By NICK MAIER

For The Beachcomber

Three Vashon Stingrays swimmers traveled to Federal Way Dec. 11 to 13 to compete in the Pacific Northwest Swimming Short Course Championships, and all three set personal records.

McMurray Middle School sixth-graders Baker Van Buren and Erik Pringle and seventh-grader Ava Lorentzen competed against 50 other clubs with the top swimmers in the Pacific Northwest Territory, which includes a majority of the state of Washington.

Baker, 11, swam his personal best time in his three events: The 50-yard butterfly in 31.75 seconds, the 100-yard butterfly in 1:12.34 and the 50-yard backstroke in 35.05 seconds.

Erik, also 11, swam the maximum six events allowed for the championship meet. He swam the 200-yard breaststroke, 100-yard freestyle, 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard backstroke, 50-yard breaststroke and 200-yard freestyle. He improved his time in the 50-yard breaststroke by over 2 seconds, and in the 200-yard freestyle by 1.74 seconds.

Ava, 12, set regional times and advanced to finals with her performance in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle races. She swam a 26.30 in the 50-yard race, placing seventh in preliminaries and the seventh overall in finals. In the 100-yard freestyle, she finished ninth in the preliminaries at 58.67 seconds and advanced to finals where she finished seventh again.

She advanced to the finals of the 200-yard freestyle and finished 16th. She also swam the 500-yard freestyle, 50-yard butterfly and 100-yard individual medley.

— Nick Maier is owner of the Vashon Athletic Club.