Four Shuswap Swimming Team members took to the pool in Victoria on the March 3 to 6 weekend for the Swim BC ‘AAA’ Provincial Championships.
More than 600 swimmers from 40 teams throughout B.C. and the Yukon took part and the racing was exciting. This was the highest level of provincial championship swimming in B.C., with all competitors racing in a 25 metre pool course.
The four Shuswap Swimming Team swimmers are the first from the team to advance and compete at the Swim BC ‘AAA’ level, and they swam well, coming home with 15 new team records. Three swimmers advanced to the finals to top off a great meet.
• Twelve and under girls – Skyla Eberle had a great meet this weekend, as she advanced to the finals in her best race, the 50-metre freestyle. Eberle’s time of 29.12 seconds was fast enough to have her earn fifth place at the meet in a very tight race, as she was only 0.2 of a second away from winning a medal. Eberle also broke a team record in every race she swam along the way.
• Thirteen and under girls – Bree Cooper swam very fast this weekend as well, as she advanced to race in the finals with her best result coming in seventh place in the 50-m freestyle in a time of 29.07 seconds. She also had a very impressive 100-m butterfly race where her time of 1:08.88 just missed seeing her qualify for the Canadian Age Group National Championships by a mere 0.48 of a second, and likewise missing the Canadian Western National Championship qualifying standard by only 0.57 of a second.
• Sixteen- to eighteen-year-old girls – Chelsea Stadnyk swam well this weekend, as she challenged herself to swim faster than ever before and saw some even more fast swims than those posted at the ‘AA’ Provincials. Her best rankings at the meet were in the 100-m and 200-m butterfly races where she placed 15th overall for both in that fast field.
• Eleven and under boys – Ethan Quilty had an impressive swim meet as he earned two trips to the finals in the 100-m breaststroke and 200-m breaststroke races, as he placed fourth and fifth respectively, both in record time. In the 100-m breaststroke, he was less than a second away from earning a bronze medal.