Ruetz swims in Western Canada Summer Games
All eyes were on Gull Lake’s Jenae Ruetz at the 2019 Western Canada Summer Games as she swam in six Special Olympics races at the Aquatic Centre for Team Saskatchewan last week.
Ruetz, one of two local athletes in the first half of the Games, opened her meet with a fourth place finish in the 50 Metre Breaststroke in 1:31.60 on Saturday. She placed fifth in the 100 Metre Backstroke in 2:30.60 in the evening session.
Sunday, Ruetz opened the day with a sixth-place finish in the 50 Metre Backstroke in 1:12.58. She also placed fifth in the 50 Metre Butterfly in the evening session in 1:00.27.
Monday, she placed sixth in the 100 Metre Freestyle in 3:06.29 in the morning session Ruetz concluded her Games with a sixth place finish in the 50 Metre Freestyle in the evening session in 53.35 seconds.
“She swam very well,” said coach Jackie Powell after Ruetz’s final swim on Monday. “She took time off on all of her swims, ranging from two to three seconds, to 11 seconds on one of her swims. We couldn’t have asked for anything better.”
Ruetz had previously competed at the Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg in 2017.
“It was somewhat of a similar experience. It was very much different in the way that we were at home and being able to have a lot more local support and that kind of stuff through people from her work and more family members to be able to support her. I think she has really been enjoying the overall experience and has done very well,” said Powell.
Powell is a grizzled veteran of the multi-sport games experience.
“For the most part Games are Games, but it was really cool to have that at home. Being able to enjoy that Games experience and still be able to, both Jenae and I are from Swift, but we stayed in the Athletes Village, we weren’t able to stay at home. We ate in the cafeteria and everything that’s part of the Games we still take part in. It’s really cool that we’ve been able to share this overall experience with, I do this on a regular basis, but to be able to share this experience with everybody in Swift Current is pretty cool.”