Age Group Champs report

We took big step towards winning back the small team championship banner this season; after a top 5 finish at Age Group Champs we have a 500+ point lead over the next closest small team. This is Silver Tides highest finish since Alberta separated provincials into 14 and under and 15 and over as well as their second highest finish ever. Along with the 5th place finish we also had 8 swimmers qualify for 2 different Swim Alberta tour teams. Our 11-12 year old boys of Kevin Labonte, James Janzen, Brendan Elford and Connor Rawson qualified and represented Silver Tide at the North South dual meet/camp very well Easter weekend at NAIT. Coach Kellie was also nominated as one of the Boys coaches. Connor was recognized by the staff for his outstanding performance at the meet and Kevin was awarded for his wonderful team spirit. We also had Karlyn (IM), Erin (Fly), Nadine (Mid Free), Brayden (Distance Free) qualify for the Alberta vs BC dual meet in Lethbridge April 18-20. We are still waiting to hear about the coaching selection for this meet but it looks as though I should be selected for that meet as well. We have the 2nd most swimmers attending the Alberta/BC Dual meet with 4.
As a club we scortched the record book once again with 13 more club records bringing our seasonal total up to 59 club records!! WOW!!!! Congratulations to all Silver Tide swimmers who have taken part in this record breaking spree this season. Keep it up.
We had 100% best times from Jasmin who attended her first Age Group Champs and had 2 scoring swims, Sarah L, Josie who scored in all of her events and Rebecca and Ryan who both rewrote the record book in the process with Ryan coming home his weight in medals. We also had Connor, Brendan, James and Brayden with all but one best time. There were tons of huge best times, too many to catch them all but Brayden stuck out with a fantastic performance making a few second swims and showing that he can qualify for age group nationals in EVERY freestyle distance by the end of the year. Connor, Brendan and Kevin also showed that age group nationals is just around the corner for them. And the 13-14 year old girls made other around the province take notice 2 or more girls in many of the A final events including 1-2 finishes from Erin and Karlyn in 100 and 200 fly while inching closer and closer to their first senior national cuts. With only 1 swimmer aging themselves out of the meet for long course season we should be ready for another fantastic season.

At last... it is your Senior Champs recap

With swimmers being entered with their short course converted times this was a tough meet to judge as their first long course meet of the season but once you analyze it compared to last years best you see how great a meet it actually was for the swimmers. It was highlighted with a couple of very impressive Freestyle sprints by Julie who achieved her CIAU qualifying time in 50 free thus securing her a spot on the U of A swim team. This also showed that she is definitely ready to make the jump to senior nationals this summer in Winnipeg. All but one of the swimmers walked away from the meet with some good best times including 100% long course bests from: Delaney, Linnea, Greg, Kam and Max with Meagan missing only one PB.
That first long course meet is always a big challenge and these swimmers, though a little unknowling, stepped up really well with some fantastic swims. Health was a bit of an issue during the meet but all in all the swimmers did a really good job. It is a good sign as we head into our long course season full force in April. The relays were a lot of fun and it was great to see a group of 16 swimmers who attended the meet you can really see that the club is going in the right direction with only 2 graduating swimmers this season we will be that much bigger and better next year.

Evaluate your own performance...

http://silvertide-kellie.blogspot.com/2008/03/wanna-get-a-in-swimming.html