SPLASH ZONE
Swimmers do well at Truro competition.
It’s time for Nova Tech Explosion.
Now, if you’ve read any of our articles before, you may recall that Explosion! is the title given to the final ‘championship’ style competition of the season for our Nova Tech program. This year’s event took place at the beautiful and bright Wilson Aquatic Centre in Truro. You’ve probably all driven by the big, grey, modern designed building outside of Truro proper and wondered about it. Maybe many of you have visited the arena for hockey or the climbing wall. That’s the one.
To summarize, Explosion! in Truro was a hit for the Dorados. We came away with medals and ribbons and shirts and caps and bathing suits and more of the things which parents probably don’t need to be reminded. Good times, eh?
The events were very structured and formal but the results were wild and crazy. It is with great pleasure that I report on the following swimming statistics: 45 new personal best times, two bronze medals, one silver medal and two new Dorados records.
Special recognition should go out to two individuals who made personal bests on each and every swim in which they participated, Hana Balcom and Ava Stone. Hana managed to take of a total of 44.34 seconds in all of her seven events, including a 200m freestyle and 200m individual medley event. Considering it’s been only weeks since our hosted event at the Northside Community Pool, that’s an amazing improvement. Congratulations Hana.
Ava came within metres (and a mere eight seconds) of reaching her silver medal time in her 200 IM swim. She was channeling her inner Penny Oleksiak for that finish. Excellent work, Ava.
We shouldn’t bring to light the marker fights and peer tattooing on deck but we need to discuss the nail biting finishes and those famous 100 IM swims. Well, Sophia and Emma have been extra focused in practice to make their turns and starts much more efficient in the last number of weeks. The goal, remember, is to complete 100 metres, four lengths, one of every stroke in under two minutes and 15 seconds.
At race time, we were all bouncing in deck waiting for the final hundredths-of seconds to tick by at 2:14 … and they both touched ahead of the clock at 2:14.70s and 2:14.81s respectively. Great work ladies. Thanks for reminding all of your coaches to breathe, again.
At the end of the meet, we had three teams participate in the fun 4 x 25m freestyle relay. Our Dorados are always ready for a relay since we’ve started to include a regular weekly relay practice. Believe it or not, these kids choose practice over their own Friday night social events. Needless to say, we are very proud of the relay experience and results from these events. I am hoping that Swim Nova Scotia adds more relay options to the Nova Tech program in the future. Kids + Relays = Fun.
So, cheers to leaving the Nova Tech program at a strong spot for the summer, and we are hoping for great returns and new swimmers in the fall. We are not completely finished training as our senior swimmers continue for the next few weeks for an outdoor event in Quispamsis, NB. We’ll send a super fun and picturesque report from there. Interested in the Cape Breton Dorados Swim experience? Check out our website www.capebretondorados.com and facebook page for program information and updates.