We’re only halfway through June, and it’s already been a month of highlights for Ladysmith Chemainus Orcas Swim Club members Pamela Little and Brielle Woodruff.
Little found out she has qualified for the North American Indigenous Games July 20-27 in Regina, Sask.
You have to be the top three in Canada to apply for the North American Indigenous Games, and Little applied and qualified.
“I’m really excited for it but nervous at the same time,” she said. “I’m excited because it’s the top three in Canada, and I’m one of those. I’m just nervous because there will be a lot of people there that I don’t know.”
Little has been swimming for four years, and this will be her first time competing at this level. She says her strongest events are probably freestyle and breaststroke.
Little started taking swimming lessons and really liked it and then joined the swim club.
“I just like how much fun we have here and how close we are and how much we’ve accomplished over the years,” she said.
Woodruff recently earned a AAA qualifying time for her age group at the Vancouver Island Regional Long Course Championship June 6-8 in Nanaimo.
“Over time, she’s gotten better and better, and now she’s at the point where she’s one of the best 10-and-under swimmers on Vancouver Island,” said coach Dusan Toth-Szabo.
Woodruff earned one qualifying time for AAA after she had already qualified for AA in the 11-and-under age category.
“I was aiming for that all year, and when I got it, I wasn’t over the top, just sort of shocked,” Woodruff said of earning the AAA qualifying time.
Woodruff has been swimming for almost three years.
“Swimming has always been a favourite of mine,” she said. “I like running and all that, but I like swimming, and not just this swimming, but also play swimming. When I went to watch a swim meet in Nanaimo when I was eight, I was just fascinated by what they were doing. I just watched it, and I was like ‘wow, I want to do that someday.’”
Woodruff, Little and seven other Orcas competed in the Vancouver Island Regional Long Course Championship.
At the meet, Woodruff improved her times in every single event and earned podium finishes in each of her events.
Her biggest improvement came in the 50m breaststroke, where she took 12.03 seconds off her time to finish second.
She also took 6.66 seconds off her 100m backstroke, good for a second-place finish.
Woodruff won the 100m backstroke, 50m freestyle, 50m butterfly and 50m backstroke, and she finished second in the 100m breaststroke and 100m freestyle. She was also third in the 200m freestyle.
Little took 6.38 seconds off her time in the 100m breaststroke and finished 15th. She also earned personal best times in the 100m freestyle and the 50m freestyle. She was 16th in the 100m butterfly, 19th in both the 100m backstroke and the 50m freestyle, and 25th in the 100m freestyle.
Faith Knelson, 12, finished in the top two in all of her events, winning the 50m freestyle, 100m breaststroke, 200m individual medley, 100m backstroke, 200m breaststroke, 100m butterfly, and the 100m freestyle and finishing second in the 100m backstroke.
Thirteen-year-old Shane Valic took 7.34 seconds off his time in the 400m freestyle to finish ninth, while he improved his 200m freestyle time by 6.64 seconds to finish 12th. He improved his 100m butterfly time by 3.16 seconds to finish fifth, and he finished ninth in the 100m backstroke and 12th in the 100m freestyle.
Eleven-year-old Chantal Greenhalgh improved her time in the 200m breaststroke by 13.81 seconds to finish 19th. She also improved her times in the 100m backstroke and the 400m freestyle. She finished 24th in both the 100m backstroke and the 400m freestyle, and she was 36th in both the 200m breaststroke and the 100m freestyle.
Noah Herle, 12, took 19.52 seconds off his time in the 200m breaststroke final to finish sixth — and this is after he improved his time by 20.55 seconds in the preliminaries. Herle finished ninth in the 50m freestyle, 10th in the 200m individual medley, both in the 100m freestyle, 14th in the 400m freestyle and 16th in the 200m freestyle.
Twelve-year-old Aileen Humphreys improved her time in the 400m individual medley by 36.56 seconds to finish second. She was also second in the 200m breaststroke, and finished third in the 100m breaststroke. She also came fourth in the 200m butterfly and the 200m individual medley, seventh in the 400m freestyle and the 100m butterfly and 19th in the 50m freestyle.
Sixteen-year-old Morgan Humphreys improved his times in the 100m breaststroke and the 200m breaststroke at the meet. He finished 11th in the 100m breaststroke, 14th in the 200m breaststroke and the 200m backstroke, 23rd in the 100m backstroke, 25th in the 200m individual medley and 19th in the 100m freestyle.
Cecilia Johnson, 15, improved her time in the 200m backstroke by 2.99 seconds to finish 20th, and she also finished 12th in the 200m breaststroke, 14th in the 400m freestyle, 16th in the 100m butterfly and 27th in the 200m freestyle.
