Twenty-seven members of the Williams Lake Blue Fins Swim Club took to Prince George on the weekend for the team’s first large swim meet of the season.
Finishing just a few points behind Quesnel, the Blue Fins brought home a third-place result behind Prince George and Quesnel.
Blue Fins head coach Chad Webb said the club boasted 83 per cent best times for the meet, including older swimmers who are busy getting back into shape for the season.
“Although I did expect to see many best times, I didn’t quite expect the older swimmers to be posting so many this early in the season,” Webb said.
“The team is young right now with few older swimmers and it will take a few years to get our 13 and overs to the numbers where we can field some older competitive relays again and be in the mix at every level.”
Dane Ramier, in his first swim meet ever and after two short months with the club, managed some impressive results as he was named by his coaches as male swimmer of the meet. Webb said he completed some difficult swims for a swimmer so new to the sport.
Keanna Saunders, meanwhile, was named the female swimmer of the meet after crushing her best times and taking off more than 60 seconds in all her swims. Webb said her times also qualified her for new events at the ‘AA’ provincial championships.
Other notable overall improvements came from Andrew Haseldine (50 seconds off), Gabrielle Knox (60 seconds off), Liam McCreight (50 seconds off), Landon Christensen (35 seconds off), Lucas Nowotny (45 seconds off), Maya Nowotny (50 seconds off), Cole Turner (50 seconds off) and Abby Webb (35 seconds off).
Top three finishers for events were:
Kelsey Blokland: first in the 100-metre freestyle and third in all of her other six events.
Taylor Fitzgerald: first in the 100-metre freestyle, second in two events and third in one event.
Liam McCreight: third in four events.
Lucas Nowotny: second in one event.
Cristelle Panida: third in one event.
David Russell: second in one event and third in three events.
Keanna Saunders: first in two events, second in three events, third in one event.
Shaylee Stewart: third in one event.
Abbigail Webb: third in four events.