Jennifer Haczkewicz of Yorkton, was the lone Yorkton Storm Speed Swimmer to qualify and compete at the recent ManSask Long Course provincial championships held in Regina.
"Jen has done well to qualify to compete at this level four meets in a row now," offers head coach Ashley Benko.
"The "AA" standard times needed to compete at this level are extremely difficult to achieve, so just making it to the meet is huge accomplishment," she added.
Haczkewicz cracked the top 20 in 5/7 races she swam in at the meet.
In all races except two, she was the second place Saskatchewan swimmer to finish, adds Benko.
She improved her times in four of the races with a huge improvement coming in the 200m Freestyle event where she shaved 11 seconds off of her time.
Haczkewicz suggests that it is more a matter of paying attention to detail as to why things seem to be working out for her.
"We continue to work on my mechanics and breathing in this race," says Haczkewicz.
"I have been getting a lot of help from my Summer Games coach, Tonia Vermette, and it is paying off for me."
The confidence she is gaining is paying off when it comes time to getting ready for the bigger meets.
"I am starting to feel more comfortable swimming at these big meets," she added.
They can lead to bigger things down the road, too, she suggested.
"The swimmers that were winning medals at this meet are the ones that have qualified to compete at the Age Class National Meet in Calgary later this summer."
NEXT SEASON
Despite some good fortunes so far, she sees some need for improvements to get to where she wants to be.
"I still have to take 1.5 seconds off my 50m Freestyle race to make the qualifying standard for that meet, something that is a definite goal for me next season."
