Over the long weekend, May 19-21, some members of the Salmon Arm Waves Masters Swimming Club raced at the Masters Nationals Swimming Championships in Calgary.
The team, consisting of professionals, non-professionals, retirees, young mothers, and all people in between, put Salmon Arm on the map, achieving fourth place in Canada among medium-sized teams and eigth overall in the country, with all the Waves Masters swimmers setting personal best times. For most of the team, it was their first time racing at nationals.
Salmon Arm Waves Master Swimming Club practices from September through June under the guidance of veteran coach Barry Healey. Their nine-person team made waves at the Repsol Sports Centre, along with 22 family members cheering in the stands for support.
Jill Nahm, 33, competed in the 400m freestyle and swam five relays for the team. She brought home two bronze medals, swimming breaststroke in all medley relays.
Emily Taylor, 30, backstroker for the team, came home with a bronze medal in the 100m backstroke and a silver medal in the 200m backstroke. Taylor’s most memorable moment was taking six seconds off of her 200m freestyle, which clinched her another bronze medal.
Claire Askew, 35, was the freestyler for the team relays. With her husband and two children cheering her on, she swam in the last heat of the last event for the team, achieving a bronze in the 1500m event.
All teammates set goals and practiced to achieve them over the past months. Nadine Quilty, 48, trained to swim fly in three relays and the 100m, 200m and 400m individual medley, placing fourth in the 400m event.
Don Cundiff, 40, has only been swimming for three years and improved his best times in all individual events over the weekend. He placed sixth in the 800m freestyle, also achieving a bronze in the 400m medley relay, swimming breaststroke, and brought home a silver in the third leg of the 100m mens freestyle relay.
Doug Wickware, 31, focuses on swimming long-distance, mainly for triathlons. At nationals, in an extremely competitive age group, he achieved a silver medal finish in both the 800m and 1500m freestyle.
Rudi Ingenhorst, 70, was the top point-scorer for the team. Ingenhorst swam in 12 events, competing in all styles of swimming. He brought home a silver in the 100m back-stroke and bronze medals in the 200m individual medley, 50m backstroke, 50m freestyle, and 50m breaststroke.
Bob Wilkins, 70, just barely beat out Ingenhorst in the 100m backstroke and achieved gold. Wilkins is also a distance freestyle swimmer for the team. He swam incredibly well, bringing home three silver medals in 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle events. Wilkinson also swims all styles and brought home a silver in the 200m back-stroke and 400m individual medley.
Scott McKee, 58, rounded off the men’s side of the team. McKee swam to gold in the 400m freestyle event and also took home a silver in the 200m freestyle. After swimming hard for three days, in the last event of the meet, he placed second in the 1500m freestyle.
Submitted by Nadine Quilty
@Jodi_Brak117
jodi.brak@saobserver.net
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