Ingrid Neumann
For The Morning Star
The Kokanee started their spring and summer racing at top speed last weekend at their annual Spring Invitational. There were seven teams in attendance with more than 200 swimmers.
Said head coach Marc Tremblay: “The Kokanee swimmers were ready to go and if this meet is a prelude to the rest of the season, we will see more fast swimming from our swimmers. There were many new best times, and I believe that all the swimmers had at least one personal best time.”
Swimmers Isabelle Waltar-Sacray, Asia Minnes and Sean Manchester achieved their respective Swim BC AA qualifying standard. Isbelle and Asia both qualified in the 200 breast while Sean qualified in the 200 free, 200 back and the 100 breast. This is the first step towards provincial championships and they are now eligible to compete in Kelowna at the B.C. AA meet in June.
Kieran Grant, Taylor Kelly and Asia Minnes showed improvement in all of their races as Vernon finished third behind the Kamloops Classic and Kelowna’s Liquid Lightning.
The Kokanee coaches were very pleased with the improvement shown by the swimmers, by their display of underwater kicking, and by some great turns.
The Sunday Jamboree also saw some fast swimming by the Kokanee with coaches Renate Terpstra and Krysta Hauer ecstatic with the results.
The following swimmers exhibited 100 per cent improvement in all of their events: Kaitlyn Buchholz, Kelsey Fillion, Sidney Fillion, Chloe Hainer, Aidri Hofer, Makena Kersey, Jayden Morrier, Tyler Riva, Madeline Roemer, Jared Ross, Alexandra Short, Kevin Sullivan, Avery Triggs, Chase Walters and Cailee Weslowski.
Jayden Morrier, Kevin Sullivan, Avery Triggs and Chase Walters triumphed by swimming under four minutes in the 200m IM, which allows them to participate in the May main meet in Kelowna.
Savanna Hedstrom was the most improved in the 200m freestyle, taking off 63 seconds in that event alone.
The next jamboree is in West Kelowna during the long weekend in May.
