MOSCOW — 13-year-old Myelle Jensen picked up three gold medals and broke a meet record as the Sandpoint Sharks swam to a handful of podium finishes at the Inland Empire Short Course Championships held this past Friday, Feb. 28, through Sunday, March 2, at the University of Idaho Swim Center.

Head coach Emily Renzini and assistant coach Alin Moss said that the older kids in the Sharks' purple and black squads swam great in their events, with every athlete touching the wall with at least one new personal best time. Renzini said it was another great championship meet with some exceptionally fast swimming that blew her out of the water.

Jensen, who made the regionals cut for the first time, placed first out of 26 in her age group in the 200-yard IM (2:15.65), first out of 12 in the 50 back and broke the meet record by .54 seconds (28.37) and was first out of 47 in the 50 free (26.01).

Alivia Storms (13) also swam well in the 13-14 age group, finishing eighth out of 17 in the 100 breast (1:18.25), ninth out of 19 in the 500 free (6:00.56) and fifth out of 13 in the 50 breast (36.03).

Charley-Rain Olpin (11) also made the regionals cut for the first time and swam to fifth out of 56 in the 50 free (28.87), eighth out of 12 in the 500 free (6:09.09) and seventh out of 49 in the 100 back (1:10.69).

Lou Foust (15), described by his coaches and others as an “all around great swimmer who will give it his all in every race” had a trio of notable swims. Competing against other swimmers as old as 18 in the 15-and-over age group, he placed 30th out of 48 in the 100 free (53.82), 11th out of 12 in the 1000 free (10:56.11) and 11th out of 24 in the 500 free (5:13.95). 

Joshua Jackson (13) gathered some new personal bests, swimming to 15th out of 19 in the 500 free (5:53.50), 20th out of 29 in the 200 free (2:07.25) and 18th out of 32 in the 100 free (57.09). 

Athena deLeeuw (14), who just competed in the IES Junior Championships last month in Moses Lake, was eighth out of 26 in the 200 IM (2:30.96), fourth out of 16 in the 200 breast (2:46.02) and 25th out of 39 in the 100 free (1:03.23). 

Andrew Ford (14), in his regionals debut, earned a trio of podium placements to go along with some new personal bests. He placed fourth out of eight in the 100 breast (1:06.64), fifth out of seven in the 200 breast (2:31.59) and fourth out of seven in the 50 breast (30.80).  

Maximus Brown (15) dropped a significant amount of time in his events, garnering 15th out of 26 in the 100 breast (1:10.37), 27th out of 38 in the 200 free (2:02.94) and 22nd out of 23 in the 50 butterfly (28.67). 

Vienne LaFountain (12) also swam to new personal records, placing 15th out of 32 in the 50 back (36.90), 31st out of 41 in the 100 IM (1:22.30) and 38th out of 52 in the 100 free (1:12.19). 

Campbell Wyman (22) rounded out the Shark's weekend by swimming his heart out and putting up a new personal best in the 100 back (1:48.29). He also competed in the 50 breast (44.42).

The Sharks placed 14th out of 16 teams with 79 points.

“This truly was a great end to short course championship season," Renzini said. "Our older swimmers have been working really hard for this meet, training almost every day; I was astounded by their performance. It’s a tough meet with tight competition, so I’m really just so proud of our Sharks."