Hurricanes Swim Club Continues to Develop Local Talent

This season, swimmers from the Hartland Hurricanes Swim Club, which range in age from seven to 18, had the opportunity to compete in several higher-level meets, with many of the swimmers finishing with qualifying race times, ranking them among the best swimmers in the state.

“We took a bunch of kids (12 and under) to Districts, and some of those kids qualified beyond that to go to Junior Olympics and then some of those kids qualified beyond that to go to the State Meet,” Hurricanes swim coach Maria Puranen said. 

As the youth competitive team, which began 10 years ago, continues to grow each year, the success and development of the young team is exciting for Puranen who also coaches at the high school level.

“Almost 100 percent of our swimmers develop out of the Hurricanes program,” she said. “We’re finding with more of the younger kids that this is becoming their sport. …We’ve come to point now where we’re not re-building varsity (swim team) every year- we’re just re-loading.”

Already, Puranen says that she knows who will be coming up as freshman to her high school team next fall and says those swimmers will be “instant contributors”

“They’ll be able to go into varsity heats as freshman, score points and letter,” she said.

With many of her swimmers starting off with swim lessons at the Hartland Pool as babies and toddlers, Puranen says there is already a long history and relationship between her and her team.

“I get accused of recruiting from Aqua Babies,” Puranen said laughing. 

Looking back, Puranen says it’s funny to remember where some of her most talented swimmers started including a 6-year-old boy who, years ago, took private lessons because he refused to put his face in the water. 

“Now he’s one of the fastest breaststrokers in the state,” she said. “It’s incredible.”

Priding the program on being both supportive as well as competitive, Puranen says they currently have between 120 and 150 swimmers- depending on the season- and welcome those kids who are interested in developing competitive skills.

With levels that range from pre-competative to advanced swimmers, Puranen says they are always “thrilled” with the progress each swimmer shows at every level.

“Now, it’s not only the Hartland kids who are improving, but kids from other towns are coming because they like the atmosphere we provide here,” she said. “It’s always positive.”

Stand out State Meet performances included:

• Jonathan Loshinskie finished in sixth place in the 500 free with a time 4:58.07 and was All- State. He also placed 12th in the 200 free and 13th in the 200 IM.
• David Patawaran, who placed 11th in the 100 breast with a time of 102.27
• Melanie Hunroe Had four first place finishes.

Alec Greene, Luke Conner, Jack Newcomb, Michael Harris, Jessica Keranen, Noah Barnett and Jordan Pierzynski also won medals. 

Results from Junior Olympics Meet

Noah Barnett (age,13)

• 1:04.20- 100 Free 
• 39.57 - 50 Breast 

Luke Conner (age, 10)

• 33.40 - 50 Free 
• 39.35 - 50 Back 
• 37.43 - 50 Fly 
• 37.45 - 50 Fly 

Michael Harris (age, 12) 

• 30.27 - 50 Free 
• 40.10 - 50 Breast 

Jessica Keranen (age, 12) 

• 31.40 - 50 Fly 
• 31.58 - 50 Fly 

Jack Newcomb (age, 12) 

• 36.30- 50 Breast 
• 1:21.27 - 100 Breast 
• 3:01.63 - 200 Breast 

Jordan Pierzynski (age, 11) 

• 1:25.56- 100 Fly

Results from State Meet:

Jack Newcomb  (age, 12)       

• 35.99 - 50 Breast 
• 1:18.48 - 100 Breast

Alec Greene (age, 14) 

• 1:01.11- 100 Back 
• 1:02.15 - 100 Back 
• 2:11.95 - 200 Back 

Melanie Hunroe (age, 13) 

• 26.44 - 50 Free
• 2:03.09 - 200 Free 

Jonathan Loshinskie (age, 14) 

• 24.45 Y P 50 Free 
• 52.61 Y P 100 Free 
• 1:51.08 Y F 200 Free 
• 1:51.55 Y P 200 Free 
• 4:58.07 Y F 500 Free 
• 4:59.27 Y P 500 Free 
• 59.59 Y P 100 Fly 
• 2:08.17 Y P 200 IM 
• 2:10.15 Y F 200 IM 

David Patawaran (age, 17) 

• 1:02.27 Y P 100 Breast 
• 1:02.35 Y F 100 Breast