One team, two meets
After a shaky start, local swimmers excel
Wolfville Triton swimmers have been busy indeed.
While some swimmers headed to Saint John, N.B., others headed to Halifax. The swimmers had a break from training during the spring break; many leaving home for family vacations, so going to a meet so soon back into training did not have high expectations of quality results.
The meet in Saint John was the New Brunswick Spring Championships, which is a new event on their calendar. This meet is a prelims and finals formatted meet and gives the athletes a second opportunity at their swim, which for some Triton swimmers was a blessing! The prelims are held in the morning with the finals later that day. It can be said some swimmers do not perform well in the morning, yet manage extremely well in the evening.
Over the three days of this meet the 11 Tritons showed the effect of having had spring break off. The first day lacked the excitement that is so often experienced when they swim, but as the weekend got underway, they found their sparkle and polished their performances to take several N.B. championships.
Swimmer with the most N.B. championships was Ava Vial, 14, who showed great determination in her events, winning the 400 IM by almost half a length of the pool. She also won the 200 metres and 50-metre breaststroke, taking second in the 200 freestyle – an event she surprised herself by doing so well in.
Nicolaas Groeneveld, 16, showed excellent progress into the weekend also winning the 200- and 50-metre breaststroke, and came second in the 100-metre breaststroke. Bo Stokesbury-price, 13, surprised himself with a breaststroke event in which he rarely swims and took an unexpected third place in the 100 metres and second in the 400 freestyle and 100 butterfly.
Daniel Jurt, 15, the Triton distance swimmer, came away with his first major meet medal, taking third in the 800-metre freestyle. Gabriel Graves, 13, and Eliese Groeneveld, 12, also swam in finals.
Other athletes were Chelsea Beaulieu, 16, Eliza Stokesburyprice, 11, Hannah Williams, 12, Maggie Graves, 11, and Sean Vibert, 16.
The meet in Halifax was shorter and provided one swim for each event, with no opportunity of finals. Struggling with the shortage of facilities in the HRM the meet was on a tight schedule to complete in time. While the Saturday session of the meet was at a reasonable time, the Sunday session required a very early start, making it difficult for swimmers to attend. Of the six athletes who attended this meet, all six made best times.
While the swimmers who attended this meet had the same training issues as those going to New Brunswick, they did show best times for all swims. The two swimmers who braved the very early start, Alexander Glenn, 12, and Celeste Mol, 16, deserve special mention as these swimmers do not swim at the early hour as the more experienced swimmers do.
Other swimmers making best times were Sykora Cooper, 15, Olivia Keddy, 14, Bailey Stokes, 13, and Kaisa Thorsen, 14.
The next meet that Tritons swim at with be the Eastern Championships in Etobicoke, Ont. Ava Vial, Nicolaas Groeneveld and Bo Stokesbury-price have qualified for this event and will travel to Ontario later this month.
These swimmers have worked hard to achieve the standards set by Swim Canada and plan to improve their times and put Wolfville Tritons back on the swimming map.