The Kosciusko County YMCA Sharks hosted a meet for the first time at the new Parkview facility last weekend. (Photos provided)

WARSAW – Records can now be made to be broken.

The Kosciusko Community YMCA hosted its first swim meet for the Sharks swim team at its new Parkview Warsaw branch last Saturday.

Because of regulations on the depth of the pool and size of the deck area, the Kosciusko Community YMCA Sharks have had to travel to only away meets for the past few decades when competing. With the new facility, however, the team can now host home meets.

Steven Kuhn, the Y’s Director of Aquatics and Inclusive Programing said, “This has been a long time coming and it was great to see our team proudly represent who they are and the community they belong to. Our coaching staff, volunteers, and parents did an amazing job of making this all come together.”

The competing team was from the Central Branch of the YMCA of Greater Fort Wayne. Altogether, Fort Wayne had 86 kids of all ages compete throughout 19 different events.

Chris Lalonde, the Y’s head swim coach, said, “It was a great start to our 2015-16 swim season. With 41 [Kosciusko Community] YMCA swimmers representing, our team was huge. The volunteers that help run the meet did an outstanding job. The new timing system ran great – Kimberly Morgan and Ryan Harper did an outstanding job on running the timing system. The swimmers did a good job in the water and out of the water to keep the meet moving.”

With this being the first meet in the new pool, every first-place swimmer in their age group established the pool record.

Coach Lalonde said, “Now there are records to be broken.”

The Kosciusko Community YMCA Sharks are set to host three more meets this season.

Those ages five through 12th grade wanting to be a part of the Sharks swim team can join at any time. The season will continue to run into mid-March. The only requirement to join is being able to swim the length of the pool. Those interested can contact the YMCA at (574) 269-9622 or stop by the Welcome Center on site for more details.