by Kim Matthews and Pam Moore - Special to Sylvan Lake News
Sylvan Lake Nauticals enjoyed another stellar weekend of competition with nine swimmers accompanied by coaches Trevor and Sharon Burns at the 24th Silver Tide Poppy Meet.
The weekend started with the singing of O Canada followed by a minute of silence in respect of Remembrance Day. From Coach Sharon’s group, Stephanie Vetter (10) and Blake Carson (8) attended and had an amazing weekend.
In the 8 and under category Blake took a combined total of 15.19 seconds off during his races. He placed fifth in 25m freestyle and third in 25m butterfly.
Stephanie achieved her first B time in 100m freestyle and made it into finals where she placed eighth. In the seven races she swam she took a total of 1:00.83 seconds off and earned herself six best times.
Coach Trevor took seven of his senior swimmers — Emily Girard (9), Zoe DeJonge (9), Elizabeth Moore (11), Erin Matthews (13), Ann Duffy (13), Amber Carson (14) and Annika Vetter (14). Coaches Trevor and Sharon were totally impressed with their swimmer’s results and proud of them as they all had an excellent weekend.
Emily achieved her first B time in 50m freestyle making finals and placing seventh overall for her age group. She achieved six best times out of seven swims taking a combined total of 45.91 seconds off.
Zoe achieved seven out of seven best times taking a combined total of 1:13.63 seconds off during her races and placed sixth in the 200m freestyle.
Elizabeth once again had an incredible weekend getting personal best times in all of her swims. She took a combined total of 24.87 seconds off her swim times. She broke club records in the 50m backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly and the 100m breaststroke and 200m individual medley, placing first in three of her races and second in the rest. Elizabeth swam her way to within 0.73 seconds of a National time in her 100m breast stroke, but did get her senior (17+) provincial A time.
Erin got seven out of seven best times and took a combined total of 26.46 seconds off in her swims. She made finals in her 50m freestyle placing seventh and was the first alternate in the 100m breaststroke.
Ann achieved five out of seven best times and took a combined total of 4.76 seconds off her races. During her 50m freestyle race she took and amazing 2.06 seconds off a very quick swim and was the first alternate in the 100m backstroke.
Annika achieved three best times and took a combined total of 7.35 seconds off her swims. She had an incredible 50m butterfly taking 3.46 seconds off and 3.7 seconds off in her 50m backstroke. The shorter the race the harder it is to take large amounts of time off.
Amber was another one who broke many club records. They were: 100m freestyle and butterfly, the 200m freestyle and individual medley, 400m freestyle and the 50m butterfly. In 100m butterfly she also achieved a 15-16 year old provincial ‘A’ time. She placed second in the 100m butterfly, fourth in the 50m butterfly and sixth in the 400m freestyle.
To sum it up the Nauticals had six out of nine kids make finals and two swimmers getting ‘B’ times, two getting ‘A’ times and one SO close to a national time as well as a total of 11 new club records. As a group they achieved 86 per cent average for getting personal best times. That is an extraordinary number for the club and they should all be very proud of their performances.
Good luck to all swimmers who will be attending the Calgary Winter Cup at the Winter Club in Calgary November 24 and 25th.