Trail Stingrays members gather round Guts and Glory swimmer Layla Paxton (front-centre) after she completed the 400-m IM event against a swimmer from each of the seven Kootenay teams.

Trail Stingrays members gather round Guts and Glory swimmer Layla Paxton (front-centre) after she completed the 400-m IM event against a swimmer from each of the seven Kootenay teams.

Stingrays swim with Sharks in Colville

The Trail Stingrays competed in the Colville Sharks annual swim meet last weekend

A talented contingent of the Greater Trail Stingrays Swim Club travelled south of the border to swim with the Sharks on the weekend.

Twenty-five Stingrays dove into the pool in Colville for the Sharks swim team’s two-day meet on Saturday and Sunday, the only meet in the Kootenay region that competes in an outdoor pool.

A highlight of the event is the Guts-and-Glory swim – a gruelling 400-metre Individual Medley. Each team selects one person to swim the event that includes 100-metres each of butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle and is cheered on loudly by the respective teams.

“We had Layla Plaxton swim the Guts and Glory, which is a 400 IM,” said Stingrays coach Tess Markus. “Layla was one of the youngest people in the region who did it and absolutely crushed it!”

Results: In Division 1, Aubrey Demmler won gold and Georgia Boone captured bronze. In Div. 3, Ryder Tymshyshyn took home bronze while Reuben Demmler won gold, and Claire Fricke captured bronze in Div. 4.

Tess Markus won gold in Div. 7, Ian Markus captured gold in Div. 8 and Paul Fricke earned bronze.

The next meet up is the Kimberley Seahorses Swim Meet July 27-28, before the team prepares for Regionals in Castlegar, Aug. 3-4.

Trail Daily Times