MST competes at Sewanee

The stopwatch mattered more than the scoreboard.

Saturday's RACE League Championships at the University of the South marked the finish line of another summer season, giving swimmers one final opportunity to measure weeks of practices, early mornings and countless laps against the clock.

By the end of the meet, McMinnville Swim Team had plenty to celebrate.

From its youngest swimmers taking their first laps on the league's biggest stage to its veteran leaders closing out another summer, personal-best performances were scattered throughout the roster as MST showed just how much progress had been made over the course of the season.

The improvements also translated into a solid finish in one of the league's deepest championship meets.

Athens Swim Team captured the combined championship with 2,223 points, followed by Makos Summer League with 1,674 and Sewanee Tigersharks with 1,599. MST finished seventh overall with 990 points.

The girls led the way with a fifth-place finish, scoring 534.5 points behind only Makos Summer League, Athens, Sewanee and Tullahoma Summer League, while the boys placed seventh with 316.5 points. In all, 76 swimmers represented MST at the league championships.

The team's top individual performance belonged to Kayden Gibson, who finished runner-up in the girls 15-18 50-meter breaststroke after slicing 1.68 seconds off her entry time to touch the wall in 41.40 seconds. Gibson also added a third-place finish in the 50-meter backstroke, seventh in the 50-meter freestyle and helped two relay teams score points, including the girls 15-18 freestyle relay that earned bronze.

Isaac Stefanick also reached the podium, finishing second in the boys 15-18 50-meter freestyle in 27.73 seconds. He added an eighth-place finish in the butterfly and helped the mixed 15-18 medley relay place fourth before swimming on the boys 15-18 freestyle relay that finished third.

Mae Chambers continued her strong summer in the girls 11-12 division, placing third in the 50-meter backstroke and fourth in the individual medley after dropping more than a second from her entry time. Abigail Laxson added a runner-up finish in the 50-meter breaststroke while also placing sixth in the freestyle and seventh in the individual medley. AJ Ramirez earned a third-place finish in the boys 9-10 butterfly, while Emme Reed finished fifth in the girls 15-18 breaststroke.

Additional top-eight finishes came from Emory MacDonald, who placed sixth in the girls 15-18 backstroke and seventh in the butterfly, Pepper Cooper with a seventh-place finish in the girls 11-12 freestyle, Rex Miller with a sixth-place finish in the boys 13-14 breaststroke, Evelyn Fry with an eighth-place finish in the girls 15-18 breaststroke, Ethan Benkarski with an eighth-place finish in the boys 13-14 backstroke, Walker Becker with an eighth-place finish in the boys 8-and-under backstroke, Norah McNeal with an eighth-place finish in the girls 11-12 backstroke and Layla-Barrie Guthrie with an eighth-place finish in the girls 13-14 backstroke.

The youngest swimmers in the program continued to show the future is bright.

Emma Lynn Fann scored with a sixth-place finish in the girls 6-and-under freestyle while Crosley Watts added a seventh-place finish in the same event.

The 8-and-under group turned in some of the day's biggest improvements. Walker Becker dropped 6.39 seconds in the backstroke and more than five seconds in the freestyle while scoring in both events and helping the boys freestyle relay to a seventh-place finish. Nathan Yang shaved an incredible 20.92 seconds off his breaststroke seed time to score with an eighth-place finish. Lollie Guthrie placed seventh in the breaststroke after cutting 4.20 seconds from her previous best, while Hootie Matheny scored in the breaststroke and joined Guthrie, Stokely Newman and Kelly Grace Simpson on the mixed medley relay that finished fifth. Simpson also scored with a fourth-place finish in the butterfly, while Newman contributed points individually and on two relays.

The 9-10 age group featured another balanced effort. AJ Ramirez paired his third-place butterfly finish with a seventh-place effort in the freestyle, while DJ Ramirez scored in both the freestyle and backstroke. Croix Howard chopped 17.32 seconds off his freestyle entry time to score in the event, while Edie MacDonald earned points in the butterfly and helped score on two relays. Lennon Guthrie also continued her improvement by lowering her times in both backstroke and breaststroke.

Depth defined the 11-12 group. Along with Chambers, Laxson and Cooper, Norah McNeal knocked 3.30 seconds off her backstroke time while earning an eighth-place finish. Yates Stefanick cut more than eight seconds from his butterfly time to finish 10th, while Iva Newman improved in both the breaststroke and backstroke.

The 13-14 swimmers continued that momentum. Benkarski, Miller and Guthrie each scored in multiple events, with Guthrie trimming more than four seconds from her backstroke time. Amelia Partin turned in one of the day's biggest improvements, dropping 6.76 seconds in the individual medley and another 4.75 seconds in the backstroke. Natalie Hobbs, Sara Greer, Finley MacDonald, Hunter Cooper, Lyla Collier, Mary College and Uma Stefanick also added points for MST throughout the meet.

The veterans finished the summer by leading from the front. Along with Gibson and Stefanick, Emory MacDonald, Evelyn Fry, Noah Greer, Claire Randall, Emme Reed, Addisyn Watson and Ellie Ayers all scored individually, while the older relays continued to shine. The mixed 15-18 medley relay lowered its time by nearly four seconds to place fourth, while both the girls and boys 15-18 freestyle relays earned third-place finishes to cap another successful summer.

Individual Results

Event listed, followed by overall finish and time (drops in entry time are noted as well)

Girls 6 & Under

Emma Lynn Fann

25m Freestyle — 6th (42.51)
25m Backstroke — 10th (52.62)

Crosley Watts

25m Freestyle — 7th (36.99)
Girls 8U 100m Freestyle Relay — 7th

Boys 8 & Under

Walker Becker

25m Backstroke — 8th (29.54, -6.39)
25m Freestyle — 16th (26.13, -5.02)
Boys 8U 100m Freestyle Relay — 7th

Hootie Matheny

25m Breaststroke — 7th (36.08, -1.97)
Mixed 8U 100m Medley Relay — 5th
Boys 8U 100m Freestyle Relay — 7th

Stokely Newman

25m Freestyle — 15th (25.84)
25m Breaststroke — 12th (41.49)
25m Backstroke — 13th (32.01)
Mixed 8U 100m Medley Relay — 5th
Boys 8U 100m Freestyle Relay — 7th

Nathan Yang

25m Breaststroke — 8th (36.33, -20.92)

Girls 8 & Under

Lollie Guthrie

25m Breaststroke — 7th (35.63, -4.20)
Mixed 8U 100m Medley Relay — 5th
Girls 8U 100m Freestyle Relay — 7th

Kelly Grace Simpson

25m Freestyle — 14th (24.33, -1.39)
25m Backstroke — 11th (30.35)
25m Butterfly — 4th (28.00)
Mixed 8U 100m Medley Relay — 5th
Girls 8U 100m Freestyle Relay — 7th

Boys 9-10

AJ Ramirez

50m Freestyle — 7th (44.52, -1.60)
25m Breaststroke — 12th (31.26)
25m Butterfly — 3rd (23.42, -0.19)
Mixed 9-10 100m Medley Relay — 6th
Boys 9-10 100m Freestyle Relay — 7th

DJ Ramirez

50m Freestyle — 6th (44.02)
25m Backstroke — 7th (24.60)
Mixed 9-10 100m Medley Relay — 6th
Boys 9-10 100m Freestyle Relay — 7th

Croix Howard

50m Freestyle — 14th (49.79, -17.32)
Boys 9-10 100m Freestyle Relay — 7th

Girls 9-10

Edie MacDonald

25m Butterfly — 12th (26.45, -0.25)
Mixed 9-10 100m Medley Relay — 6th
Girls 9-10 100m Freestyle Relay — 8th

Lennon Guthrie

25m Breaststroke — 10th (28.21, -0.19)
25m Backstroke — 14th (26.73, -1.10)

Boys 11-12

Yates Stefanick

50m Butterfly — 10th (53.56, -8.01)
Mixed 11-12 100m Medley Relay — 6th
Boys 11-12 100m Freestyle Relay — 6th

Girls 11-12

Mae Chambers

100m Individual Medley — 4th (1:27.00, -1.17)
50m Backstroke — 3rd (40.32)
Mixed 11-12 100m Medley Relay — 6th
Girls 11-12 100m Freestyle Relay — 3rd

Pepper Cooper

50m Freestyle — 7th (37.23, -0.32)
Girls 11-12 100m Freestyle Relay — 3rd

Abigail Laxson

50m Freestyle — 6th (36.59)
50m Breaststroke — 2nd (48.85, -0.13)
100m Individual Medley — 7th
Girls 11-12 100m Freestyle Relay — 3rd

Norah McNeal

50m Freestyle — 15th (40.45)
50m Backstroke — 8th (46.33, -3.30)

Iva Newman

50m Breaststroke — 16th (1:01.93, -1.06)
50m Backstroke — 13th (50.28, -0.33)

Boys 13-14

Ethan Benkarski

50m Freestyle — 14th (32.60, -0.39)
50m Backstroke — 8th (40.20, -0.30)
Mixed 13-14 100m Medley Relay — 4th
Boys 15-18 100m Freestyle Relay — 3rd

Hunter Cooper

50m Butterfly — 15th (43.68)

Rex Miller

50m Freestyle — 15th (32.65, -0.95)
50m Breaststroke — 6th (44.97, -0.56)
Mixed 13-14 100m Medley Relay — 4th
Boys 15-18 100m Freestyle Relay — 3rd

Girls 13-14

Lyla Collier

50m Breaststroke — 13th (55.86, -0.57)

Mary College

50m Breaststroke — 14th (57.80)

Sara Greer

50m Breaststroke — 12th (55.27)
50m Backstroke — 14th (48.64)
Girls 13-14 100m Freestyle Relay — 5th

Layla-Barrie Guthrie

50m Freestyle — 11th (36.75, -0.06)
50m Backstroke — 8th (43.84, -4.53)
50m Butterfly — 11th (43.93, -0.15)
Mixed 13-14 100m Medley Relay — 4th
Girls 13-14 100m Freestyle Relay — 5th

Natalie Hobbs

50m Freestyle — 10th (36.32, -0.77)
50m Backstroke — 9th (44.99)
50m Butterfly — 12th (44.45)
Girls 13-14 100m Freestyle Relay — 5th

Finley MacDonald

50m Breaststroke — 16th (59.06, -0.22)
50m Butterfly — 13th (47.31)
Girls 13-14 100m Freestyle Relay — 5th

Amelia Partin

50m Freestyle — 16th (38.17, -1.58)
100m Individual Medley — 12th (1:41.41, -6.76)
50m Backstroke — 11th (45.57, -4.75)
Mixed 13-14 100m Medley Relay — 4th

Uma Stefanick

50m Breaststroke — 15th (58.60)
100m Individual Medley — 14th (1:45.43, -8.71)

Boys 15-18

Noah Greer

50m Freestyle — 16th (31.16)
50m Breaststroke — 16th (45.04)
50m Backstroke — 11th (41.41)
Mixed 15-18 100m Medley Relay — 4th
Boys 15-18 100m Freestyle Relay — 3rd

Isaac Stefanick

50m Freestyle — 2nd (27.73)
50m Butterfly — 8th (31.48, -0.69)
Mixed 15-18 100m Medley Relay — 4th
Boys 15-18 100m Freestyle Relay — 3rd

Girls 15-18

Ellie Ayers

50m Breaststroke — 16th (51.22, -0.50)

Evelyn Fry

50m Breaststroke — 8th (46.93)
50m Backstroke — 12th (42.85)
Girls 15-18 100m Freestyle Relay — 3rd

Kayden Gibson

50m Freestyle — 7th (32.13)
50m Breaststroke — 2nd (41.40, -1.68)
50m Backstroke — 3rd (34.16, -0.11)
Mixed 15-18 100m Medley Relay — 4th
Girls 15-18 100m Freestyle Relay — 3rd

Emory MacDonald

50m Freestyle — 12th (33.84, -0.65)
50m Backstroke — 6th (37.64, -1.34)
50m Butterfly — 7th (37.98)
Mixed 15-18 100m Medley Relay — 4th
Girls 15-18 100m Freestyle Relay — 3rd

Claire Randall

50m Breaststroke — 14th (50.78, -0.70)
Girls 15-18 100m Freestyle Relay — 3rd

Emme Reed

50m Breaststroke — 5th (44.70, -0.25)

Addisyn Watson

50m Breaststroke — 9th (49.00)