SAULT STE. MARIE — The Houghton Gremlins swim got off to a strong start with 29 qualifying swims and dives during a meet Friday in Sault Ste. Marie.

“It was a really good start to our season,” said coach Erik Johnson. “I was impressed with the effort we put into the pool.”

Johnson had some concerns prior to the meet about the team’s youth, but was pleasantly surprised by the effort they put in.

“Our team is fairly young so it was a positive sign for the future to hit that many qualifying times,” he said. “We qualified someone in every event except two, one on the girls side and one on the boys side. The kids have put in a ton of work so to get our first meet under out belts felt good.”

With such a young squad, Johnson has had to go back to the basics at times with his group as he got them ready for the season opening meet.

“We have worked hard on technique and this is the first early season meet I can remember that we didn’t have any (disqualifications), so the kids are listening and applying what we are practicing,” Johnson said.

The Gremlins opened with a win in the girls’ 200-yard medley relay as the team of Irene Ra, Jiwei Li, Lincole Li and Katie Jaszczak finished with a time of 2:23.92.

The boys followed suit in the 200-yard medley. The team of Kevin Beaghan, Sam Fang, Cameron Jackson and Colton Haataja finished in 1:59.15.

The girls team of Samantha Olson, Tessa Meyer, Meredith Raasio and Olivia Witting won the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 4:17.59.

The boys team of Haataja, Archer Olson, Jackson, and Beaghan won the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 4:10.49.

Olson won the boys’ 200-yard freestyle. Haataja took first in the 50-yard freestyle, beating teammate Zak Kotula by over six seconds.

Jackson took the 100-yard butterfly, beating teammate Ryszard Olsewki by just under four seconds and Olson by over seven seconds.

Haataja won the 100-yard freestyle by posting a time of 54.60 seconds. Carlos Gomez and Conner Holombo completed the podium sweep for the Gremlins.

Beaghan won the 500-yard freestyle by finishing his final lap three seconds faster than Xavier Tarvinen did. Beaghan also won the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:13.38, almost six seconds better than Fang.

Raasio took the mixed 50-yard freestyle. Meyer won the 100-yard butterfly by over nine seconds over Sault’s Alyssa Claxton.

Ra won the 100-yard backstroke (1:19.61), finishing less than a second better than Eva Anderson.

Li won the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:27.03.

The Gremlins are back in the pool Tuesday when they host Ishpeming.