One club, three meets
The Wolfville Tritons Swim Club is showing its depth when it was able to send swimmers to three separate meets many kilometres apart.
Three swimmers from the club recently attended the Eastern Championships in Etobicoke, Ontario.
Ava Vial, 15, Bo StokesburyPrice, 13, and Nicolaas Groeneveld, 16, travelled to Ontario determined to better times and make the qualifying standards for the Junior Nationals that will be held in Toronto later this year.
The Eastern Championships had more than 800 competitors, with high quality swimmers attending.
“This is a good thing for young swimmers to see and be part of,” said head coach Moira Milward.
For Groeneveld and Stokesbury-Price, this was not their first encounter with a national level event — they previously attended the national age group championships last year — but for many attending the meet, it was their first time at nationals.
“The key to success is to stay focused and not allow oneself to be overwhelmed,” Milward said. “Results showed that our three swimmers did as they were asked, making five best times from seven swims.”
Three other swimmers headed to Saint John, New Brunswick, to a sprint meet held by the TIDE Fundy swim club. The expectation for these swimmers — Maggie Graves, 11, Gabriel Graves, 13, and Matthew Bent, 16 — was to improve times and prepare for the summer meets coming up, which require higher qualifying standards. Here they were rewarded with 11 best times from 18 swims.
“I was extremely satisfied with the efforts these three swimmers made on their swims,” said Milward. “They knew what they had to do and they had to do it with the support of a coach from another team. I am impressed with the growth of focus they are developing.”
At yet another meet, 16 of the youngest Tritons travelled to Universite St. Anne to compete in the final regional meet of the season.
“These young swimmers have had a most excellent season with many graduating up to the age group program, which is the main swimming program in yearround swimming,” Milward said.
Olivia Williams, 11, and Sophie Duncan, 11, joined the group of gold medal recipients of the season, while Robert Kennedy, 13, got his silver.
“With a substantial number of best times from these young swimmers it is proof that the program designed to develop the younger athlete in the club is well focused and working,” Milward added.
These young swimmers will now head to the provincial meet in Truro to swim with those from around the province.
“It has been such an exciting year for our swimmers this year, so many best times with excellent swims, so many new swimmers rising very quickly through the programs, it bodes well looking forward to the next season, which is about four months away — but this season has many weeks yet to go,” Milward said. “We wait to hear of the nominations for the Canada Games and the key athletes for that are on tenterhooks!”