by Kim Matthews
Sylvan Lake Nauticals were at the JP Fiset swim meet at the Kinsmen Centre in Edmonton, Nov. 29-Dec. 2.
During distance swims Thursday, Amber Carson competed in the 800m freestyle swim and held a very consistent pace through the whole race shaving seven seconds off her previous best time.
For the prelims Friday club members were in the water at 7:30 a.m. for warm-ups. Ann Duffy, Erin Matthews, Elizabeth Moore, Amber Caron. Michael Carson, Tatum Lavallee and Chase Murdoch all swam in the prelims.
Friday night the swimmers returned to the pool for finals.
There we were as parents and teammates all sitting on the edge of our seats, waiting for the big swims. It was very tense and exciting. We all knew Elizabeth Moore was going for her first National time and was only one second off of it. In the last 25m all of the parents and fellow teammates were up on their feet counting down the time. When she touched the wall we all looked at the clock … 1:19.97 she only needed 1:21.10! She had done it!
Elizabeth looked up at the clock as soon as she touched the wall and jumped up in the water in celebration realizing she had gotten a National time at 11 years old. Then she quickly looked to the coaches and stands to make sure we all saw what she had just done. Then she swam the 50m backstroke and took off another second.
Chase Murdoch was next in finals swimming his 50m backstroke and he looked awesome. He managed to swim his exact seed time from the prelims which is just about impossible to do. The race the others girls had been waiting for was the 200m freestyle relay. It was all very exciting with Edmonton CBC News onsite because in the next lane was a team that had come from Kenya for this swim meet. First up was Ann Duffy swimming her best time with a 34.89, then Amber Carson swimming a 31.08 (best time), Elizabeth Moore swimming a 31.34 (best time) and Erin Matthews swimming a 31.28. When Erin hit the wall at the end all the girls were giving each other high fives in congratulations after breaking the club record that had been there since Feb. 20th, 2010. They were very proud of themselves as they had taken Moore earned National time; Murdoch swam to two Western times some pretty big names off the records board.
Here’s a summary of each swimmer who attended:
Elizabeth Moore swam her first National time in 100m breaststroke, a senior A in 200m breaststroke and a 14 yr old A time in 50m breaststroke. She recorded a 12 year old A in the 200m and 100m backstroke. She swam to four personal best times (PBs) in prelims and then six more in the finals. Elizabeth also achieved six club records and now holds the all-time club records for the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke for all age groups.
Chase Murdoch came out of this meet with two Western standard times — in the 50m freestyle and 50m butterfly. These Western times have gotten him to within just over a second of National times in both swims. He also got three A times — in his 50m backstroke and 100m breaststroke and 200m IM events — got five out of seven personal best times in the prelims and then three out of four personal best in finals. He set seven club records.
Michael Caron got a 12 year old MQT in 200m IM, which qualifies him for regionals in February. Michael got three out of five personal best times.
Tatum Lavallee joined the team for the meet by qualifying in four events. She did very well getting four personal best times for her efforts.
Amber Caron qualified for seven events but was sick on Saturday, only got to swim four of them yet achieved four personal best times. Amber also set three club records, one breaking her own 50m butterfly time. She set a new 200m butterfly time, and set a club record for 800m freestyle swim.
Ann Duffy had an amazing meet getting seven out of seven personal best times and achieved 14 year old B time in 200m backstroke, a 13 year old MQT in 200m IM and 13 year old B in 100m backstroke.
Annika Vetter qualified for five swims, got three personal best times and swam in the 200m IM relay.
Erin Matthews swam seven events and got six personal best times, a 14 year old B time in 100m breaststroke and a 13 year old B time in 50m backstroke.
Coaches Trevor and Sharon are very happy with all of their swimmers, reaching goals that they have been working towards and achieving them so early in the season. The club earned an 80 per cent best time average for the group that went to Edmonton.