Sue Lawrence
For the Observer
When you think of kids, water and hot summer days you usually think about kids playing and splashing about at the beach or the local outdoor pool. But for 23 of the 44 Agassiz Harrison Aquanaut swimmers this past weekend (July 6 and 7), water and hot summer days meant working hard competing at the Chilliwack swim meet.
Coaches Jen and Rachel have really done their job well as most of the swimmers attained best times in many of their events. There were several top place finishes in the finals.
In the 50 backstroke nine year olds, Dana Stoeckly and Nicola James followed each other to the finish line winning a second place for Dana and a third place for Nicola. Jayden Lees,12, won two third place ribbons for 50 fly and 50 free. Taylor Lees matched her sister’s wins with a second place in 50 fly and third in 50 free plus a third place in 100 freestyle. Justine Stoeckly also did well in 50 free and won a third place finish.
Alex Schwichtenberg came third in 100 breast.
Fifteen year old Nashon Douglas is an impressive powerhouse swimmer when he races so naturally he came in first place in 50 free and 50 fly, He also came second in 100 free in his age division.
After all the heats were completed each day, the team had their relay swims. The freestyle relay event is made of four swimmers each doing 50 m of freestyle. The Division 6 boys freestyle relay team (Alex, Nashon, Anton Stoeckly and Logan Sparkes) came in second place.
The medley relay has four swimmers each doing a different stroke: back, breast, butterfly and free. The Division 6 (15 to 16 year old age group) medley relay was a real highlight because the anchor swimmer was four year old Indiana, who continued to work hard to finish the relay with her 50 m of freestyle after all the other much older swimmers had finished already.
The coaches’ highlights of the meet were two swimmers that stood out for them. One was Philip Schwichtenberg finally breaking under 1 minute time in the 50 free after three years of trying to attain that goal.
Emily Kutrowski, 10, swam 100 free style in 1 minute 45 seconds. The Chilliwack meet was only her second swim meet. Well done Phillip and Emily!
In other AHA news the team recently did a swim-a-thon to raise money for the team. In total, 38 km distance was swam by all the swimmers who participated. Thank you to everyone who donated money to the swimmers.
Next up is the Agassiz swim meet on July 20 and 21, at the Ferny Coombe Pool. Come by and cheer for the Agassiz, Harrison and Hope swimmers. The club is also always looking for donations from businesses or individuals who want to help promote the team.