Woolwich Wave claim SWORSA championship
Swim team take two of three titles up for grabs at final meet of the season
THE WOOLWICH WAVE CAPPED off the season with a grand finale at the South Western Ontario Recreational Swimming Association (SWORSA) championship over the weekend. Competing against the Kincardine Kippers and Fergus Flippers in Wilmot on Saturday, the Wave claimed two of the available three trophies up for grabs.
In a repeat of last year, the team won the overall championship trophy as well as the girls’ trophy, but again fell short of a hat trick in the boys’ category.
“We were a few points short of the boys’ trophy,” said Wave organizer Erin Schmidt, adding that they were happy with the outcome. “I told them you need a goal for next year, so all’s good. They were super excited.”
Along with the championship trophy, the Woolwich Wave fielded several medalists, including Isobel Speiran who broke her third SWORSA record this year. Speiran swam the freestyle 50m race in 33.06, breaking the record previously set in 2004 for the girls 11 and 12 bracket.
Despite the victorious performance at the finals, Schmidt notes that the focus of the team is more on simply keeping kids active and self improvement. The league is more recreational than competitive, but the swim meets add an extra level of incentive for the participants.
“The kids that do the meets get excited about this part, but we had a fabulous session. Everybody gets really into it regardless of whether you win or lose. It was really great just to see the kids improving. I think that’s the biggest thing,” she said.
Although the team didn’t claim the boy’s trophy, Schmidt notes there has been a lot more interest from boys in the township this year in joining the team.
“We have more boys this year, so we definitely got closer. A few more older boys would be good. We’re still short boys in the open, and in the older categories: kind of that 13- to 15-yearold range,” she said.
With another season wrapped up, the swim team will take a leave of absence for the rest of the summer before starting back up in the fall. Parents interested in signing up their kids will have to put their names on a waiting list, unfortunately, because the team has seen significant growth in the past year alone.
The Woolwich Wave swimmers to medal at the final meet this year were Dawson Eckmier, Bryce McFadden, Jonah Schmidt, Troy Dittenhoffer, Ethan Arnold, Ian Speiran, Connor Scheerer, Emily Wright, Lucy Levac, Angela Levac, Emily Arnold, Jessica Schmidt, Isobel Speiran, Ainslie Robertson, Taylor Girling and Jocelyn Raben.