever meet as a club,” said head coach Bob Verb. “Finishing in a tie in swimming does not happen often; it was a extraordinary moment.”

The Bluffton Swim Club is for high school aged swimmers from high schools in the surrounding area.  This is the first season for the group and they practice at the Putnam County YMCA.

Team members include seniors Seth Andreas and Jordan Siefer; juniors Joscelin Reineke and Maria Spallinger; sophomores Andrea Bourassa, Pearl Lewandowski, Ellie Hoffman, Caleb Ream, Lauren Rhodes, Celia Smith, Olivia Setzer and Julia Smallcombe and freshman Malia Lee.  Bob Verb of Bluffton is the head coach and Rachel Diller of Bluffton is the assistant coach/dry land coach.

The next meet is 10 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 17, at Colonel Crawford high school in Bucyrus at the William Ferrell Natatorium. Participating schools include Colonel Crawford, Lima Senior, Marion Harding, Watkins Memorial and Bluffton.

Full team results of the Kenton meet are attached below.