Several Grand Forks Piranhas Swim Club members hit best times on Saturday at the club’s home meet. In all, 31 swimmers took part with almost everyone showing improvement since their last meet two weeks ago in Trail.
“They all swam with heart and exhibited excellent sportsmanship before and after their races,” said head coach Matt Grey. “We had a great deal of success individually and as a team with our team placing first for overall points. Peyton Swanson earned a silver medal and informed her coach that this was her ‘first medal for anything, ever.’”
The Piranhas ended up first in points with 481. Coming in second were the Nelson Neptunes with 286.5. Castlegar Aquanauts finished just a point behind with 285.5. Other teams were: fourth place Colville Sharks with 207 points, fifth place Trail Stingrays with 125 and sixth place Creston Waves with 43.
Lincoln Faulkner was awarded his first individual gold medal. Robbie Wark and Kohei Dunnet stood on the podium taking bronze and silver, respectively.
Cassiane Larson earned a bronze medal, and her competitor, friend and teammate Jailyn Needoba had an amazing day of races as well and was awarded a gold, said Grey.
Jake Webster and Sam Podmoroff took silver and gold, respectively, in their divisions, as did Jayden LeRoy (silver) and Sydney Gunther (gold). Isaac Holitzki and assistant coach David Hecht each won gold medals in their divisions and Hecht managed to break a 14-year-old record in the 50 metre butterfly.
“I could not be happier with the team and can’t wait to see what they are capable of at the next swim meet,” said Grey.
Faith Thomson, who is in her second year with the club, was another Piranha swimmer who had a great meet and set several bests. She was very pleased with how the meet went for the team.
“It went really well,” she said. “I got best times in all my strokes.”
Thomson got best times in 50m butterfly, 50m freestyle, 100m backstroke and 100m breast stroke. She said her favourite is the freestyle.
“I can speed up on it and not get so tired,” she said. “I also like the flip turn.”
Thomson said she really enjoyed competing in her home pool in front of family and friends.
“I liked it because we got to do more cheers and more people can come out from Grand Forks and watch,” she said. “We had a couple of DQs (disqualifications) but overall our team really stepped up and did really well.”