Westlock's Gators swim club has set a new high water mark in sending nine swimmers to the Alberta Summer Swimming Association provincial meet this weekend in Edmonton. Competing at the regional meet at NAIT on Aug.
Westlock's Gators swim club has set a new high water mark in sending nine swimmers to the Alberta Summer Swimming Association provincial meet this weekend in Edmonton.
Competing at the regional meet at NAIT on Aug. 11-12, Ann-Marie Carnegie, Rachael Casavant, Evan Felstad, Lauren Kostiw, Tane Schulz, Marissa Tabert and Nathanael Tabert all claimed a gold or silver in their individual events to book their spots at provincials.
Katya Kostiw and Hanna Nakonechny also qualified as members of the 14-and-under girls 200-metre medley relay with teammates Casavant and Marissa Tabert.
For coach Kendall Mills, the regional meet represented one of the team's best overall performances of the season.
"It was just an amazing day," she said. "I think lots of our swimmers performed better than we could have even asked for. They put everything together."
The nine swimmers who qualified for provincials nearly doubles the five who advanced last year. It's also the most swimmers Mills can remember the club sending in any one year that she's been a coach.
Together, the team earned 30 medals at NAIT - 29 in individual events and a lone bronze for the girls' medley relay team.
In all, the seven swimmers who advanced to provincials on the strength of their individual performances represented 26 of those medals, 22 of which were the gold or silver needed to earn their provincial berths.
Casavant and Marissa Tabert led the way with five medals each. Casavant earned four silvers in the 50 and 100 breaststroke, 100 butterfly and 100 individual medley and a bronze with the relay. Tabert won silver in the 100 and 50 freestyle, bronze in the 200 and 50 free and a bronze with the relay.
Felstad, Carnegie, Schulz and Nathanael Tabert each earned four medals. Felstad took gold in each of the 100 free, 100 IM, 50 fly and 50 breast. Carnegie earned gold in the 50 backstroke, silver in the 400 and 200 free and bronze in the 50 fly. Schulz won gold in the 25 fly and 50 free, silver in the 25 back and bronze in the 25 free. Tabert earned four gold in the 50 and 100 fly, 200 IM and 100 breast.
Nakonechny and Lauren Kostiw each won two medals. Nakonechny earned bronze in the 100 breast and as a member of the relay. Kostiw won two gold in the 25 and 50 breast.
Katya Kostiw and Siddhant Gautam each brought home one medal. Kostiw won a bronze with the relay, while Gautam took bronze in the 100 breast.
Along with the 30 medals, Westlock's swimmers also managed to record 46 new personal bests, with several swimmers lowering their times twice over the weekend.
"We're really happy and we're really proud of all our swimmers, even the ones that didn't qualify," Mills said.
The provincial meet was Aug. 18-19 at the Kinsmen Fieldhouse in Edmonton. See next week's Westlock News for results.
