The Williams Lake Blue Fins Swim Club hosted the Prince George Barracudas and the Quesnel Waveriders over the weekend at the Sam Ketcham Memorial Pool for the second of its two large swim meets, Spring Fling.
About 80 swimmers from the three clubs took to the water in hopes of racing to the medal podium.
Swimmers in the meet were given points for finishing in the top six and throughout the weekend points were tallied toward an aggregate winner in each age category.
In the 11- and 12-year-old girls division, Williams Lake’s Kelsey Blokland swam to a gold medal, while Kara Zavitz took bronze.
On the boys’ 11- and 12-year-old side, David Russell scooped up a gold, with Bradley Swyers taking bronze.
For 13- 14-year-old girls, Ashley Beauchamp raced to a gold, while Blue Fins teammates Chloe Sylvain and Danika Robson landed silver and bronze, respectively.
In the 15 and over girls’ division, Tracey Beauchamp won gold, followed by teammates Kiah Wallace-Webb with silver and Abbi Taylor with bronze.
On the boys’ 15 and over side, Jeremy Zwiers nabbed gold, while Patrick Verbeeck claimed silver.
The top three finishers in the 400-metre freestyle event were also recognized for their efforts.
In the nine- to 10-year-old girls’ division, Mackenzie Blakely took second, while Garnett Currie finished first in the boys’ 9- to 10-year-old race.
For 11- and 12-year-old girls, Blokland won first, while Zavitz took third. On the boys’ side Russell finished second with Swyers in third.
The 13- and 14-year-old girls’ Blue Fins swept the 400-metre freestyle with Sylvain taking first, Ashley finishing second and Sienna Hoffos coming third.
For 15 and over girls, Wallace-Webb won first, while Taylor took second. On the boys’ side, Zwiers won first.
The Blue Fins also held, for the first time, a race that combined parents, coaches and siblings. Teams were picked for the 4x50-metre relay with each team having at least one senior swimmer following the races Saturday.
The Blue Fins said they’re thankful for the help of local businesses that support swimming.
The Spring Fling’s “Flag-to-Flag” races were sponsored by the Cariboo Dental Clinic, which made a substantial donation to the club.
The Blue Fins also recently installed a new timing system at the pool, with help from the Williams Lake and District Credit Union, while BC Hydro donated a laptop and Econo Glass pitched in a large piece of plexiglass to help keep the new timing system dry.
In addition, the club thanked Johnston-Meir Insurance for its sponsorship.
The Team Aquatic Supplies B.C. Short Course “AAA” Championships begin today at Saanich Commonwealth Place (Thursday March 3) and wraps up Sunday, March 6 in Victoria. Representing the Blue Fins will be Janna Kovacs, 11, Coral Choi, 11 and David Sikli, 13 .
The next meet for the entire Blue Fins club is the Langley Olympians meet from April 2-3. Following that, the club heads off for Prince George’s Moose Meet from April 15-17.
Full results from the Williams Lake Blue Fins Spring Fling can be viewed online at www.swimming.ca.