Having 11 teams from around county come together to compete, swimmers challenged each other as they raced to be number one in the county on Jan. 15 and 16. Fenton placed second at the meet.

“Getting second place was certainly our goal going into the meet. We knew that Grand Blanc would be tough to beat,” varsity swim coach Brad Jones said. “But we were able to qualify for events that would help us get into the state meet early in the season. There were some events that got close to getting cuts, like the 200 medley relay team, but knowing that they were that close, I’m sure that we will be able to get the cut later in the season.”

Many swimmers were able to qualify for county finals, which took place on Jan. 16. Junior Kyle Banner was one of the swimmers who returned, but was the only Fenton swimmer who took first place in an event.

“I swam in the 500 freestyle, and got a time of 5:03.67,” Banner said. “I was able to drop 11 seconds from my time at the preliminary meet, and I was able to out-touch the person next to me, which was a wonderful feeling. I missed getting the state cut, but came really close to getting it, and I hope to get the time needed at the upcoming MISCA meet.”

Other swimmers placed in the top eight in the county. Not only did swimmers place, but one diver also placed in the top eight as well.

“I placed sixth out of 17 divers, and I felt so proud of myself that I was able to do this,” freshman Jacob Vickers said. “I plan on going to MISCA and to hopefully do a lot better. My goal is to place in the top five of all the divers and to go to states as a freshman.”

Some swimmers have already gotten state qualifying times at the meet. Jones anticipates to get more cuts throughout the rest of the season.

“Zac Miceli has already gotten three state cuts, in the 200 IM, in the 100 butterfly, and in the 400 free relay with Kyle Banner, Justin Beemer, and Michael Fabatz,” Jones said. “Our overall goal is to try to get all of our state cuts before the Metro meet. This way, we can focus more on actual swimming instead of doing more taper swimming going into the meet.”

The boys will be competing at Kearsley on Jan. 21 at 6 p.m.