The Northern TRIBS Swimming (NTS) swim club, with USA Swimming members from Franklin and St. Lawrence counties, including Akwesasne, had 10 members attend the Adirondack Long Course Championships at Colgate University in Hamilton July 28-30.

In swimming the term Long Course refers to races held in a 50-meter Olympic size pool, which is more than twice as long as the 25-yard pools used for training by local athletes.

During the three-day championship meet, the small squad put up big swims to finish 8th place out of the 16 participating Adirondack clubs, with 297 points. Leading the way in points for the girls team was 9 year-old Gretchen Braun of Lisbon contributing 137 points, winning 1st place overall for the 9-10 Girls. For the boys team, her 11-year-old brother Seth scored 104 points, coming in 3rd place overall for the 11-12 Boys.[img_assist|nid=204328|title=Seth and Gretchen with their trophies.|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=250|height=387]

To win 1st place overall for the 9-10 Girls, Gretchen Braun, the daughter of Peter and Michelle Braun of Lisbon, won 1st place in 7 out of 9 of her individual events including the 50 Freestyle (32.80), 100 Freestyle (1:12.66), 200 Freestyle (2:37.92), 400 Freestyle (5:35.45), 50 Backstroke (39.33), 100 Backstroke (1:22.60), and the 200 IM (3:02.85). Rounding out her events she placed 2nd in the 100 Breaststroke with a 1:38.68 and 3rd in the 50 Breaststroke with a 46.08. Each of these nine outstanding performances were also new club records.

Gretchen Braun is one of seven children in her family and she is the fifth to swim for Northern TRIBS following siblings Jesse 19 (attending Columbia University this fall), Hannah 17, Paul 15 and Seth 11. Her sister Julia, 7, is now attending practices and Caleb, 5, has begun taking lessons, and they will both compete for the club when they are ready.

“We home school our children and they don’t have the opportunity to compete in high school sports,” says Peter Braun. “Swimming is one sport that they can compete in at the club level. The club (NTS) holds practices four days a week at the Canton and Massena school pools. We usually go to practices at Canton. It is great for the kids. It doesn’t matter what level the kids swim at, they all have a lot of fun.”

Seth Braun clinched 3rd place overall for the 11-12 Boys by winning the 400 Freestyle with 5:12.19. He also took 2nd place in the 200 Freestyle (2:29.65) and 3rd in the 50 Free (31.67), 100 Free (1:09.18), 50 Breaststroke (42.67), 100 Breaststroke (1:35.12), and the 200 IM (2:54.09). In the 100 Back Seth took 5th with a 1:23.07 and in the 50 Back he finished 8th with a 39.82. Seth set new club records in 7 of his events, the exceptions are the 50 & 100 Breaststroke.

A total of 31 club records were broken over the three days, 16 by Gretchen and Seth combined, and the remaining 15 records by the other 8 swimmers for a total of 20 new female records and 11 male.

Additional records were set by:

Paul Braun also of Lisbon in the Male Open 100 Backstroke (1:08.00), 200 Backstroke (2:30.31), 400 Freestyle (4:59.22) and the 400 IM (5:52.61) bringing the Braun family total to 20 new club records.

Emily Lantry of Helena in the Female Open 100 Backstroke (1:17.92), 200 IM (2:50.88), 200 Butterfly (3:01.68), and the 400 Freestyle (5:09.56).

Sina Lufkin of Potsdam in the Female 11-12 50 Backstroke (38.07), 100 Backstroke (1:20.78), 200 Backstroke (2:52.71), 200 IM (3:01.55) and the 400 Freestyle (5:21.77).

Katie McGrath of Potsdam in the Female 11-12 50 Freestyle (31.52) and the 100 Freestyle (1:09.22).

Emma Dumas of Malone, Claire Knowlton and Benjamin Sitts both of Gouverneur, and Skyler Sanderon of Potsdam also participated and performed well during Championships.

“Our swimmers work hard and they put up some good races,” said Head Coach Joshua Jock. “Some members of our club swim year-round. You’ve got to put the time in at the pool if you want to see results. We train our swimmers to be good, all-around athletes and we have some strong, dedicated swimmers, who have excelled at every challenge. We strive to give our members every opportunity to reach for their potential in and out of the pool”

August 26, NTS is hosting a High Performance Swim Clinic taught by 2-time Olympian Chloe Sutton at SUNY Potsdam. There will be two sessions for swimmers of all ages and abilities: 11 & Under and 12 & Over. For more information and to register go online before the sessions sell out.

Fall swim lesson registration is currently open for all swim lessons in Canton and Massena. The next section begins September 11.

Registration is also open for competitive groups: stroke school, age group and senior. The short course seasons begins on September 11 and goes through March 17.

For complete meet results and club registration go to www.goTRIBS.org.