GR8! Barracudas win eighth-straight league title
Sabra Brueggen swims the butterfly during the South Suburban Swim League finals meet Saturday in Harrisonville, Mo. Brueggen was named the high-point champion for the 9-to 10-year-old age division and won five first-place ribbons.
HARRISONVILLE, Mo. – Make it eight in a row.
The Louisburg Barracudas swim team continued its dominance of the South Suburban Swim League on Saturday when it captured its eighth-consecutive league title in convincing fashion during the SSSL finals meet in Harrisonville, Mo. The Barracudas have also not lost a meet since 2009 and have won 43 in a row.
Louisburg racked up 633 team points and ran away from the rest of the field, including runner-up Harrisonville, which had 411 points. Woodson came in third with 385.
“Winning another title validates all of the hard work that the kids put in on a daily basis, but winning a league title isn’t the ultimate goal,” Louisburg coach Kyle Farrington said. “I want all of our swimmers to enjoy the sport first, learn technique next and learn to race hard. If we can do all of those things, titles will take care of themselves.
“It is pretty amazing that we have managed to amass so many wins in a row and maintain such a large team in such a small town. We have so much community support in a town that has proven that they love to swim. I am not sure why it has happened here in Louisburg, but we are almost the smallest town in the league and we have been the largest team for the last seven years. That doesn’t happen without amazing support and buy-in from the community.”
The Barracudas also finished with several high-point winners as 13 swimmers received trophies following the meet.
Jesse Faulkner (8-and-under girls) Sabra Brueggen (9-10 girls), Emma Prettyman (11-12 girls) and Trae Johnsen (15-and-over boys) led the way as each were crowned league high-point champions.
Lola Dubas (8-U girls), Connor Aadland (8-U boys), Brayton Brueggen (11-12 boys) and Alex Prettyman (15-and-over boys) finished runner-up in their respective class. Claire Brown (9-10), Josiah McCaskill (9-10 boys), Mable Graham (11-12 girls), Sydney Keaton (13-14 girls) and Madelyn Prettyman (15-and-over girls) also left with a trophy as each took third in the high-point standings.
Sabra Brueggen experienced the most success for Louisburg as she won five league titles, including three individual events. Sabra won 50-yard butterfly in 37.94 seconds, the 50 backstroke in 37.64 and 100 individual medley in 1 minute and 25 seconds.
She also joined Ashley Branine, Brown and Megan Quinn to win the 100 medley relay (1:21) and 100 freestyle style relay (1:14). Brown also won a league crown in the 50 breaststroke (46.97).
Faulkner also had a big day as she helped Kasi Tune, Rachel Minor and Cricket McIntire to a win in the 100 medley relay (1:57), and also joined Dubas, Shylah Dowell and McIntire to victory in the 100 freestyle relay (1:44). Individually, she won a league crown in the 25 butterfly (31.27) and 25 backstroke (26.35).
Emma Prettyman won three events as she, along with Graham, Mary Grace McElyea and Delanie Tally, took first in the 200 medley relay (2:26). Emma also won a league title in 50 butterfly (34.25) and 200 individual medley (2:56).
Keaton won three events as well as she, Elizabeth Kratochvil, Avery Graham and Alayna Baker took first in the 200 medley relay (2:21) and 200 freestyle relay (2:03). Keaton also came in first in the 50 freestyle (29.80).
McCaskill had a big day for the boys. He won league titles in the 50 freestyle (34.58) and 50 breaststroke (48.50). He later helped William Goode, Josh Holtzen and Jay McCaskill to victory in the 100 freestyle relay (1:11).
It was another successful season for the Barracudas, but one Kyle Farrington, assistant coach Aimee Farrington and the other swimmers don’t take for granted. The Barracuda coaching staff will also have a different look next season as Aimee has decided to step down after more than a decade with the program.
“Aimee and I have been lucky to be a part of this team and community for the last 11 years,” Kyle said. “We feel blessed that we have been surrounded by such great swimmers, parents and board members for so long. Many coaches dream of having it as good as we have.”
Other Barracuda results are:
Girls
8-and-under
25 freestyle: Lola Dubas, third, 25.95; Cricket McIntire, fourth, 26.21; Shylah Dowell, sixth, 28.21
25 butterfly: McIntire, second, 33.06; Brooklyn Davey, fourth, 56.23
25 breaststroke: Rachel Minor, first, 32.63; Dubas, second, 33.69; Kasi Tune, third, 36.38
25 backstroke: Tune, second, 29.85; Macy Hughes, fifth, 31.05; Dowell, sixth, 31.26
Jesse Faulkner, 8-and-under, first-place high-point
100 individual medley: Dubas, first, 2:15.53; Jesse Faulkner, second, 2:16.85
100 freestyle relay: Minor, Hughes, Davey, Tune, fourth, 2:15; Alessandra Martire, Talen McMurray, Gabrella Martire, Madeline Hughes, fifth, 2:23
9-10
50 freestyle: Claire Brown, second, 38.18; Ashley Branine, third, 41.35; Megan Quinn, sixth, 45.05
50 butterfly: Quinn, third, 58.54
50 breaststroke: Branine, second, 54.91
50 backstroke: Branine, second, 48.06; Quinn, fifth, 1:01
Sabra Brueggen (left) and Claire Brown (right) earned first and third-place high-point honors, respectively, in the 9-10 division.
100 IM: Brown, second, 1:34; Claire Baker, sixth, 2:05
100 freestyle relay: Baker, Elizabeth George, Hannah Farrington, Ally Brown, third, 1:41
11-12
200 medley relay: Abby Bradley, Lindsay Keaton, Catie Lemke, Callie O’Brien, fifth, 2:59
50 freestyle: Mable Graham, second, 31.94; Delanie Tally, fourth, 33.98
50 breaststroke: Emma Prettyman, second, 41.45; Mary Grace McElyea, fourth, 43.35
50 backstroke: Mable Graham, first, 35.02; Sophie Baker, fourth, 42.43; Tally, fifth, 42.72
200 IM: Graham, fourth, 3:04
Mable Graham (left) and Emma Prettyman (right) were in the top 3 of the 11-12 high-point standings. Prettyman took first and Graham was third.
200 freestyle relay: Tally, Bradley, Prettyman, Graham, second, 2:19; Keaton, Tehya Harvey, Aurora Dericotte, Remi Rothlisberger, sixth, 2:55
13-14
200 medley relay: Grace Coffey, Alison Prettyman, Sarah Minor, Natalie George, fifth, 2:45
50 freestyle: Avery Graham, second, 31.07; Alayna Baker, third, 31.58; Madi Quinn, sixth, 32.60
50 butterfly: Graham, third, 32.54; Elizabeth Kratochvil, fourth, 33.33;
50 breaststroke: Sydney Keaton, third, 39.97; Kratochvil, fifth, 41.85
50 backstroke: Keaton, second, 34.43; Graham, third, 35.49; Baker, fifth, 37.41
200 IM: Kratochvil, third, 2:49; Quinn, fifth, 3:10; Minor, sixth, 3:11
Sydney Keaton took third in the high-point standings for the 13-14 girls.
200 freestyle relay: Minor, Quinn, Coffey, Prettyman, fifth, 2:16
15-and-over
200 medley relay: Melia Rice, Kaitlyn Lewer, Teagan Myers, Rachel McElyea, second, 2:44
50 freestyle: Lewer, fifth, 32.65
50 butterfly: Rice, fifth, 38.08
50 breaststroke: Lewer, third, 39.62; Rice, fourth, 42.40; McElyea, sixth, 46.74
50 backstroke: Rice, second, 38.94; Myers, fourth, 42.02; Lewer, sixth, 43.76
200 freestyle relay: Rice, McElyea, Myers, Lewer, second, 2:28
BOYS
8-and-under
25 freestyle: Casey Carpenter-Ross, third, 20.97
25 butterfly: Connor Aadland, third, 30.80; Carpenter-Ross, fifth, 33.01
25 breaststroke: Dominick Poetter, fifth, 37.54
25 backstroke: Carpenter-Ross, second, 26.53
100 IM: Aadland, second, 2:09
100 freestyle relay: Carpenter-Ross, Poetter, Noah Sharp, Aadland, first, 1:39; Wyatt Guetterman, John Guetterman, Andrew Jamison, Cavan O’Brien, fourth, 2:07
9-10
100 medley relay: Ethan Sharp, Josiah McCaskill, William Goode, Josh Holtzen, second, 1:40
Josiah McCaskill took third in the high-point standings for the 9-10 boys.
50 freestyle: Holtzen, fifth, 38.25; Goode, sixth, 39.53
50 butterfly: Goode, fourth, 51.48
50 breaststroke: Holtzen, second, 49.81; Jay McCaskill, fourth, 1:01; Colton Prettyman, fifth, 1:03
50 backstroke: Goode, first, 45.90; Jay McCaskill, fourth, 56.68
100 IM: Josiah McCaskill, second, 1:30; Holtzen, fifth, 1:43
11-12
200 medley relay: Brayton Brueggen, Braden Branine, Remington Rice, Cole Brown, first, 2:36
50 freestyle: Remington Rice, first, 31.18; Brown, sixth, 34.47
50 butterfly: Rice, third, 37.59; Brueggen, fourth, 41.87; Brown, fifth, 42.37
50 breaststroke: Branine, fifth, 47.39
50 backstroke: Rice, third, 41.37; Henry Coolidge, fourth, 45.95
Brayton Brueggen took second in the high-point standings for the 11-12 boys.
200 IM: Brueggen, third, 3:06; Brown, fourth, 3:18; Branine, fifth, 3:30
200 freestyle relay: Brown, Brueggen, Cooper Hipp, Rice, second, 2:20; Jordan Brown, Bryce Collins, Drake Burdine, Branine, fourth, 2:56
13-14
200 medley relay: Drake Burdine, Bret Minor, Davy Brock, Gus Faulkner, first, 2:52
50 freestyle: Minor, fifth, 33.13; Faulkner, sixth, 34.78
50 butterfly: Brock, fourth, 35.40
50 breaststroke: Minor, fourth, 42.27
50 backstroke: Brock, first, 34.0; Faulkner, third, 40.69
200 IM: Brock, fourth, 2:50
200 freestyle relay: Minor, Henry Coolidge, Faulkner, Brock, second, 2:23
15-and-over
200 medley relay: Trae Johnsen, Christopher Tyson, Alex Prettyman, Gareth Baus, third, 2:03.29
50 freestyle: Johnsen, third, 25.24
Trae Johnsen (right) and Alex Prettyman finished first and second, respectively, in the high-point standings for the 15-and-over boys.
50 butterfly: Prettyman, second, 26.96;
50 breaststroke: Prettyman, first, 31.67
50 backstroke: Johnsen, third, 28.37
200 IM: Johnsen, third, 2:22; Prettyman, fourth, 2:24
200 freestyle relay: Prettyman, Baus, Tyson, Johnsen, third, 1:49