The Moose Jaw Kinsmen Flying Fins were hoping for an impressive showing as hosts of the Swim Sask Junior Provincial Championships this past weekend, and they couldn’t have asked for much better results
With more than 280 swimmers from all over the province taking part in the meet at the Kinsmen Sportsplex, the Fins saw no less than 84 per cent of their races end up as personal best times -- with 12 of their 28 competitors recording lifetime bests across all of their races.
“Anything over 80 per cent is going to be awesome, so we were really happy with that,” said Flying Fins coach Gord Shields. “You can’t swim at your best every race, especially when they’re coming up pretty quick one after another, so to see that many personal bests is really good. And overall, it was a fantastic meet with a lot of really good performances and great swims.”
With that many swimmers going that quick, the Fins were going to be in the hunt for hardware, and there was no shortage of medals to take home.
Leading the way was Cole Hrechka in the male 11-and-under division, as he finished in the top three in each of his events -- winning gold in the 50-metre backstroke, silver in the 50m breaststroke, 50m butterfly, 100m back, 100m freestyle and 200m free to go along with bronze in the 50m free.
“He had an awesome weekend,” Shields said. “One hundred per cent best times in seven swims and seven medals, that’s a fantastic swim meet. He’s a young guy, so he’s always improving and he trains hard. If you work hard in practice you’ll perform well in races and it carried over into this meet.”
Damian Chartrand also picked up a pair of gold in the male 14-and-over age class, winning the 50m free and 200m breast, while Adam Lazurko was the silver medalist in the male 11-and-under 200m breast and Emily Lin finished second in the female 13-and-over 50m butterfly. Xander Penner was also a double silver medalist, picking up the honours in the male 11-and-under 200m individual medley and 400m free.
Winning bronze were Gavin Abrahamson (Male 12-13 100m fly), Richard Lai (male 12-13 50m back) and Molly Mack (female 11-12 200m back).
The competition itself went off largely without a hitch -- while fans weren’t allowed in the swimming area and masks were still worn on the pool deck, it was still an actual face-to-face meet. And one that saw the Fins put their new starting blocks and timing system to use for the first time.
“This was the first time we’ve had to the two working together, so that was awesome,” Shields said. “It was a great meet for the club and for the province in general, and then with the new video board for the next time we’re inside at the Kinsmen, it’ll just add a whole new dimension to the quality of the meet.”
Kennedy Saretski was the Fins female swimmer of the meet after taking part in her first competition and recording a pair of top-12 showings while Hrechka was naturally the male swimmer of the meet.
Abby Bowles' time of 3:05.57 in the female 11-12 200m free and 16.24-second improvement was Moose Jaw’s female swim of the meet. Colten Cushing’s showing in the male 12-13 200m free was the male swim of the meet, as he touched the wall in 3:36.50 and knocked no less than 24.34 seconds off his personal best.
Next up for the Kinsmen Flying Fins will be the high-level Man/Sask Championships, which will see five members from the team taking the pool in Winnipeg against the of the best young swimmers in western Canada.
The event runs from Mar. 17-29 at the Pan-Am Pool in Winnipeg.
For the latest on the Moose Jaw Kinsmen Flying Fins, be sure to visit their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/mjkff/.
