Submitted
The Golden Dolphins Swim Club dove into the Canada Games Pool in Kamloops on August 16 to 18 to compete at the British Columbia Summer Swimming Association (BCSSA) provincial championships.
As a club, there were 17 swimmers in attendance. This is the largest roster to attend the event in many years. With so many young emerging swim stars making a splash, it is a very promising sign for the Golden club going forward.
Nathan Tan was the youngest boy representing Golden, and qualified by pulling a wild card to compete in the Boys Division 1 50-metre breaststroke. Everyone is looking forward to seeing more action when Tan hits the pool next year.
Anika Crawford was our youngest girl attending and she swam freestyle for the Division 4 relays.
She held her own against girls much older than her and shows a lot of potential going into her second year of Division 1 next season.
Hunter Thorne and Malcolm Labonville were smoking fast in all their events.
Both had excellent best times and broke club records with Labonville taking the Division 2 50-metre fly record and Thorne taking the Division 2 50-metre back record.
With their teammates of Tan and Wes Murphy in the Boys Division 2 200-metre medley relay, they pulled in an eighth place finish for Golden.
It was a pleasant surprise to see Morgan Metcalfe hit the pool at provincials in his first year of swimming with the Dolphins.
He pulled off a 15th place finish in the Boys 50-metre breaststroke in his division and broke a club record.
What a great rookie year for Metcalfe, and he is inspiring to all the latecomers to the club.
Metcalfe teamed up with Thorne, Labonville, and Malcolm Russell to secure a 10th place finish in the Boys Division 3 200-metre free relay. He also teamed up with Malcolm Russell, Nolan Alexander-Mitchell, and Leif Robinson swimming strong to a 10th place finish in the Boys Division 6 200-metre medley relay.
Nolan Alexander-Mitchell had a great swim at his first provincial championships to take more than four seconds off his personal best in the Boys Division 5 100-metre breaststroke.
Madison Sherriff had a breakthrough season this year and made Golden proud with an amazing fourth place finish in the 50-metre free (setting a club record) and seventh place in the 100-metre free. She also anchored the prestigious regional 200-metre medley relay team, swimming the freestyle to a fourth place finish.
Golden had two more swimmers chosen for the Okanagan regional relays, with Hunter Thorne representing in breaststroke for the Division 2 and Elyssia McClean taking home a bronze medal for her breaststroke leg in the Girls Division 7 regional 200-metre medley relay.
Devon Murphy represented the club in three individual events for Division 4 girls, with a strong 14th place finish in the 50-metre fly event, further breaking the club record she already held this year.
She was joined in the pool for the Division 4 relays with Amelia Labonville, Crawford, and Sherriff.
Emme Abbs flew into her first provincials by qualifying in three individual events. She broke club records in both the Division 6 50-metre fly and 100-metre fly events, securing a 14th place finish.
The 100-metre fly record was the oldest standing record in Golden. It was last set by Nicole Hautala in 1999, five years before Abbs was born.
Scoring major points for Golden and some top provincial placements for her swim career, Elyssia McClean placed fifth and seventh overall in her individual events. Lauren Russell, Emma Russell, and Abbs joined her in the pool for the Division 7 200-metre medley and 200-metre freestyle relays, and secured seventh and eighth place finishes.
What a great year for the senior Golden girls.
Head coach Nick Lapointe did not disappoint his swimmers when he hit the pool.
He set new Golden records in the Division 8 boys 100-metre fly and 100-metre back and secured a sixth place finish in the boys 50-metre fly.
The club is grateful to have him on the deck leading the team, and his strong finishes in the pool are the cherry on top.
This marks the end of an incredible Dolphins swim season. The Golden Dolphins will get ready to make an even bigger wave across the Okanagan in the spring.
