Three local swimmers Franco Fins’ Heidi Fritscher and the Best Louisiana Swim Team’s Kara Kopcso along with Andrew Knudsen did extremely in their events during the Greater Pensacola Aquatic Club’s Tom Lalor Invitational held last weekend.

Fritscher participated in 10 events, winning four, while taking three runner-ups, two thirds and a fourth.

Fritscher, 10, captured the 10-under 50-meter freestyle in 32.54 seconds, as runner-up was 34.43. She topped the competition in the 100-free (1:11.53) with the second-place time being 1:14.09. Fritscher won the 200-free in 2:34.54 in close fashion as second-place (2:35.14). The other event she won was the 50-breast stroke in 42.60 by less than a second. Runner-up was 43.45.

The BLAST Swim Team took part in the Greater Pensacola Aquatic Club's Tom Lalor Invitational last weekend and finished in the fifth place among the 30 teams that participated. From left, first row: Kristen Jennings, Alex Cloutet, Jenni Jones, Katie Fearn, Will Warwick and Gianni Scramuzza; second row: Macie Breaux, Emily Prieto, Michelle Limbaugh, Kara Kopcso. Allison Warwick, Robert Klazynski, Andrew Knudsen, Brooke Vinturella and Callie Tucker; third row: Coach Emmett Smith, Alex Knudsen, Christian White, Zachary Knudsen, Gavin Breaux, Coach Mark Bordelon and Beth Winkler. Not pictured: Colin Babcock, Rachael Strain, Andrew Jones, Michael Senneff and Matt Senneff.

Fritscher took second place in the 9-10s 200-meter individual medley (3:00.80), as first place was 2:57.40. She was second in the 10-under 100 backstroke (1:27.25) behind the winner, who swam it in 1:24.71. She was also runner-up in the 100-breast (1:32.67), just missing first place by two tenths of a second.

Her third-places came in the 50-meter butterfly (38.68) and the 50 back (41.06).

Fritscher’s lone fourth-place came in the 100-butterfly (1:30.96).

Fritscher said she was happy with her overall performance.

“I think I swam good,” Fritscher said. “I cut my time in everything.”

In the girls 13-14 age group, Kopcso dominated, winning all eight events she took part in.

Kopcso topped the 50-meter freestyle in 28.17 seconds over the runner-up (28.52). She took the 100-free in 1:01.27 by over a second (1:02.49 was second place). She captured the 200-free in 2:13.62 by more than two seconds. Runner-up swam in 2:15.95. Kopcso swam the 50 back in 32.25 and second place was 33.26. She also won the 100 back in 1:08.83 with second-place at 1:10.68. Kopcso won first in the 200 back with a time of 2:28.58 as runner-up was at 2:31.28. She captured the 50-butterfly in 30.05 and runner-up was 31.77.

Kopcso captured the 100-butterfly in 1:04.51 by more than four second over the runner-up finisher (1:08.74). She also took the 200-butterfly in 2:24.09, while runner-up was 2:31.05. Kopcso won the 200-individual medley in 2:29.45. Second place recorded a time of 2:32.13. She also won the 400 IM in 5:10.11, as runner-up was 5:23.03.

She was also part of a 400-freestyle relay team that took fourth place. Her teammates included Alex Cloutet, Brooke Vinturella and Katie Fearn. That same group also finished third in the 400-medley relay race.

Kopcso said she set personal records in all of the events except the 200 IM and 200 free.

“I’ve won a lot of best times this season and I’ve been surprised,” Kopcso said. “My coaches and teammates have been pushing me. I’ve worked really hard. It’s tough practicing right now because the water’s hot, but my teammates and I are working hard.”

In the boys, Knudsen took home three firsts, seven seconds and one fourth. He topped the competition in the 50 free, posting a time of 29.36 by four hundredths of a second.

Knudsen captured the 50-breast in 38.12, as second place was 41.34. He also out swam everybody in the 100-breast by nearly nine second over his closest competitor (1:30.01).

His runner-up finishes were in the 100 free (1:06) as first place was 1:04.74. Knudsen was runner-up in the 200 free (2:21.16) with first place being 2:19.31. He tallied a time of 4:56.48 in the 400 free and 4:52.47 was tops. Knudsen was second in the 100 back at 1:17.95, while first place was 1:17.37. He was runner-up in the 50-fly, finishing in 32.72 behind first (31.07). He was second in the 100 fly (1:12.57) and first was 1:08.92. He also took second in the 200-IM in 2:37.79, as first place was 2:36.32.

His fourth-place finish was 50-back (35.68).

“I swam pretty good because the competition there was good well,” Knudsen said. “There were a couple guys there that were really good. I did my best to keep up with them.”

He added that he was confident before the meet he would do well even though he was the only one from his team to swim the afternoon session.

Also competing locally, in the 11-12s girls’ was Pelican Athletic Club’s Hannah Choppin. She finished second in two events, the 50-breast (38.71) and the 100-breast (1:24.71) and sixth in the 100-butterfly (1:18.44).

In the girls’ 13-14s, BLAST’s Cloutet took second place in the 50-breast (39.08) and a pair of thirds in the 100-breast (1:22.28) and the 200-breast (2:57.77).

Franco’s Jonna Frantz was third in the 50-breast (39.67), 50-free (28.64) and fifth for the 200 IM (2:38.79). She was fourth in the 400-free (4:59.76) and sixth in the 200 free (2:19.64). Vinturella took sixth place in the 200-butterfly (2:44.13).

Franco’s Brittany Alexander recorded a third-place finish in the 200-breast (2:58.97) and fourth in the 50-breast (38.76) and 100-breast (1:22.11).

In the boys’, BLAST’s Robert Klazynski was fifth in the 13-14-year olds 50-fly (32.96) and he was sixth for the 200 fly (2:47.61).

In the 15-older, Colin Babcock took third for the 200 IM (2:19.14), fifth in the 200 breast (2:41.10) and sixth for the 400 IM (4:58.79), 50-back (30.38), 100 back (1:06.21) and 200-fly (2:18.95). Babcock was also part of a sixth-place 400-medley relay team (4:33.44). His teammates were Zack Knudsen, Christian White and Gavin Breaux. Franco’s Thomas Beckstrom took fourth in the 50-back (30.13) overall.

In the teams’ portion, BLAST was fifth (269), while Franco’s was eighth (124.5) and Pelican Athletic Club as 15th (22) among the 30 teams. Area Tallahassee Aquatic Club was first with 1208.5 points.