A small but mighty force from the Williams Lake Blue Fins Swim Club were on Vancouver Island during the weekend for the Tier 2 Summer Championships in Victoria.
Jadyn Johnston and Taylor Fitzgerald represented the Blue Fins at the meet, featuring the best and fastest swimmers in the province.
Johnston, almost two years younger than many of his competitors, and coming on the heels of a highly-successful tier 1 provincials, held his own qualifying for ‘B’ finals in the 200-metre backstroke, 100-metre butterfly and 200-metre butterfly.
“Jadyn managed to not let age intimidate him as he finished an amazing 12th, 15th and 13th, respectively,” said WLBF head coach Chad Webb.
Fitzgerald began her meet heading into finals in the 200-metre backstroke in second place.
“It was an amazingly tight race as she finished three one-hundredths of a second behind second place to grab her second provincial medal this year,” Webb said.
The medal solidified Fitzgerald for a national ranking after her strong 200-metre backstroke results in 30th place out of all 13 and 14 year olds this year.
But Fitzgerald wasn’t done there, as she also qualified for the 100-metre backstroke finals, finishing in a respectable fifth place.
Fitzgerald also made one qualifying time for the Canadian Junior Nationals, however, will not be attended the meet, being held in Winnipeg, for just one swim, Webb said.
“This is the first swimmer since the late 90s to qualify for this level of meet,” he said.
Johnston will now join several other Blue Fins who are still training in preparation for the BC Summer Games in less than two weeks in Duncan July 19-22.
Johnston will join fellow Blue Fins Morgan Langford, Cristelle Panida, Abby Webb and Gabby Knox as they will represent the North East region in Duncan at the Games.