Charlie Pacher,8, with the Wiesbaden Wahoos competes in the breaststroke portion of the 200-meter individual medley during Sunday's final swims of the 2011 European Forces Swim League Championships at Eindoven, Netherlands. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
Charlie Pacher,8, with the Wiesbaden Wahoos competes in the breaststroke portion of the 200-meter individual medley during Sunday's final swims of the 2011 European Forces Swim League Championships at Eindoven, Netherlands. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
Mattison Boveri,9, with the Naples Tiger Sharks does the backstroke during the 200-meter individual medley at Sunday's final swims of the 2011 European Forces Swim League Championships at Eindoven, Netherlands. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
Hallie Kinsey,10, with the Sigonella Swordfish starts her swim during the 200-meter individual medley Sunday at the 2011 European Forces Swim League Championships at Eindoven, Netherlands. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
Daniel Orcutt, 12, with the Lakenheath Barracuda swims to a first place finish at Sunday's European Forces Swim League championships at Eindhoven, Netherlands. Orcutt took gold in the event with a time of 2 minutes, 45.16 seconds. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
Philipp Hegner, 15, with the Berlin Bear-A-Cudas competes in the 200-meter individual medley at Sunday's European Forces Swim League championships at Eindhoven, Netherlands. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
Kerri-Ann Allan, 18, with the SHAPE Seals, takes a breath during the butterfly at Sunday's final swims of the European Forces Swim League championships at Eindhoven, Netherlands. Allan went on to score 131 points for SHAPE and was top scorer for her age bracket. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
Macy Cabiness, 17, of the Kaiserslautern Kingfish gets ready to surface during the start of the 100-meter backstroke event at the 2011 European Forces Swim League championships at Eindhoven, Netherlands. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
Reid Aldous, 18, with the Heidelberg Sea Lions, cruises during the 100-meter backstroke event during the 2011 European Forces Swim League championships. The meet at Eindhoven, Netherlands concluded on Sunday. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
Madelyn Coon, 12, with the Sigonella Swordfish starts on the 50-meter backstroke at the 2011 European Forces Swim League championships Sunday at Eindhoven, Netherlands. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
Kilian Korth, 15, with the Lakenheath Barracuda, does the breaststroke at Sunday's European Forces Swim League championships. Korth went on to set a new league record in the 15- and 16-year old boys' 100-meter backstroke on Sunday. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
EINDHOVEN, Netherlands — There was enough gold to go around as 49 different swimmers captured victories Saturday and Sunday during the European Forces Swim League championships.
Hallie Kinsey, 10, of the Sigonella Swordfish set five league records during the meet, which drew 582 swimmers from 19 military-connected and international schools. Kinsey also amassed eight gold medals over the weekend, the most of any competitor.
Lakenheath Barracuda swimmers Dominic Scifo, 11, and Kilian Korth, 15, were both close to Kinsey’s total with seven top finishes each. Scifo broke three records and Korth found his way into the record book with his 100-meter backstroke performance.
“I swim a lot better at championships…it’s more fun, it feels big,” Korth said.
Sebastian Lunak, 8, with the NATO Marlins International Swim Team, set three records and came away with six golds over the weekend.
The 200-meter individual medley was the first event of Sunday’s races, and set the mood.
Two early races, arguably the most exciting of the meet, were decided by less than a tenth of a second combined.
Mattison Boveri of the Naples Tiger Sharks was seeded 10 seconds faster than every other swimmer in the 9-year-old girls’ 200-meter individual medley.
Alea Oliphant of the Kaiserslautern Kingfish had upset on her mind.
Boveri could sense Oliphant right on her heels and she made some ill-timed glances to her side during the breaststroke, allowing Oliphant to catch up. Going into the freestyle, it was dead even, but Oliphant was able to charge ahead.
The 11-year-old girls individual medley provided the hundreds of spectators another race to remember as Caroline Ousley Naseman of the Stuttgart Piranhas edged out Kaiserslautern’s Danielle Davis by a fingertip.
“When I went for my turn from breast to free, I could see she was right behind me, I picked it up,” Ousley Naseman said. “I thought maybe she had gotten first, it was so close, but when I looked at the (scoreboard) I was so happy.”
Other standout performances over the weekend were put in by Kaiserslautern’s Paris Binard, 8, and Isabelle Biship, 12, SHAPE’s Gregor Heim, 9, and the Lakenheath duo of Blake Davis, 19, and Daniel Orcutt, 12, who all finished with six gold medals.
Because the number of swimmers on the teams varies so much, the focus on the championships is on the individual.
For example, Kaiserslautern brought 65 swimmers that qualified for the meet and the smaller Lisbon Bullsharks had only seven swimmers.
Lisbon coach Travis Johnson said it doesn’t discourage his swimmers, because they focus on “swimming against their last time.”
“You’re swimming individually while as a collective,” Johnson said.
Even with the individual focus, medal counts are kept for top team honors. For the first time in recent memory, the team title went down to the wire.
“It’s still too close to call,” said Kaiserslautern coach Bob Clinton before the final event of the day.
The Kingfish were able to hold on over second place Lakenheath and the third place SHAPE Seals to capture their fifth straight team title.
