The taper works. The LaPorte Slicers Swimming and Dive team dropped time across the board and advanced 10 swimmers to Saturday's finals. The Slicers opened the Sectional Championship meet with a second place finish in the 200 Medley Relay with: Cali Hatala (backstroke), Grace Caviston (breaststroke), Noor Hakim (butterfly), and Isabel Barron (freestyle). Their time of 1:54.80 is 2.68 seconds from tying the school record of 1:52.12. All four girls swam lifetime best relay segments, and are positioned well for a top 3 finish at Saturday's finals. In the 200 Freestyle, Grace Caviston and Grace VanHook both had lifetime PRs to advance to the 'B' Final on Saturday. They finished 9th and 12 respectively. Sarah Peterson is first alternate at 17th place. In the 200 Individual Medley, Cali Hatala made the 'A' Championship finals, finishing 7th. Hatala also finished 7th in the 100 Backstroke. Both swims were lifetime bests. Madi Griffin and Aleah Borkowski also had lifetime best swims, finishing 17th and 19th. Isabel Barron finished 8th in the 50 Freestyle, making the 'A' Final. Barron also finished 9th in the 100 Freestyle. A BIG Slicer Shoutout to Nala Hammoud, who dropped a whopping 4 seconds in her 50 Freestyle, to finish 22nd. Hammoud also dropped 4 seconds in the 100 Breaststroke, to finish 19th. Noor Hakim had a lifetime best swim in the 100 Butterfly, to finish 7th and advance to the 'A' Final. Hakim also finished 7th in the 100 Breaststroke, going 1:12.97. Madi Griffin and Liz Luna-Zetina finished 14th and 15th in the 100 Butterfly, both with lifetime PRs. Grace Caviston finished 5th in the 100 Breaststroke with a blazing fast time of 1:10.65! Along with Barron's 9th place finish in the 100 Freestyle, Grace VanHook and Michelle Clark also advanced to the 'B' Final finishing 12th and 14th respectively. Liz Luna-Zetina and Sarah Peterson finished 12th and 13th in the 500 Freestyle. Luna-Zetina dropped 7 seconds with a time of 6:33.39. The 200 Freestyle Relay of VanHook, Clark, Peterson and Luna-Zetina finished 7th heading into Saturday's 'A' Final. More Slicer Shoutouts to Aleah Borkowski, who finished 15th in the 100 Backstroke, to make the 'B' Finals as a Freshman. The Slicers finished the evening with a 3rd place finish in the 400 Freestyle Relay with: Barron, Hatala, Caviston and Hakim, dropping 8 seconds! We'll have a very light practice tomorrow to stay loose and focused for Saturday's Sectional Finals. It was truly a great evening of Slicer swimming. Always proud. Go Slicers! Coach Brahim