ESTEVAN - The Estevan Golden Eels summer speed swimming club wrapped up their season by sending 14 members to the provincial championship in Saskatoon on Saturday and Sunday.
Coach Colin Sutter said the members swam well and managed to set personal bests. Swimmers who won medals were:
- Sofia Erana Schmegelsky, seven and eight-year-old females, three gold, one bronze;
- Meredith Knolll, nine and 10-year-old females, two gold;
- Charlie Pyra, nine and 10-year-old females, two gold, one silver and one bronze;
- Elijah Vanstone, nine and 10-year-old males, two silver;
- Liam Kwochka, 11 and 12-year-old males, four gold;
- Isabelle Pyra, 11 and 12-year-old females, three gold, one bronze;
- Mahlyn Bomberak, 13 and 14-year-old females, one silver;
- Rachel Duncan, 13 and 14-year-old females, one silver and one bronze; and
- Jennika Linthicum, 13 and 14-year-old females, two gold, one silver and one bronze.
Linthicum was also on the 13 and 14-year-old south entry that competed in the 200-metre freestyle relay. They not only won gold, but set a new provincial record at two minutes and 5.19 seconds.
Also competing at provincials were swimmers Shiven Sangar, Parker Simmons, Danica Mosley, Shyra Carlson and Hailey Threinen, and coaches Sutter and Tristan Threinen.
Sutter said they did really well. He was pleased to see the swimmers bring home medals and set personal bests.
"I think every kid that went took time off of at least one race, and most of them did it in multiple [races], which was also really good to see that there was lots of improvements from last week [at southerns]," said Sutter.
Sutter noted there were a couple of disqualifications among the Eels' swimmers, which kept them from winning overall age-group medals.
The Golden Eels helped the south team finish ahead of their northern foes for the most cumulative points.
The Regina Pirhanas had the most points overall for the city clubs, while the Watrous Whitecaps had the most points among the small clubs.
Sutter is pleased with how the Eels fared this season. He coached in 2019 and this was his first year back with the program.
He saw a lot of improvements in the swimmers over the past few months.
"Everyone got personal bests out of almost all their races … and all swimmers had a personal best at least once. I think it obviously shows that provincials bring out the true competition in everyone, and I think it does show how much we grew over the year."
One swimmer from Swift Current broke a couple of provincial records, and there were many strong swimmers at provincials.
"It was really fun to watch, not just the Estevan kids, but to see how good some of these guys are," said Sutter.
Sutter noted that any swimmer who went to provincials had to place in the top six at the south meet to qualify.
The Eels will be looking for more swimmers for next year, and Sutter said it sounds like they should have more swimmers next year. He said they will also need new coaches next year.
