Local swim meet draws statewide crowd

WILMINGTON — About 350 young swimmers filled UNCW’s pools Sunday. Waves of Wilmington, a local swim club, hosted swimmers from all across the state, including Charlotte, Greensboro, and Huntersville.

About 80 swimmers, ages 5 through 12, represented Wilmington in the annual meet.

Money raised at the meet helps fund Waves of Wilmington. Coach Brian Benfer said, “It’s a good opportunity, one for the new kids to get in, the kids who are new to the sport, and get in and compete and see where they are, as well as for the more experienced kids to see how the summer treated them.”

Swimmer Justine Bledsoe said, “It’s really fun to go to meets and you get to hang out with a whole bunch of friends and you meet a lot of people from other teams and out of town.”

It was some participants’ first swim meet. Some local swimmers, though, are nationally ranked.