A coach dives into the water during the coaches relay Sunday, Feb. 16, 2014, at the European Forces Swim League championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
A coach dives into the water during the coaches relay Sunday, Feb. 16, 2014, at the European Forces Swim League championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
Stuttgart's Katie Nugent kicks off the wall on a turn in her winning 200-meter individual medley swim Sunday, Feb. 16, 2014, at the European Forces Swim League championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
Among the motivational t-shirts at the European Forces Swim League championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands, this one: If you have a lane, you have a chance. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
Naples' assistant coach Gina Sword gives some last-minute tips to girls about to compete in the 200-meter individual medley Sunday, Feb. 16, 2014, at the European Forces Swim League championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
Wiesbaden's Lexy Meints, 17, had six wins in the European Forces Swim League championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands, including this swim in the 200-meter individual medley Sunday, Feb. 16, 2014. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
Alaina Scifo, 16, of Lakenheath, waits for her competition to finish the race after finishing well ahead of the pack in the 200-meter individual medley Sunday, Feb. 16, 2014, at the European Forces Swim League championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
Dominic Scifo, 14, of Lakenheath blasts to the finish of the 200-meter individual medley Sunday, Feb. 16, 2014, at the European Forces Swim League championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands. With six wins in eight races, Scifo won overalls honors for his age group. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
Naples' Kyla Hallam, 14, won five of her eight races at the Europe Forces Swim League championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands, including a Sunday, Feb. 16, 2014, win in the 200 individual medley for girls 13-14 years old. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
Bejamin Balla, 12, of SHAPE was the single most dominant performer of the two days of the European Forces Swim League championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands, never dropping a race. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
Berlin's Lili Seubert, 12, backstrokes her way to victory in her age group's 200-meter individual medley Sunday, Feb. 16, at the European Forces Swim League championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
Kendall Ewing breast strokes his way to his first of four victories Sunday, Feb. 16, at the European Forces Swim League championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Sebastian Lunak, who was the overall swimmer to beat on the first day of the two-day meet, didn't compete Sunday, leaving the door open for Ewing to take top honors for the division. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
Naples Tiger Shark 10-year-old Sean Quirk goes out hard on the first leg of the 200-meter individual medley Sunday, Feb. 16, at the European Forces Swim League championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Quirk won his age division and seven of his eight races. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
Wiesbaden Wahoo Tyler Peng, 9, breaks out to an early lead in his 200-meter individual medley victory Sunday, Feb. 16, at the European Forces Swim League championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
Alejandra Buil took first in the 200-meter individual medley for 9-year-old girls Sunday, Feb. 16, at the European Forces Swim League championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
Aviano's Katelyn Vroom waits with other 10-year-old girls to be called forward to race Sunday, Feb. 16, at the European Forces Swim League championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
CJ Davis goes for the wall on a turn in his winning 200-meter individual medley for boys 8 and under Sunday, Feb. 16, at the European Forces Swim League championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
Alex Ruppe of Naples swims in the 200-meter individual for girls 8 and under Sunday, Feb. 16, at the European Forces Swim League championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
Naples' assistant coach Gina Sword gives some last-minute tips to girls about to compete in the 200-meter individual medley Sunday, Feb. 16, 2014, at the European Forces Swim League championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
EINDHOVEN, Netherlands — There was still a lot of swimming left, but early into the second day of the European Forces Swim League championships Sunday, a number of top honors were already sealed.
Still, there were some surprises as swimmers who earlier looked unbeatable were stopped short of perfect runs.
Coming off a perfect Saturday, Stuttgart’s Lexi Nugent won the first two races in the 11-year-old girls bracket Sunday before coming in third in the 50-meter backstroke.
Wiesbaden’s Lexy Meints clinched top swimmer in the girls 17- to-19 age bracket before dropping the 50-meter freestyle and 100-meter backstroke back to back.
At the end, just one swimmer of the 501 in the meet was left unsullied by defeat: SHAPE’s Benjamin Balla went eight-for-eight in the 12-year-old boys’ division.
“When you’re here at champs … you have a good chance of finding someone who is just as fast as you, so you can make each other go faster and get better times,” Balla said.
Another 18 records fell Sunday, bringing the total for the meet to 30.
Those who ruled the pool:
Girls 8 and under
Naples’ Alex Ruppe and Vicenza’s Maddison Davenport split one of the league’s most heavily packed age brackets with four wins each, but Davenport edged her rival on points to take top honors.
Boys 8 and under
A loss in the 50-meter breaststroke Saturday was the only thing that kept Sigonella’s CJ Davis from a perfect record.
Girls 9
With one win, Lauren Snodgrass of Naples took top girl honors in a bracket that was one of the most competitive of the meet.
Boys 9
Had it not been for a disqualification in his first race, Wiesbaden’s Tyler Peng would have swept the bracket.
Girls 10
Emmie Muschek’s win in the 100-meter freestyle Sunday for Stuttgart was enough to clinch top girl for her class after her three wins on Saturday.
Boys 10
Sean Quirk of Naples had a perfect day Sunday after dropping the 50-meter breaststroke Saturday to James Eubanks of Geilenkirchen.
Girls 11
Coming in to the EFSL championships, “My goals were just to drop time, really,” Stuttgart’s Katie Nugent said. She’d locked her grip on the title of top girl in the division before taking second in the 50-meter backstroke, then bounced back to win the 100-meter freestyle.
Boys 11
After ruling the pool with four wins and three records on the first day of the champs, NATO Marlins’ Sebastian Lunak didn’t compete Sunday. Naples’ Kendall Ewing took advantage, snapping up wins in the rest of the races and top boy honors for the class.
Girls 12
After going two-for-four Saturday, Lili Seubert of the Berlin Bear-A-Cudas cemented top girl Sunday with wins in the 200-meter individual medley and the 100-meter freestyle.
Boys 12
Balla was easily the most dominant performer of the entire EFSL championships, the only one to have a perfect score of 160 out of a field of 501 swimmers.
Girls 13-14
Naples’ Kyla Hallam cinched up top girl honors Sunday with wins in the 200-meter individual medley and 50-meter freestyle after winning three of her four races Saturday.
Boys 13-14
Lakenheath’s Dominic Scifo won six of his eight races on his way to winning the crown for his division.
Girls 15-16
Throughout the two-day championships, Lakenheath’s Alaina Scifo was so much faster than her competition that it seemed at times as if she was swimming in a different kind of water – that is, until she lost the 50-meter freestyle to Lizzie Hodges on Sunday. Scifo roared back in her last two races and achieved one of her goals by winning top girl.
Boys 15-16
Sigonella’s Brian Burke stumbled in his third race of the tournament, taking second to Andrew Sterns in the 100-meter breaststroke. Burke dominated his bracket otherwise, putting up 157 out of a possible 160 points to take top honors for his class.
Girls 17-19
“I’m a senior, and I just really wanted to enjoy it this year,” Wiesbaden senior Lexy Meints said. If that meant coming in something other than first, she was happy with that. That only happened twice, though, as Meints went six for eight and was comfortably perched atop her division.
Boys 17-19
Kaiserslautern’s Everett Plocek and Enrico Varano of Brussels each won four races in the division. The difference that led to Varano’s clinching the class may have been the fact that he competed in all eight individual events in his class, while Plocek raced in just four.millhamm@stripes.com
