May 13/ 11       Edmonton Keyano International & Vorgee meet recaps

    After a little lull in April for Spring Break, the long course season has started in full with the Tides out racing at both EKI and Vorgee this past weekend. EKI is the fastest Age Group meet on our calendar this time of year and is a great opportunity to test yourself against the swimmers that will be pushing for medals at upcoming meets like Age Group Provincials and Nationals. The way everyone was swimming left no doubt in my mind that Silver Tide is ready to go come July. 

    For the second year in a row the TAG and Senior groups pitted themselves against the other in a heat winner competition and with teddy bears on offer for bell heat wins, the competition was truly fierce. Last year, neither group was able to score a single point until the final day when both groups racked up 5 heat wins leading to a Senior victory over TAG. This first day of competition this year brought 7 heat wins and ended with a 1 point lead for the Senior Group going into day 2. For the rest of the meet both groups jostled for position never being more than 1 point clear of the other until finally the TAG group broke through with 4 heat wins on Sunday morning. This ended up being too high a barrier for the senior group to overcome and the TAGs emerged triumphant in the EKI heat winner battle of 2011 in a score of 10 to 8. This friendly competition really shows how far both groups have come in one year. Last year, both groups only managed 5 heat wins. This year, the total was 18. It’s a remarkable jump that really shows that the Tides are ready to race and not afraid to win. 

    This new hunger also showed itself in the six club records broken over the weekend. With some amazing swims, the 12&Under Girls relay team of Brooklyn Janzen, Emma Funk, Rebecca Schamber and Halle Elford broke the 4X100FR club record. Not content with just one swim for the record books the girls team made up of Jennifer Reeves, Becca Schamber, Halle Elford and Brooklyn Janzen also broke the 4X50FR record on Sunday night. The other 4 fallen records over the weekend belong to one man, Kevin Labonte. Kevin continues to show some of the most driven and dedicated racing in the club every time he jumps in the pool and his new records in the 200BK, 400IM, 800FR and 1500FR attest to that especially when you realize that the 800FR record was broken as a split on his way to the record in the mile. That’s some awesome racing that everyone can learn from.
Not content to let the older groups take all the glory, the younger Tides kept themselves busy with some amazing racing of their own at the Vorgee. Nearly every swim at the meet was a big best time and I wish we had kept track of heat wins at Vorgee as well because they were coming at us fast and furious. When it comes to racing hard the TAG and Senior groups should have a chat with the JD and JAG. Congratulations to Alexa Janzen for getting her first ever “A” time as well as Trey Saretsky for a big new “MQT” in the 400FR. Aleysa Schultz also swam one amazing 50FR that left her only 0.31s from her first ever “A” time as well (you’ll get it next time for sure).
    After all that stellar racing, I still can’t decide if it was the swimming or the team spirit over the weekend that I was most proud of everyone for. Some weekends I honestly think I could pull a tree stump sooner than I can pull a Silver Tide away from their video games but that was not the case this weekend. The whole team kept up an amazing level of energy throughout the weekend that no doubt led to most of our great performances. I’d especially like to mention all the swimmers (and there were many) that stayed to cheer on their teammates racing in the meet that they weren’t even entered for. It was truly great to see so many EKI swimmers cheering on their teammates at Vorgee and Vorgee swimmers sticking around for most or all of finals at EKI to support their teammates as well. It’s this kind of support, not individual greatness that is the mark of a great team. Great swimming everyone and I truly can’t wait to see what the rest of the year has in store.


Maciek Zielnik
Assistant Head Coach
I Can Swim Program Coordinator
Silver Tide Swim Club
maciek.zielnik@silvertide.ca

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