By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

Riverlands captured third place and Belle Terre fifth at this past weekend’s River Parish swimming Invitational at LaVacherie, each boasting a handful of high point earners over the competition.

Sarah Carambat, Anna Guidry, Maddie Guidry, Merryn Guidry, Kyle Wilking, and Brian Comisky each were high point swimmers (finishing in the top four of their respective age groups) for Riverlands.

Meanwhile, Tyra Watkins, Gage Alleman, Cari Jane Roussel, and Alexis Bailey each shined, completing the feat for Belle Terre.

Riverlands followed up its third place regular season finish with the same result on Sunday, scoring 7,828 and ending its day behind only champion Larayo (12,659) and Hill Heights (8,438), which finished the regular season in second place as well.

While it wasn’t the second place finish of a year ago for the Stingrays, it still maintained Riverlands’ position in the upper half of the league.    

“I was really pleased with the number of swimmers who made it (out of the preliminaries) back to the finals,” said Riverlands’ Coach Carla Lambert. “I feel like we showed that we have a good team with good swimmers.”

The Stingrays’ strength all year has been the relay events, and this meet was no different. Riverlands finished second in six different relay events, and first in a seventh.

Will Torres, Kyle Wilking and Maddie Guidry each took first place finishes. Wilking  was the only Stingray to capture two.

Meanwhile, Belle Terre Coach Laura Bailey didn’t want to set the bar too high for her team, with only a third of her swimmers making the trip.

But those who participated showed their coach a lot of ability.

“I was very impressed,” said Bailey. “Their starts, their turns, and their strong finishes were all to perfection.”

Bailey said that most of her team swam a season-best time, including three swimmers – Giselle Jase, Justin Jase, and Rebecca Grote – who shaved three seconds off their season best.

Alleman, Watkins and Alexis Bailey all captured first place finishes for Belle Terre – with Bailey and Alleman taking two each.

Coaching for the first season after concluding her swimming career with the club, Laura Bailey said that at times, she missed the action this past weekend – even more so because of the weather.

“I just wanted to jump in the pool to get out of the heat,” she said.