SwimBC AAA Provincial Championships – short course season ends in style!
The North Island Predators Association proved there is strength in numbers.
From March 1-4, eight swimmers from the Comox Valley Sharks and five from the Campbell River Killer Whales joined forces as the North Island Predators to compete at the Swim BC Provincial Championships. “Joining forces makes sense,” said Sharks’ head coach Albert Burgund.
“It allows us to field relays and support each other so that we have a greater chance of moving up in the rankings. Traditionally we have always scored in the middle third of all competing teams. This weekend we finished in 13th out of 42 teams in attendance (there are over 60 teams in the province) and that makes it all worthwhile!” Burgund said.
“What makes the result stand out even more was that the teams scoring more points had many more swimmers – a testament to the quality of swimmer we are producing,” Burgund added.
Swimmers attending the meet were: (Sharks) Juliana Bartemucci, Drew Kuhnert, Emma Neufeld, Ben Neufeld, Brooke Lamoureux, Megan Rouseau, Jordyn Ryan, and Gabrielle Wolfe and (Killer Whales) Jenna Beaudin, MacKenzie Padington, Cassidy Scott, Kennedy Windle, and Connor Skuse.
“The results for the Sharks were impressive. Gold medals were earned by Jordyn (400IM), and Gabrielle (200 IM, 400 IM). Silver medals were won by Brooke (200 free), Ben (200 IM, 100 back, 200 back), and Gabrielle (800 free). Bronze medals went to the 11-12 girls relay team (MacKenzie, Kennedy, Jordyn, Gabrielle) for the 4×50 medley relay as well as the 4×50 free relay, Brooke (800 free, 100 free), Ben (1500 free, 100 free), and Jordyn (200 fly),” Burgund said.
“Special congratulations go to Juliana and Jordyn for making their first Age Group National qualifying times. They are eagerly looking forward to competing in Calgary this summer. Congratulations to Brooke who qualified for the Prospects West training team which will be travelling to Montreal for Olympic Trials to watch the trials, train, and compete. Members of this team are ‘talent identified as future Olympic prospects
coming out of the province of British Columbia,’” Burgund noted.
“MacKenzie won the Vancouver Island Region high point award
and a cheque for $125 – what a birthday present! For complete results check out the Swim BC website at http://swimbc.ca/.”
The Sharks thank all their sponsors and supporters and invite them to come watch the team in action on Sunday, March 25 at the Aquatic Centre, said Burgund.
– CVAC Sharks
