The Williams Lake Blue Fins Swim Club came away with more than 75 per cent lifetime best swims over the weekend at the Kamloops MJB Law Classic competing against teams from B.C. and Alberta.
Blue Fins head coach Chad Webb said the team had some big improvements, personally, and as a team had 18 top eight finishes and 13 top 16 finals reached.
One of the most significant came in the girls’ 10 and under relay divisions with the team of Keanna Saunders, 10, Gracie Frost, 10, Taylor Fitzgerald, 9 and Abby Webb, 8, picking up silver medals in the 200-metre freestyle relay and bronze medals in the 200-metre medley relay.
Top eight finishers in 10 and under individual competition were Leif Brandson, Frost and Liam McCreight.
Brandson posted a ‘AA’ provincial time in the 100-metre backstroke to finish sixth, and also finished sixth in the 50-metre butterfly, the 100-metre butterfly and the 50-metre backstroke. Additionally, he placed seventh in the 200-metre individual medley and eighth in the 200-metre freestyle.
Frost, meanwhile, posted a ‘A’ provincial time in the 100-metre breaststroke to place fifth, plus finished fourth in the 50-metre freestyle, the 50-metre breaststroke, and the 50-metre fly.
“[She also finished] seventh in the 200-metre individual medley and eighth in the 100-metre freestyle taking more than 70 seconds in total off her swims making her the female Blue Fins swimmer of the meet,” Webb said.
McCreight, who also posted a ‘A’ provincial time in the 100-metre breaststroke to finish in fifth, took third in the 50-metre breaststroke and eighth in the 50-metre freestyle.
In the boys’ 200-metre medley relay Brandson and McCreight moved up an age group to swim with Landon Christensen and Mitchell Ryan in the 12 and under division to place sixth.
“It was a great swim by these boys having two much younger swimmers on the team,” Webb said.
The club’s senior swimmers, Coral Choi, Madison Blusson, Geneva Gordon, Ashley Beauchamp and Christensen also hit the water at the Tournament Capital Centre to impress Webb with their improvement.
Choi finished fourth in the 50-metre breaststroke, fifth in the 100-metre breaststroke and fifth in the 200-metre breaststroke.
Blusson, meanwhile, took sixth in the 50-metre breaststroke, seventh in the 100-metre breaststroke, eighth in the 200-metre breaststroke and 15th in the 100-metre butterfly.
Gordon was 13th in the 50-metre breaststroke and 10th in the 100-metre breaststroke, while Beauchamp finished 16th in the 50-metre breaststroke.
Christensen was 11th in the 50-metre breaststroke, 14th in the 50-metre butterfly and 13th in the 100-metre butterfly taking more than two minutes off his total time in all his races to earn Blue Fins male swimmer of the meet.
“Many of the younger swimmers are making top eight and some of our older swimmers are now getting into finals in multiple events,” Webb said.
“This is a great step forward for the club in performance and I am very pleased with the team.
“We have a great group of swimmers that are really starting to compete provincially.”
With the club at almost capacity this year, Webb said he is anticipating a strong future.