The first-ever Sprint Eliminator held by the Lawrence Aquahawks went off with out a splash.

Saturday’s Sprint Eliminator at the Lawrence Indoor Aquatic Center featured 50-yard preliminaries, semifinals, and finals in both the butterfly and freestyle races.

Aquahawks coach Scott Bliss said the better swimmers faced a daunting task under this particular swim meet format.

“I think the kids did really well, especially since some of these kids had to swim in seven races today,” Bliss said.

The Aquahawks have been competing in the short course swim season since September, but the coaching staff doesn’t always emphasize short-distance racing.

“We generally don’t stress a lot of sprinting for most of the age groups, but this is something kind of different that we decided to do. This meet is kind of fun and gets these kids involved with finals and semis,” Bliss said.

The top three finishers in each event received a medal. The Lawrence Aquahawks brought home 15 total medals in the 10 and under, and 11 and 12 age groups. Even though the Aquahawks won 15 medals, the coaching staff said this meet wasn’t about winning and losing.

“These meets are just kind of tune-ups to get experience in swimming races,” Bliss said.

Two Aquahawks swimmers got experience in swimming races, and in winning them. Ben Sloan, 10-year-old Aquahawk, took first place in both the boys’ 50-yard butterfly and the 50-yard freestyle. Chloe Portela, 12-year-old Aquahawk, took first place in both of the girls’ events.

The Aquahawks jump back into the water in three weeks for another swim meet at the Lawrence Indoor Aquatic Center, but their training regimen won’t change.

“It’s kind of our midseason championships in three weeks. We’re into our midseason cycles as far as training goes and we’ll be ready to race. Generally the way we train, we want to make sure we are swimming fastest in February and March,” Bliss said.

At the end of the meet, Mike Soderling, Aquahawks head coach, said he was pleased with the Sprint Eliminator.

“This is the first time we’ve done this with the 50’s: with prelims, semis and finals. All the feedback we’ve gotten is great,” Soderling said.

This year’s event drew nearly 200 swimmers, and Soderling said he hoped that next year’s field would double in the amount of competitors.