The Athabasca Rapids Swim Club ended its season with a club record 12-medal haul at the Northern Alberta Provincials in Edmonton June 15-17.
The club sent its largest ever contingent to provincials, with 10 of its competitive swimmers attending. The swimmers collectively earned a total of two gold, five silver and five bronze medals, the most medals the club has collected a provincial competition according to club head coach Janet Kamelchuk,
Kamelchuk said the club's performance was excellent considering the size of the clubs it was competing against.
"We were by far one of the smallest represent clubs at the meet. So to have that type of results, have that type of performance, was just spectacular," Kamelchuk said, adding the club also had numerous top-five and dozens of top-10 finishes at the meeting. "We're competing against clubs that had 200 kids in it so it's very exciting."
The club also had two aggregate champions. Kyra Sheppard topped the aggregate charts for four 50 metre races in the 10 years and younger category, while sister Taylor Sheppard did the same in the age 13 category.
Kyra Sheppard, who also earned five medals at the meet, attributed her success to her coach and training.
"My coach Janet helped me train for it and I tried really hard for my races," she said. "It was kind of nerve-wracking. It was fun to meet new people and experience provincials."
Taylor Sheppard said the team upped its training heading into the provincial competition.
"We bumped up our training so we can get better and everything. It helps," she said. "Everything went really well. I added some time on some of the meets, but lots of them I took off."
Kamelchuk said the two swimmers were very consistent across all four races part of the aggregate championship.
"They were very consistent throughout the meet. They swam every stroke, all four strokes, incredibly consistently," Kamelchuk said.
The meet marked the last of the season for the Athabasca Rapids Swim Club. Kamelchuk said this past season has been the best-ever for the club.
"I think this has been our most successful season that we've ever had. We had good growth in our numbers, we had more competitive swimmers swim through spring than we have had in the past," Kamelchuk said.
Kyra Sheppard said it is is tough saying farewell to the pool.
"I'm pretty sad because I love swimming and I'll miss it until the next season starts up," she said. "I just love swimming in this pool, it's fun."
A full list of the club's medallists at the Northern Alberta Provincials:
Claire Francis: Gold 50m breaststroke, silver 100m breaststroke, silver 200m breaststroke
Kyra Sheppard: Gold 50m freestyle, bronze 100m freestyle, bronze 200m freestyle, bronze 100m backstroke, silver 50m butterfly
Jake Gerritse: Silver 50m breaststroke, bronze 100m breaststroke, silver 200m breaststroke,
Zachary Sikora: Bronze 100m butterfly
