Update: YMCA Swim Teams Ranks High at Midway Point of National Championships

After three days, the girls from the Birmingham Blue Dolphins (BBD) swim team are in sixth place at the National YMCA Championship while the boys are the in 17th place. Overall, the entire team from the ranks ninth in the nation with a combined 182 points.

Competition continues through Friday night in Fort Lauderdale, FL, where  more than 100 YMCAs are competing for the national title. Last year, BBD finished third overall in girls events and 12th in boys scores.

The best BBD result so far came Tuesday night, when 17-year-old Nikki Barczak of Bloomfield Hills won the 50-yard freestyle race with a time of 23.21 seconds. On Wednesday, she placed seventh out of 171 girls in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 55.83 seconds. 

Barczak and three BBD teammates placed second Tuesday in the women's 200-yard medley relay, finishing at 1:44.9. The other local racers were Taylor Steffl of Bloomfield Hills, Jaynie Pulte of Troy and Maggie Pyett of Bloomfield Hills.

"They broke an 18-year-old BBD record by three seconds," head coach Kevin Fogarty reported from Florida by email Wednesday afternoon.

On Wednesday, a relay team of Christine Edwards, Barczak, Pulte and Steffl earned fifth place in the 400-yard freesyle at three minutes, 28.35 seconds — a BBD record.

Nearly 40 BBD national team members — 19 girls and 18 boys — are at the annual meet in the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Complex, where several thousand  swimmers paraded into the hall Monday in an Olympics-style opening ceremony. To be eligible, swimmers must compete in three YMCA state or zone meets and one nationally sanctioned championship meet and be at least 12 years old.

Local participants include varsity swimmers from , , Berkley, Troy, Rochester, Brother Rice, Marian, Cranbrook, Detroit Country Day, St. Regis, Mercy, University of Detroit High, and other schools, according to Fogarty, who provides daily result highlights for Birmingham Patch.

Here's where BBD members placed Tuesday and Wednesday:

Girls

Place

Name(s)

Event

Final time

1

Nikki Barczak

50-yard freestyle

0:23.21

2

Nikki Barczak, Jaynie Pulte, Maggie Pyett, Taylor Steffl

200-yard medley relay

1:44.94

5

Nikki Barczak, Christine Edwards, Jaynie Pulte, Taylor Steffl

400-yard freestyle relay

3:28.35

7

Nikki Barczak

100-yard butterfly

0:55.83

12

100-yard butterfly

0:56.24

Boys

Place

Name(s)

Event

Final time

9

0:21.05

9

Patrick Sheppel

1,000-yard freestyle

9:23.55

13

Roby Boggs, Rob McGowan, Jeremy Raisky, Nick Wyllie

200-yard medley relay

1:35.73

15

Patrick Sheppel

500-yard freestyle

4:34.33

18 

Jeremy Raisky

100-yard butterfly

0:51.16

22

Miles MacDonald, Rob McGowan, Jeremy Raisky, Nick Wyllie

400-yard freestyle relay

3:11.44