Two Revelstoke youth competed against 650 others at the Canadian Junior Swimming Championships at the Pan Am Sports Centre in Toronto last week.
Each event had qualifying times to be met in order to swim at this meet, and roughly 40-60 swimmers across Canada qualified per event.
Locals Hunter Stewardson and James LeBuke were qualifiers swimming with the Columbia Shuswap Selkirks Swim Club, a winter team out of Salmon Arm.
Hunter, 14, competed in the 13/14 year old girls division, and James, 15, competed in the 14-16 year old boys division. They both achieved times to qualify in the 100 metre and 200 metre breaststroke, and James also qualified in the 50 metre and 100 metre freestyle, and the 200 metre individual medley.
On Thursday, July 27, James swam the 100 metre freestyle and earned a second swim in the B final, placing 13th in a tight race with a personal best time.
On Friday, they both raced in the 100 metre breaststroke. Hunter swam a best time in preliminaries, tying for 10th place. This lead to an exciting swim-off where she beat her best time but was just out-touched at the wall. She swam in the B final, finishing with an even faster time for 14th place.
James added a few tenths of a second to his best time, missing out on a second swim to come 23rd.
Saturday was the 200 metre breaststroke and both earned a second swim. James made the A final and swam a best time for ninth place, while Hunter qualified for the B final and finished 19th, up a spot from the morning.
Sunday had James swimming 50 metre freestyle and the 200 metre individual medley. He earned a place in the A Final for freestyle, where he bested his time from the morning in a tight race to place eighth. He then placed 25th in the IM, swimming Just a few tenths off his personal best time.
With only five swimmers representing the club, Hunter and James were also able to compete in two mixed relay events with two teammates. With this small contingency, the CSSSC placed 35th out of more than 100 teams at the meet from all across the country.
Having only joined the club in March, it was a big accomplishment for the pair to attend this meet, and a big feat to earn second swims. They look forward to next season, which will begin in September.
Until then, James will enjoy a small break while Hunter will be attending regionals in Kamloops next weekend with the Revelstoke Aquaducks.
