MAC Winter Invitational 2025 Meet Highlights

MAC Winter Invitational Meet Highlights

After the holiday break, the Barrie Trojans were back to competing, this time at the Markham Pan Am Centre in the long course pool on Jan. 18-20 as part of the Markham Aquatic Club Winter Invitational.

The meet saw Sam Brundage set another Ontario provincial record. This time it was for the long course 50M breaststroke. BTSC swimmers continue to rewrite the Club record board with numerous new fastest ever Club swims.

The competition schedule for the first day had the distance events. In the 800M freestyle, Will McConachie touched the wall first to earn a gold medal. Marissa Battrick and Lucien Vilchez were silver medallists and Blayke Taylor won a bronze. In the 1500M races, Keira Hornby and Griff Seguin both made their way to the top of the podium.

Day 2 of the meet saw racing for the 400M freestyle, 200M individual medley, 50M freestyle and 100M backstroke. 

BTSC 13 year old and over swimmers vied for spots in finals during the morning session. In the afternoon session, Madeleine Devroom raced to a gold medal finish in the 400M freestyle, bettering her seed time by 19 seconds. Emma Mackie placed 8th, bettering her entry time by 40 seconds! Chase Turner and Finn Harrison finished 4th and 8th respectively in the boys race.

In the 200M IM, Sam Brundage and Blayke Taylor claimed silver and bronze medals. Madeleine Devroom had a 4th place finish. For the boys, Rydaar Watt finished 8th followed by Edwin Huang in 9th.

Chase Turner and Edwin Huang were bronze medal winners in the 100M backstroke. Blayke Taylor was 4th, Madeleine Devroom 5th, and Kennedy Jackson 9th in their respective races.

At the finals session for the older swimmers, Griff Seguin earned the gold medal in 400M freestyle followed by Will McConachie in the silver medal position. Taira Vroom also claimed a silver medal. Keira Hornby was the bronze medallist in her race followed closely by Marissa Battrick in 4th. Scotty Suttom placed 6th.

In the 200M IM, Will McConachie won the gold medal and Griff Seguin took silver in a very close finish. Taira Vroom had a silver medal swim. Avery Knight was 6th and Kaelyn Vroom 9th in that A final race. Marissa Battrick, Maddy Scott-Nichols, Clara Vilchez and Kenzie Sparrow were in the A final for their age group, finishing 6th, 8th, 9th and 10th. Ben Millar finished 8th in his A final. Avelyn Gregoric, Keira Hornby, Tori Carlesimo, Kylie Sarabura, Lucien Vilchez and Scotty Sutton all made B-finals.

Kenzie Sparrow earned a silver medal in the 50M freestyle and Maddy Scott-Nichols placed 9th in the A final. Tori Carlesimo, Molly Robinson and Ben Millar were B finalists.

Avery Knight took top spot in the girls 100M backstroke. Avelyn Gregoric, Clara Vilchez and Maddy Scott-Nichols placed 4th, 5th and 10th respectively in their A final. Molly Robinson and Maggie Taylor earned races in the B final. For the boys, Lucien Vilchez was a silver medal winner and Evan Beatty placed 8th. Nathan Vaughan and Daniel Eperjessy represented BTSC in the B final.

The third day of racing started with 400M individual medley, followed by 50M back, 100M fly, 200M free and 100M breast.

In the afternoon session for 12 and under swimmers, Madeleine Devroom laid down another huge best time to take the gold medal in the 400M IM. Blayke Taylor and Sam Brundage finished in silver and bronze medal positions respectively. Kennedy Jackson placed 7th with a 23 second improvement on her seed time. For the boys, Rydaar Watt, Edwin Huang and Nathan Orava placed 4th, 5th and 6th with all of them swimming faster than their seed times. 

For the 50M backstroke, Chase Turner touched the wall in 5th place.

Raevyn Maule completed her 100M butterfly in 5th place and Maggie McCocachie finished 10th.

Madeleine Devroom used another big seed time improvement to reach the top of the podium in 200M freestyle. Blayke Taylor claimed a silver medal for her age group and Kennedy Jackson placed 8th. Edwin Huang was also a silver medallist and Chase Turner was 10th in his age group.

A time of 1:16.35 by Sam Brundage established a new Club standard for the 100M breaststroke and also resulted in the gold medal. Alexa Mackie was the next to finish to earn the silver medal. Emma Mackie placed 6th in her race. Rydaar Watt swam to a silver medal finish in the boys event.

The Saturday evening session featured the older swimmers. 

Marissa Battrick and Avelyn Gregoric got BTSC off to a great start with a gold and bronze medal in the girls 400M IM. Taira Vroom also earned a bronze medal in her race. Keira Hornby and Kaelyn Vroom had 6th and 9th place finishes for their respective age groups. Griff Seguin set a new Club record of 4:55.30 to earn a gold medal and was followed closely by Will McConachie in the silver position. Scotty Sutton finished in 5th place in the 15 year old and over race.

Avery Knight won a silver medal in a Club record setting time of 30.62 and Ameliya Suleimanov placed 4th in the 50M backstroke final. Owen Oatway finished 10th overall in the boys event.

In the 100M butterfly finals, Avery Knight was fastest to claim a gold medal while Clara Vilchez and Avelyn Gregoric raced to a silver and bronze medals in their age category. Kenzie Sparrow placed 8th. Maddy Scott-Nichols and Julia Denes were B finalists. In the boys finals, Will McConachie continued to have a great meet, taking a bronze medal and setting a new Club record time of 1:03.04. Ben Millar placed 4th and Lucien Vilchez had a B final race.

In the girls 200M free final, 4 BTSC athletes entered the race. Ameliya Suleimanov won the bronze medal followed by Keira Hornby, Marissa Battrick and Clara Vilchez in 4th, 5th and 6th. Kenzie Sparrow and Harper Ferguson earned spots in the B final. Taira Vroom placed 6th in the 15 year old and over final while Shea Gillespie qualified for the B final. Griff Seguin earned a gold medal in a Club record setting time of 2:01.14, bettering his previous record time. Tate Devroom raced in the B final. Lucien Vichez had a 6th place finish and Evan Beatty competed in the B final.

In the 100M breaststroke, Eva Mankarios and Tori Carlesimo placed 8th and 9th in the A final. Emma Vaughan qualified for the B final. Kaelyn Vroom and Kylie Sarabura were also B finalists.

The final day of competition saw BTSC swimmers take part in 200M back, 50M fly, 200M breast, 100M free, 50M breast and 200M fly events.

Madeleine Devroom started the afternoon session of the last day with a 200M backstroke silver medal. Chase Turner equalled that feat, earning his own silver medal. Kennedy Jackson had a 5th place result. 

In the 50M fly, Blayke Taylor set a new Club record with a time of 30.29 which also earned a silver medal. Raevyn Maule, Ava-Skye Miller and Maggie McConachie finished 6th, 7th and 9th. Edwin Huang raced to a gold medal finish and Chase Turner was a bronze medallist.

Sam Brundage and Emma Mackie swam to silver and bronze medals in the 200M breaststroke. Rydaar Watt also claimed a bronze medal in his event.

Madeleine Devroom was the fastest 100M freestyler for the 10 year old and under girls. Chase Turner finished 6th in his race.

Sam Brundage set a new Ontario provincial and Club record with a 34.58 50M breaststroke swim. This provincial record has been in place since 2005. Alexa Mackie took the bronze medal in this race. Emma Mackie placed 10th in her race.

For the 200M butterfly, Blayke Taylor was the bronze medal winner. Maggie McConachie placed 4th and Raevyn Maule finished 6th. Edwin Huang won the boy’s silver medal and Nathan Orava and Ben DePiero finished 6th and 7th.

In the evening finals session, it was started by the 200M backstroke where Marrissa Battrick finished 4th followed by her teammates Avelyn Gregoric, Kaia Hornby and Clara Vilchez placing 5th, 6th and 7th. Keira Hornby and Emma Vaughan swam in the B final. In the 15 year old and over final, Avery Knight won the gold medal with a Club record setting time of 2:19.11. Taira Vroom took the bronze medal. For the boys, Lucien Vilchez claimed the gold medal spot while Evan Beatty and Nathan Vaughan were 5th and 9th. Matt Creasor and Daniel Eperjessy were B finalists.

Kenzie Sparrow won the silver medal in the 13-14 year old 50M butterfly with Ameliya Suleimanov placing 5th. Avery Knight also won silver, setting a new Club record in the process with a time of 28.44. For the boys, Tate Devroom had a 6th place finish.

Kaelyn Vroom and Scotty Sutton both finished 4th in the 200M breaststroke and Molly Robinson, Cole Harrison and Finn Taylor all swam in the B-finals.

Ameliya Suleimanov sped to a gold medal in the 100M freestyle final. She had plenty of BTSC company in this race with Kenzie Sparrow and Marissa Battrick tying for 6th place followed by Clara Vilchez in 8th. Griff Seguin took top spot in the boys event with Tate Devroom earning a B final swim.

Julia Logan and Cole Harrison placed 10th in the 50M breaststroke. 

Kaia Hornby bettered her own Club record to set a new standard of 2:21.26 in the 200M butterfly and also took the gold medal. Avelyn Gregoric was the silver medal winner and Keira Hornby placed 4th. Taira Vroom also placed 4th in the event for the 15 year old and over race. Griff Seguin and Will McConachie were 1st and 2nd in the 13-14 year old boys race. Griff set a new Club record with a time of 2:16.94, beating his own record by over 3 seconds. Ben Millar claimed the bronze medal in the older boys race while Scotty Sutton and Evan Beattly placed 6th and 10th. Lucien Vilchez and Nathan Vaughan swam in the B final.

Congratulations swimmers and coaches. Go Trojans!