Kelowna’s Ogopogo Swim Club got the 2013 competitive summer season off to strong start on June 8 and 9 in Salmon Arm.
The 50 swimmers that the OSC sent to the meet managed to shave off over 15 minutes from personal best times, with roughly nine out of every ten swims a PB.
“In a sport where swimmers are usually striving to scrape off tenths of a second, we had swimmers dropping off two or three seconds at a time. That is a strong indicator that we are moving in the right direction,” said Ogopogo coach Greg Laughlin.
On top of a strong group performance, there were many great individual performances from the Kelowna swimmers. 100% best times were achieved by swimmers Isis Darosa, Madelyn DeGruchy, Kennedy Dickie, Clara Dickieson, Sydney Dunn, Julianna Hansen, Denby Huber, Flyn Huber, Tia Keeley, Andrea Kraetzer, Logan Lalonde, Matt MacDonald, Sydney Reynolds and Natalie Vandenberg.
Many swimmers also acquitted themselves well in the overall standings. The Ogopogos started off strong with a 1-2-3 sweep in the overall Division one girls. Andrea Kraetzer (Div. 1) took home the gold medal, while sisters Isabelle Cloutier (Div. 1) and Madelaine Cloutier (Div. 1) claimed silver and bronze respectively. Additionally, swimmers Kennedy Dickie (Div. 3) and Logan Lalonde (Div. 4) scored a silver medal each. Matt MacDonald (Div. 3), Makenna Haight (Div. 4) and Emma Middleton (Div. 5) had some impressive swims to ensure an overall bronze placement in their divisions. Finally, the OSC medal haul was capped off by Special Division swimmer Kiana McNulty (Ocat. 2), who earned a gold aggregate for her hard work.
In overall point standings, the Ogopogo girls ranked first at the meet, while the boys finished in third place. “The boys third place finish was not a surprise for us, as we had very few boys attending the meet. The few boys that did compete actually performed quite well,” said coach Lucas Stringer..
Unfortunately, the Ogopogos did not have quite enough points to secure a first place overall finish, with The Salmon Arm Sockeyes finishing a few hundred points out front. Ogopogo will be hosting its 66th Annual Invitational Meet June 29- and 30 in Kelowna.
