Local swimmers make waves

The Shafter Stingrays Swim Club has continued their strong swimming season with a successful trip up the mountain, coming back from Tehachapi with several top five finishes.

After fielding a full team at the Rio Bravo Swim Meet, the Stingrays had a total of 37 entries at the Tehachapi meet. Even with smaller numbers than at other meets, the locals made up for it with their race performance

One of the standouts of the meet for Shafter was Malachi DeWitt, who came back with two third places and a fourth place in his age division. Competing in the Boys 13 Division, DeWitt got third place in the 50-yard breaststroke as well as a third in the 50-yard backstroke. He also got a fourth place competing in th 100-yard freestyle.

Landon Valderrama also had a strong meet, with a third place in the boys 15 100 freestyle, as well as a third in the 100-yardbBackstroke. Valderrama followed those up with a fourth place in the 100-yard Butterfly. Sean O'Neill got a first place and two second places competing in the Boys 12-year-old division. O'Neill placed first in the 50-yard breaststroke with a time of 44.0 seconds. He swam the 50-yard butterfly in 42.3 seconds and then swam a 43.8 in the 50-yard backstroke, good for second place.

Parker Valderrama competed in the Boys 13 Division, getting a third place in the 100-yard freestyle and a fifth place in the 50-yard backstroke. Dean O'Neill won second place in the boys 9 year-old 50-yard backstroke with a time of 49.77.

Kaleb Adams swam in three events at the meet in the Boys 18 division. Adams swam the 100 yard Backstroke in a time of 1:06, good for first place in the event. Adams then won the 100 yard butterfly with a time of 1:05. Adams finished off his successful meet with a fourth place in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 27.37.

The Stingrays, who have been training since April, continue their season this weekend with a meet in Bakersfield hosted by the Bakersfield Aqua Aces. They will then compete in the County Championships at Bakersfield College. This meet is a qualifier for the Southern California Championships.