Warren senior Mason Francis leaves the starting blocks for the start of the 50 freestyle during Saturday’s Patriot Invite at the Boys and Girls Club of Parkersburg. Francis won both the 50 free and 100 free. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

PARKERSBURG – The timing of the Patriot Invitational arrives at a time when high school swimmers have tired bodies and anticipate the training to take effect.

Saturday afternoon at the Boys and Girls Club in Parkersburg, Warren and Marietta joined a field of seven schools at a facility they are all too familiar with since both utilize the pool for practices.

The Warren girls, behind a pair of runner-up finishes from Grace Francis in the 200 freestyle and 100 breaststroke, placed third with 268 points. Parkersburg edged out host school Parkersburg South, 327-322, for the team title.

Makayla Elder also contributed a second-place effort in the 100 freestyle on the girls side, while on the boys side the Warriors wrapped up three individual wins from Mason Francis in the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle, and Eli Watkins in the 500 freestyle.

“Eli is our mid-distance kid – he trains extremely hard as well,” Warren coach Mike Francis said. “We’re getting him to drop some time, but again he is swimming tired, too. When we get these kids on taper and they will be a lot faster.”

Warren sophomore Eli Watkins won the 500 freestyle at Saturday’s Patriot Invite at the Boys and Girls Club of Parkersburg. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

Shortly after competing in the 500, Watkins stepped in as part of the 200 freestyle relay which placed second – just a second-plus slower than first-place South.

“It’s hard to get Eli to sprint after he has done a 500,” coach Francis said.

“Like Mason, Eli can do all four strokes. If we didn’t have another boy who do all four strokes we wouldn’t have medley relay team,” Warren coach Jenny Miller added.

The Warren boys placed fourth with 183 points. Parkersburg completed the sweep by after producing 349 points in the boys division.

“The kids are swimming tired more than any other year,” Miller said. “We keep reminding them because they are not used to that, but they are swimming pretty consistently. We tell our veteran swimmers to just stick with it because in a couple of weeks it will be championship season.

“The newer swimmers aren’t working as hard as the veteran swimmers, so they are dropping time and that’s a big encouragement for them.”

Spearheading the Marietta contingent were Kipplyn McNeal (500 freestyle) ad Nora Vigneron (100 backstroke) taking third in their respective events. The Tigers placed fifth in the team standings with 156 points, while their male counterparts occupied fifth place with 73 points.

Oliver Smith provided the best individual showing for Marietta after placing fourth in the 100 freestyle.