Five BEAR swimmers traveled to Virginia for the Southern Sectional Championship meet and it was a great experience. The meet was held in the beautiful George Mason University pool in Fairfax, and there was a lot of fast swimming at the meet. Our small girls team surprised a lot of big teams and finished in 10th place overall, out of more than 60 teams. Natalie Mazzetta led the way with a 4th place finish in the 400 IM and a 10th place finish in the 1000 free. Taryn Prout had a very strong meet, with many lifetime best times, including 1:56.39 in the 200 free, 1:00.25 in the 100 back, and 59.18 in the 100 fly, along with a 9th place finish in the 1000 free and an 11th place finish in the 200 fly. Melanie Pascal placed 6th in the 200 fly with a lifetime best of 2:07.79, and also had strong swims and lifetime best times in the 100 and 200 free (56.05,1:58.48). Katie Gardocki finished 12th in the 400 I.M. with a quick 4:36.39, which gives the BEARS the top 2 times in the state in that event, along with Melanie's Age Group Championship winning time. Katie also finished 16th in the 1000 free, and had a 26 second drop in the 1650 with a time of 17:39.32. The relays all placed well, and the team finished 14th in the 400 free relay, 13th in the 200 free relay, 11th in the 200 medley relay, 8th in the 400 medley relay, and an amazing 5th place in the 800 free relay. Ben Levine was our only male qualifier at the meet and he had season best times in all 4 individual events he swam, and returned to finals in the 200 back (1:59.36), 200 IM (2:01.01), and 400 IM (4:17.55).