This past weekend the St. Frances Cabrini Monarchs travelled to Woodhaven High School to compete in the annual Downriver Classic. Out of the 11 teams there, Cabrini came in 10^th place, but it wasn’t the score that highlighted the significance of the day. Out of the 19 athletes representing Cabrini, 16 of them earned a Personal Record, with 10 of them swimming their personal best each time they jumped in the pool to race.

              To start off the day, the relay of Ella Brash, Kieran Fix, Colin Bonar, and Ralph Kaleniecki earned a 9^th place finish in the 200 Medley Relay, with K. Fix and R. Kaleniecki earning personal bests in their leg of the race. In addition, Giovanni Rea, Jenny Day, and Taylor Bonar also swam their personal best in their leg of the same event. The next few individual events included personal bests from Peter Farris and Chris Russelburg in the 200 Freestyle, Fix and Carter Russelburg in the 50 Freestyle, Mia Rossman in the 100 Butterfly with a drop of almost 9 seconds, as well as R. Kaleniecki and Grace Kendziuk in the 100 Freestyle.

              The most significant time drops came in Event 8: the 500 Freestyle. Sophomores Jack Fitzgerald and G. Rea both competed in the race, with Fitzgerald dropping 27 seconds and Rea dropping 45 seconds off their lifetime best times. To follow that up, T. Bonar, G. Kendziuk, Mykel Marko, and Connor Tomsic earned a personal record in their leg of the 200 Freestyle Relay.

              In the last two individual events of the day, 4 Monarchs earned a personal best including: J. Day dropping almost 8 seconds in the 100 Backstroke, along with R. Kaleniecki, K. Fix, and C. Tomsic swimming their personal best in the 100 Breaststroke.

              In the very last race of the day, the relay team of P. Farris, C. Bonar, Marin Genaw, and Ch. Russelburg found their way to a 9^th place finish in the 400 Freestyle Relay, with P. Farris and M. Genaw earning personal bests. In the same event, the relay team of Padraig John, M. Rossman, Amy Tran, and Ca. Russelburg each earned a personal best in their leg of the race.

              The Cabrini Monarchs had a great showing at the Downriver Classic this year, with a total of 28 personal best records earned collectively by the team. All in all, the coaches couldn’t be more proud of how the team performed at this mid-season competition, and are excited to see what the athletes will accomplish in the second half of the season. Good Luck Monarchs!