On June 15, the Grand Forks Piranhas Swim Club travelled to Trail to compete in its second meet of the year, the Jeli Orell Memorial Invitational Swim Meet.
Thirty-four Piranhas were in attendance.
Four novices swam in the 25-metre events: Emma Lewis, Alexandra Larson, Renee Lajoie and Ben Podmoroff all enjoyed their races.
The Division 1 boys achieved many best times. Kohei Dunnet took off 4.52 seconds in his 50-metre breaststroke, while Robert Wark got a best time in his 50-metre freestyle and 50-metre backstroke. Bryce Findlater supported his team by swimming on the Division 4 boys relay team, which placed second overall.
The Division 1 and 2 girls achieved numerous best times. Dierdre Wark took off 11 seconds in her 50-metre backstroke while Cassiane Larson took off 12 seconds in her 50-metre butterfly. Ashlyn Leroy took off a whopping 21 seconds in her 100-metre IM (individual medley). Sierra Campbell shaved of 20 milliseconds in her 50-metre freestyle.
Jayden LeRoy took off a second in her 100-metre I.M and swam a powerful backstroke split time. Jailyn Needoba took off six seconds in IM
Grace Soukoreff impressed the coaches with her fast flip-turns in her 50-metre freestyle.
Xandria Parker and Caitlyn Black competed against each other in a number of races. The friendly competition yielded respectable times. Xandria achieved a best time of 1:47.19 in her 100-metre breaststroke. Caitlyn was close to her best time of 1:41.98.
Sydney Gunther represented the team in the “Australian Start,” a 50-metre freestyle race in which a swimmer from each division participates. Each swimmer starts the race with a time handicap based on their time achieved in preliminaries. Ross Merry and Trentin Ludwar also represented the team in the race.
Aysia Morgan took off 6.58 seconds in her 50-metre butterfly to capture the meet record. Shian Corbeil also achieved a meet record in the 50-metre butterfly with a time of 38.34.
Kiyomi Dunnet swam the anchor for her relay team with a time of 36.5 seconds.
Dayton Bryan knocked off two seconds in his 100-metre breaststroke.
Sam Podmoroff took off an astonishing 11 seconds in his 100-metre IM
Ethan Argue took off eight seconds in his 100-metre IM Isaac Holitzki swam an impressive 50-metre backstroke, shaving off 0.23 seconds.
Kaileigh Parker impressed the coaches in taking off four seconds in her 50-metre butterfly.
Sarah Heric also impressed the coaches. She took off two seconds in her 100-metre freestyle and made it look effortless.
Nicole Nuyten (Division 6) and Leena Corbeil (Division 4) won silver medals in their divisions. Raelyn Morgan (Division 3) and Trentin Ludwar (Division 6) came home with bronze medals.
Coaches Robyn Van Ek and Ross Merry won Division 7 aggregate gold medals. Coach Hannah Holitzki reaffirmed her dominance in the 50-metre butterfly.
– Contributed by Robyn Van Ek