The hard work the Battlefords Kinsmen Orca Swim Team has been putting in is paying off in spades.
An example of that came in Swift Current on April 1 and 2, as a group of seven swimmers shattered many of their personal best times at the Chinook Invitational.
“The best way that I can describe it is that with all of the training that the swimmers put in, the meets are a special treat for them and a great way to see how much their hard work has paid off,” Orcas president Mike Nord said.
“That’s very true of our team, especially in Swift Current. This was a really nice confidence booster for many of our younger swimmers, as they are still getting used to taking part in competitive meets like this.”
Slade Pruden led the way with a gold medal in the 200-metre freestyle and a second-place result in the 200m backstroke.
Rowan Tkatchuk nabbed four silver medals in the 50m freestyle, 200m backstroke and the 50m and 200m breaststroke races.
Reece Gilbert also reached the podium with a second place result in the 50m butterfly and a third place finish in the 400m freestyle.
Jael Basaraba, Hannah Kopp, Anne Prince and Louis Prince also represented the Orcas in Swift Current and set new personal best times in a number of swims.
The Orcas also had a pair of relay teams take part in the meet.
Pruden, Gilbert, Tkatchuk and Basaraba finished in fourth place in the 4x50m freestyle event, while the team of Pruden, Tkatchuk, Kopp and Louis Prince matched that result in the 4x50m medley.
“Those two teams were put together for that meet,” Nord said.
“They were able to practice a little bit before they went to Swift Current, but it was pretty much a ‘put the team together and away they went’ situation, which they did a pretty good job of adapting to.”
A number of the swimmers who competed in Swift Current will travel to a meet in Edmonton in three weeks, where they will be looking to achieve qualifying standards and join five of their teammates at the Manitoba/Saskatchewan championships in July.
Brandon Nord, Taylor Parker, Madison Higgs, Elizabeth Johnson and Reece Sommerfeld have already qualified for the event in Winnipeg.
Nord and Parker will both be in action in two weeks in Calgary, as they will be competing at the Western Canadian Championships.
Both swimmers are close to earning spots in the Canadian Age Group Nationals, which will be held in Toronto at the end of July.
