By Fred Kroner
Freshman Talynn O’Donnell broke two of her own school records on Saturday (Oct. 8), helping the Mahomet-Seymour girls’ swimming team to a fourth-place finish in the nine-school Urbana Tiger Invitational.
O’Donnell’s new records came in events that she won, the 50-yard freestyle (24.89 seconds) and the 100-yard freestyle (53.93 seconds). Her previous records were 25.52 and 55.31, respectively.
Two of her teammates who achieved season-best times finished as the runner-up in their events. Eden Oelze was second in the 200-yard freestyle (2:11.09) and Lainey Howard was second in the 500-yard freestyle (5:51.11).
Howard also posted a season-best time in the 200-yard individual medley, taking fifth in 2:30.08.
Four other teammates registered their top times of the year: Reese Harrell (50-yard backstroke, 38.25, obtained in the 200-yard medley, and 100-yard backstroke); Kayleigh Holt (50-yard butterfly, 37.07, obtained in the 200-yard medley), Sophie Wheeler (50-yard freestyle, 42.18, obtained in the 200-yard medley) and Diya Patel (100-yard backstroke, 2:21.23).
Another second-place finish was recorded by the M-S 400-yard freestyle relay unit of Oelze, Shelby Raver, Howard and O’Donnell. Their cumulative time was 4:04.60.
Those same four girls – in the same order – also captured third place in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:49.90.
Oelze notched a fourth-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly (1:05.81).
Normal U-High copped team honors with 484 points. Centennial was second (455), followed by South Elgin (395) and the Bulldogs (221).
M-S returns to action on Wednesday (Oct. 12) in a four-school meet at Urbana.
