Team South-East Connections attended the Saskatchewan Winter Games on Feb. 19 - 22, held in Regina.
Team SE Connections consists of athletes from Weyburn Artistic Swimming club, as well as the Estevan Mermaids. They are coached by Kimberly Neithercut and Meagan Rothwell, both of Weyburn.
Team members included, from Weyburn, Marley Kradovill, Payton Caldwell, Ella Leko, Lily Popescu, and from Estevan, Ava Allen, Sasha Mantei, Sierra Mantei, Rowyn Shier and Isabelle Pyra.
The team arrived at the Athlete’s Village on the University campus Feb. 19 and attended the opening ceremonies. The next few days were filled with numerous activities on campus and much success in the pool.
On Monday morning, the competition began with solo preliminaries and then athletes competed personally in the figure event, with Weyburn athletes all placing in the top 10.
Marley Kradovill won first place, Lily Popescu was third, Payton Caldwell placed seventh, and Ella Leko was 10th.
The Tuesday solo finals were as follows:
A-final: Rowyn Shier, fourth, championship score: 53.6603
B-final: Isabelle Pyra, fourth, championship score: 52.3257; Sierra Mantei, seventh, championship score: 49.5727
In the Duet Finals:
A-final: Payton Caldwell and Ella Leko won second, championship score: 58.2615, for the Silver medal.
B-final: Ava Allen and Sasha Mantei won second, championship score: 55.6479
In the Wednesday Team Finals:
Team South-East Connections won first place, with a championship score: 58.5147 for the Gold Medal.
The Weyburn Artistic Swimming Club, their athletes, coaches and family members are very proud of the accomplishments and successes of all the athletes at the 2023 Sask Winter Games.
Many special friends and memories were made over the last three days.
The team gave a special thanks to the mission staff, Tina Clay, for her help and support during the Winter Games experience.
