Hale YMCA Riptides swimmer
places 5th at national meet
Mary Kate Barnwell sprinted to a fifth-place finish in the 50-meter freestyle with a time of :28.11 in the 15 & under division at the YMCA National Long-Course* Championship swim meet held recently in Florida.
Throughout the meet Barnwell had earned best times in several events including the 200 backstroke, 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke, but had not qualified for finals.
In the morning preliminary heats for the 50 Free, Mary Kate swam her best time (:28.18), and she really wasn’t sure if she would qualify for the evening finals – especially with so many fast swimmers — sometimes only separated by hundredths of a second.
In 2023, the summer before entering high school, Barnwell did not qualify for any Finals evening swims., but she was simply happy to have the opportunity to represent Hale YMCA and the State of Connecticut at the National level.
This summer one of Barnwell’s goals was to qualify for the evening Finals competitions.   While she was super stoked to swim in the finals for the first time, she didn’t think a top five finish was even possible.  At the evening finals for the 50m Free, Barnwell’s quick reactions on the block made her one of the first swimmers in the water and helped to earn her the fifth-place finish.
Upon returning to the Quiet Corner, she didn’t get much rest, as she got right back to volunteering her time each day teaching swimming at Hale YMCA as a counselor in Training at the Race4Chase Triathlon camp.  
*Long-Course means the swim meet is held in a 50-meter pool, like the Olympics.
Contributed by Brian Reilly

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