Sixteen swimmers from the Williams Lake Blue Fins put together another great meet in Kamloops during the weekend, said head coach Chad Webb.
“This was the last competition for any ‘Fins not yet qualified for provincials,” Webb said. “Even though there were no new qualifiers, the swimmers had some impressive results.”
The provincial team is now set for the Blue Fins with Peyton Bailey, Rowan Smith, Jordyn Stokes and Braedi Hamar representing the club in two weeks at the Age Group Provincials in Chilliwack, while Gabrielle Knox, Taylor Fitzgerald, Morgan Langford, Jadyn Johnston and Cristelle Panida will attend the Senior Provincials in Victoria in four weeks time.
Knox and Fitzgerald have also qualified for a few events, Webb said, at the Far Westerns in California at the end of July, while Johnston has a number of events, and Langford has one event for the upcoming Canadian Junior Nationals at the end of July in Calgary.
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“This is the first time in many years the club has had any swimmers qualify for these meets and with four now qualified this year it shows huge improvements from the top swimmers in the club,” Webb said.
Top eight finishers (‘A’ finalists) at the Kamloops meet were:
Peyton Bailey (medalist), Taylor Fitzgerald (medalist), Braedi Hamar, Jadyn Johnston (medalist), Gabrielle Knox, Morgan Langford (medalist) and Cristelle Panida.
Top 16 finishers (‘B’ finalists) were:
Melissa Elefson, Aliya Grant, Jadyn Grant, Isabelle Groundwater, Rowan Smith and Jordyn Stokes.
Montana Waters was part of the relay team with Aliya, Isabelle and Melissa to place seventh both in the freestyle relay and medley relay.
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Bailey, Hamar and Stokes finished third in both relays with Jadyn Grant on the medley team and Rowan Smith on the freestyle relay team.
Webb noted Johnston, meanwhile, picked up two new club records in the 100-metre and 200-metre freestyle, while Bailey did the same in the 50-metre and 100-metre butterfly — both in impressive showings.
Fitzgerald, meanwhile, led the way with four new records in the 100-metre butterfly, 100-metre backstroke, 200-metre individual medley and 200-metre freestyle.
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