Submitted
Members of the Sylvan Lake Nauticals swim club traveled to Red Deer Feb. 7 and 8 to participate in the annual Valentine Invitational Swim Meet. There were 33 swimmers taking part in the meet, and it was nice to see such a large number of swimmers at the event.
Matthew Gauthier, 15, led the way in rewriting the 15-year-old club record in the 100 individual medley, 200 butterfly and the 800 freestyle. He also placed first in all of his seven events. Isaac Bahler, 10, broke the 10-year-old club record in the 800 freestyle, also earning his 11-year-old MQT in the process. He also placed first once, and finished second in five other events.
Ann Duffy, 16, broke the 50 breast 16-year-old club record, finished second once and had three third-place finishes. Elizabeth Moore, 13, broke the 200 breast 13-year-old club record and placed first once.
Molly Cocks, 11, earned her MQT in the 400 freestyle, which allows her to attend Alberta North Trials at the end of February.
Other notable top-three finishers on the boys side were Tyler Gauthier, 15, with five second places and two third places; Noah Andrews, 13, with two first places, and three second places; Michael Carson with three third places; and Nicolas Moore, 13, with one third place.
For the girls, they were Zoe DeJonge, 11, with a third place and Capri Fraser, 9, with a third place as well.
The entire club did very well, finishing fourth out of eight clubs attending the meet. Six swimmers will be heading to Alberta Trials North in Edmonton on Feb. 27. The six are Matthew Gauthier, Tyler Gauthier, Noah Andrews, Michael Carson, Isaac Bahler and Molly Cocks.