Williams Lake Blue Fins swimmers joined some of the fastest in the province in Vancouver this past weekend for the Age Group Provincials.
WLBF head coach Chad Webb said overall the club continued to impress, setting multiple records in the process.
The weekend began with some great performances from the Blue Fins as the girls 11-12 year old relay team finished up 15th in the province and, in the process, broke a club record.
Gabrielle Knox, Peyton Bailey, Braedi Hamar and Jordyn Stokes swam their way to very fast times, Webb said, as they bettered the club record by almost two seconds.
On night two of the provincials the same team swam to a five-second improvement and another club record with an 11th-place finish — well ahead of their rivals from Prince George, Webb noted.
“Jadyn Grant, Aliya Grant, Braedi Hamar and Jordyn Stokes had another great meet as they improved significantly in just two short weeks after qualifying for the meet,” Webb said.
Rowan Smith and Lucas Johnston were also part of the Blue Fins team as they added to the solid efforts for the team with some personal bests and big improvements.
READ MORE: More Blue Fins qualify for upcoming provincials at Quesnel meet
Knox, however, took the spotlight for the Fins during the weekend as she battled her way into the 200-metre individual medley final, narrowly missing a bronze medal and smashing an individual club record by over four seconds.
“That medal miss spurred her on as she went into the 100-metre breast and, in two one-hundredths of a second, managed to take the gold medal and her second individual club record of the night,” he said.
Knox finished off the weekend by setting yet another club record in the 50-metre freestyle and clinched a silver medal to add to her impressive haul over the weekend.
Peyton Bailey, meanwhile, took a shot at Knox’s 100-metre butterfly record, setting it roughly two heats before Knox, before Knox reset it again going another second faster.
“Having two girls back-to-back set new records is such an impressive testament to the depth of talent that we have,” Webb said.
This coming weekend the Blue Fins will host their annual Cariboo Dental home meet at the Sam Ketcham Memorial Pool.
In all, more than 100 out-of-town swimmers will be in the lakecity for the meet — the largest the Blue Fins have ever hosted, Webb said.
Just a few days later eight more Blue Fins will travel south to Kamloops for the senior provincials, which will wrap up the first half of their competitive season.
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