The Williams Lake Blue Fins wrapped up the first part of their season during the weekend with some spectacular swims from the entire group at the MJB Law Invitational Swim Meet, said head coach Chad Webb.
Of the 18 Blue Fins who attended, Webb said 16 achieved a second swim in finals, which he said made for the most impressive meet the club has ever had in Kamloops.
“The club came second in points in the small team category for under 20 swimmers,” he said.
“The swimmers were amazing every day and then came back at night in finals and were event better. Some had 16-18 swims over the three days and crushed all of them.”
In all, 20 individual Blue Fins club records fell on the three days of the meet from a number of swimmers.
READ MORE: Blue Fins swim to records, impressive results at first meet of season
Blue Fins who set records at the meet were:
• Jadyn Johnston: 50-metre breaststroke (31.89), 100-metre fly (59.33), 200-metre fly (2:11.51), 200-metre individual medley (2:13.61), 400-metre IM (4:42.71)
• Taylor Fitzgerald (three bronze): 100-metre backstroke (1:04.86), 200-metre backstroke (2:19.15), 200-metre IM (2:27.70), 400-metre freestyle (4:43.65), 400-metre IM (5:17.68), 100-metre fly (1:05.74), 200-metre free (2:10.94)
• Gabrielle Knox (four silver): 200-metre IM (2:28.37), 100-metre freestyle (1:01.94), 100-metre breaststroke (1:17.79), 100-metre fly (1:08.15)
• Cristelle Panida (one silver): 50-metre fly (29.94)
• Morgan Langford (one gold, one silver, two bronze): 200-metre backstroke (2:22.94), 50-metre backstroke (31.98), 400-metre individual medley (5:26.30)
• Jordyn Stokes (two silvers, two bronze)
Swimmers achieving medals in relay events were: 11-12 Medley Relay (silver) and free relay (bronze): Aliya Grant, Jordan Stokes, Jadyn Grant and Rowan Smith; 13-14 Free Relay - 1:57.96 (club record), 13-14 medley relay - 2:08.69 (club record) for Gabrielle Knox, Peyton Bailey, Cristelle Panida and Morgan Langford.
Swimmers achieving improvements in almost every event were: Braedi Hamar, Dexi Stewart, Rebecca Elefson, Ashtynn Cullum, London Philpotts, Isabelle Groundwater, Brianna Irawan and Emma Grace MacDonald.
Rowan Smith, Jordan Stokes and Jadyn Grant, meanwhile, qualified for provincial championships, while Aliya Grant has one more qualifying standard time to make.
Gabrielle Knox and Peyton Bailey swam some great races, Webb said, setting them up for a chance to make Western Canadian Championships in April.
READ MORE: Blue Fins compete among B.C.’s best at provincials
Fitzgerald and Langford, he added, not only swam their way to club records, but improved significantly in some of their best races to now give them a very solid chance of making Olympic Trials in April.
“Taylor and Morgan both rank top three in the province in their backstroke and top 20 in the country for their age,” Webb said.
Fitzgerald was named swimmer of the meet for the Blue Fins with her impressive improvements in every event and seven club records.
sports@wltribune.com
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