A trip to the B.C. high school swimming provincials was a great one for athletes from Stelly’s Secondary School.
From Nov. 13 to 14 in Kamloops, Stelly’s swimmers earned some top event finishes and the team as a whole placed 11th out of a field of 86.
Coach Matt Jackson says he had a group of swimmers he knew would do well at provincials, despite the high school swim season being short.
“We only had one other meet, the Islands up in Nanaimo, this year,” said Jackson, who graduated from Stelly’s only two years ago.
Yet, Jackson said he knew most of the swimmers from their years with the Piranhas Summer Swimming Club, where he has coached for the last 13 seasons.
Leading the way for the Stingers in pool was Yago Cristovao Scincocca, an international student who has been training for years in Brazil. Scincocca picked up two gold medals in the boys 100 metre freestyle and the 50 meter butterfly. He also earned a silver in the 50 meter freestyle and a bronze with the mixed 200 meter free relay team of Jeremy Burton, Hannah Gartside and Emma Ayres.
The girls relay team of Alana Doran, Lauren Mosher, Erin Jackson and Ayres swam to a silver medal finish in the 200 meter medley relay event. They also picked up a bronze in the 400 meter freestyle relay.
Individually, Jackson swam to a silver medal in the girls 50 meter breaststroke and placed ninth in the 100 meter individual medley. Mosher was fifth in the 50 meter butterfly and sixth in the 100 meter IM.
Most of the swimmers say they have been in the pool for years, training with the Piranhas and two times a week with the school team. Coach Jackson said he’s very proud of the swimmers and their accomplishments in the pool at the provincials.
