After just completing an entire week filled with laser tag, cliff jumping, movie nights, extreme relays and intense dry-land training, everyone in the Ogopogo Summer Swim Club had earned a nice weekend off to relax. However, there is no rest for the wicked, which is why the Ogopogo team headed up to Revelstoke to compete in their last meet before regionals. “Although the team was obviously tired, we had a team goal, which was to continue our winning streak and win the entire meet, ” said Ogopogo coach Lucas Stringer.
The weekend was a battle between the Kelowna Ogopogos, rivals Salmon Arm, and the home team, Revelstoke. After the first day, Revelstoke was leading the way, with the Ogo’s and Salmon Arm trailing close behind. On the second day of the two-day meet the Ogos rallied, having some outstanding individual swims and everyone stepping up on team relays. The Ogopogos were able to finish first overall for the girls team, and placed third on the boys side. Keeping things interesting, Salmon Arm won the boys award, placed third on the girls, and Revelstoke placed second for both boys and girls team. Despite it being so close, the Ogopogos emerged as the top overall team: a well-deserved victory after such a hard week.
On the girls side, Andrea Kraetzer took the gold aggregate for div 1 girls, winning all but one of her events. Andrea is currently ranked second in 50 breaststroke for the entire province for div 1 girls.
Similarly, teammate Flyn Huber won all but one of his individual events, which earned him a gold aggregate for div 1 boys. Flyn is ranked first in the province for three separate events (50 free, 50 back, 100IM).
For division 3 girls Kennedy Dickie (silver) and Rachel Schueler (bronze) teamed up to take the silver and bronze aggregates overall. Both girls had great swims that place them top 3 in the province for their respective events.
On the div 3 boys side, Matt MacDonald won a Silver aggregate, after winning two of his possible 4 events. Matt is currently the second fastest div 3 boy in the entire province for his best event (50 fly). Winning the gold aggregate for div 4 boys is Logan Lalonde, who managed to win all of his events this weekend. Logan is an all-around fantastic swimmer who is provincially ranked in 5 of a possible 6 events. For div 5 girls Ealin Ran earned herself a Silver aggregate after a great swim meet. Based on her best time, Ealin is ranked 3rd in the province for 50 free, along with Div 5 teammate Emalie Schueler who is ranked second in 50 Free and 100 Free.
In addition to winning aggregates, three Ogos were able to achieve the daunting task of securing 100 personal best times for all of their events at the meet. Those stand out swimmers are Matt Macdonald, Teagan Wright, and Ryne Van Vliet-Brown. Overall it was a fantastic swim meet filled with lots of excitement and fast swimming. Furthermore, swimmers Denby Huber, Emalie Schueler, Madison Dickie, and Ealin Ran teamed up to smash the Div 5 girls 200 medley relay meet record. All four girls had amazing swims, giving them a final time of 2:23.7.
Next meet for Ogos will be the BCSSA Regional Championships in Penticton, August 3 and 4.
