On a very hot weekend the pool sounds like a great place to be. However when you are a competitive swimmer, hanging out a pool is a bit different than just floating around to get cool.
This weekend 28 young summer club swimmers from Agassiz Harrison Aquanauts spent many hours sitting and cheering at the pool side waiting for their 30 seconds to 3 minute time to swim as fast as possible. Half of them swam fast enough to make it to finals. For Bentley McMullin was thrilled that his 5th place finish in 50 breast got him a best time and a chance to get to finals for the first time. Then he swam even faster in the finals to get another best time! Mark Schwichtenber made it to finals in 50 breast with a 4th place finish and then sped up to finish second in the finals. Morgan Sparkes and his brother Logan are both natural swimmers. Morgan came 2nd in 50 back. Logan came 2nd in 200 IM, 3rd in 50 fly and 3rd in 100 back.
Throughout the whole weekend Jaydin Lees and her sister Taylor were swimming in the same event a few lanes apart. Nothing like sisterly competition to make you work harder. In all four of their events they both qualified for finals. Jayden came 1st in 50 free and 100 free, 2nd in 50 fly and 100 breast. Her sister came 4th in 100 free, 5th in 50 free and 6th in 100 breast and 100 free.
Justine Stoeckly and her younger brother Anton and Dana are another set of sibling powerhouses. Justine and Anton qualified for finals in all their events. Anton came 2nd in 50 free, 50 fly and 100 free and 3rd in 100 breast. Justine had a beautiful 200 IM time and also finally broke her long standing best time by taking 10 seconds off, which is huge in swim world times. She came 6th in the final for that event. She also came 6th in 50 free, 50 fly and 3rd in 100 breast. Dana came 3rd in 50 back, 4th in 50 fly and 5th in 100 IM.
Amarri Reynen is no slouch in the pool. This young swimmer worked really hard and achieved a grand 1st place finish in 50 fly. She also came 3rd in 50 back and 100 fly. Katelyn Gafka worked hard spraying team mates with water to keep them cool and also swam hard: she came 4th in 100 back and 6th in 100 breast. Nashon Douglas as always effortlessly sprinted to a 1st place finish in 50 fly and 100 fly. Our great coach Joran Torok and his sister Sydney Torok were there to motivate, encourage and congratulate swimmers as they learned to exercise in the heat. In case you think coaches just sit there and talk about swimming techniques, think again. Sydney swam to a 1st place finish in 50 fly and Jordan came 2nd in 50 fly. The AHA parents (especially our president Catherine Schwichtenberg, Kim Hastie and Theresa Stoeckly) worked long hours doing various officials' work (like stroke and turn monitoring, computer work, timing) to help make sure the swim meet was a success.
Contributed by Sue Lawrence