With a few top swimmers staying behind to take care of injuries, Williams Lake Blue Fins head coach Chad Webb was not expecting many ‘A’ final swims in Kamloops during the weekend at the MJB Law Classic swim meet.
That all changed as the Blue Fins far exceeded his expectations as several young swimmers stepped up to earn themselves second swims in the ‘B’ and ‘A’ finals.
He said with more than 300 swimmers from all over Western Canada, the Blue Fins were impressive in their showings.
Madison Blusson was the top 11-and-over performer for the club, capturing a bronze medal with a new Blue Fins’ record in the 100-metre breaststroke, followed by a fifth-place result in the 200-metre breaststroke. Blusson also finished seventh in the 200-metre individual medley and had many second swims in ‘B’ finals in her other races.
Other ‘A’ finalists were Liam McCreight, Taylor Fitzgerald, Gracie Frost, Grace Turner and Maya Nowotny.
McCreight posted a fourth-place result in the 100-metre breaststroke and a fifth-place swim in the 200-metre breaststroke, narrowly missing the podium. McCreight also placed in the ‘B’ finals in multiple other swims and achieved two provincial ‘AAA’ times.
Fitzgerald, 10, had an impressive medal haul bringing home five medals after finishing first in the 50-metre backstroke, second in the 100-metre butterfly and the 100-metre breaststroke, and third in the 200-metre freestyle and 200-metre individual medley. Fitzgerald also placed fourth in the 100-metre freestyle and the 50-metre freestyle.
In the ‘A’ final of the 50-metre backstroke Frost finished just outside a medal in fourth place, as well as grabbing a seventh-place result in the 50-metre butterfly. She was also eighth in the 200-metre individual medley final.
Nowotny, meanwhile, was fourth in the 50-metre breaststroke, while Turner swam to a fifth-place position in the same event.
Turner also captured the eighth-place spot in the 200-metre freestyle final.
In the ‘B’ finals nine Blue Fins swam.
Cole Turner had many swims in the ‘B’ finals capturing a ‘AAA’ provincial time in the 50-metre backstroke on Sunday night, impressing Webb in all his performances.
Danny Rich, Keanna Saunders, Landon Christensen, Lucas Nowotny, Danika Robson, Shaylee Stewart, Kara Zavitz also had a few solid performances placing in the ‘B’ finals in multiple swims.
Zavitz also captured multiple ‘AA’ provincial times in her performances taking significant amounts of time off her swims in many races.
Webb said Adrien Zimmerman was to note, as well, in her best-time performances swimming significantly faster in all her events.
“Overall, we had an impressive amount of second swims every night as we continued to improve significantly in this meet,” Webb said.
The swim club will now take a short break, before returning to the water after Christmas.
