KISU swim club had a strong meet in Kamloops earlier this month.
Helping the Penticton club perform well Dec. 14-15 was a record 41 swimmers, breaking last year’s mark of 25.
“I knew it was going to be good going in because they looked good in the water,” said coach Tina Hoeben. “I think what was really exciting was just the positive energy. How much they worked together as a team. One swimmer inspired another. It was just really infectious.”
Having that feeling is something Hoeben said doesn’t always happen.
Entering the meet, KISU was motivated to finish sixth and beat Vernon. They surpassed that by placing third, beating out Prince George by 20 points. Hoeben said the talk of beating Vernon stopped during the first day as they had nearly doubled their points.
“Our swimmers were at their best from the finals on the first night, right until the final event on Sunday,” she said.
The 13- and 14-year-old boys’ relay team won and posted a time that placed them in the top five in Canada. Samuel Lasinski broke club records by five and six seconds.
“He had some really amazing strong races. He was probably our best swimmer in terms of how he placed not only at that meet, (but) also within Canada,” said Hoeben.
What impressed her about Lasinski’s performance was the drops in time.
“He’s pretty fast already. To go two or three seconds faster is a big deal, but he was going five or six seconds faster, it was great,” she said.
Other notable swimmers was Daniel Everton, 12, who picked up five bronze medals. The club also had good results from their 10-and-under group in Ashley McMillan, who brought in eight medals: one gold, six silver and one bronze. Hoeben also named Hayden Krause, Bryce Doroshuk, Liam Wallich and Marlee Caruso for bringing in more than 20 per cent of the club’s points.
“The next challenge will be to take that energy and make sure we can maintain it,” she said. “It’s really significant in terms of setting a tone and confidence of the swimmers.”
The club also had Andrew Cooke and Avery Newton attend a Can Am meet in Edmonton (the best para swimmers in Canada and America). Newton returned with a gold medal in the 100-metre fly. Cooke enjoyed some great swims with major time improvement.
