By Heather Sabey van Horne
Once again the Kitimat Marlins swimmers proved they are a tough team to take on, this time in Prince George at the Barracuda Fall Invitational last weekend.
Adam Malina, Jacob Van Horne, Oliva, Pearson, Hannah Pearson, Lucas Johnston and Jadyn Johnston left for Prince George on Friday morning, confident they would have a good swim meet and better their times, swimming alongside Prince Rupert swimmers under Rupert’s head coach Chris Street.
They joined nearly 200 young swimmers from Chetwynd, Kamloops, Prince George, Terrace, Quesnel and Williams Lake in the water.
The Marlins swam well and had a great showing. Adam Malina, at only eight years old and in his second swim meet ever, placed top three in six of his nine races in the boys 10 and under division.
Adam saw the biggest improvement in his 200m Individual Medley swim, dropping 8.92 seconds for a time of 4:06.08, and qualified for the Eliminator with his teammate, Jacob Van Horne.
The Eliminator is a fun race where the top eight swimmers face off for top spot. The swimmer with the fastest time gets to pick the event and all eight swimmers race, trying to outswim their opponents.
The slowest two swimmers are eliminated and the remaining six swimmers then race and on and on until only the fastest swimmer in the group remains – in this case it was the boys 12 and under division.
Jacob Van Horne, 11 years old, finished in the top spot for boys 12 and under in the Eliminator. He placed first in all of his races in the boys 11 and under division, with his biggest time drop in the 200m Freestyle, dropping 4.45 seconds from his previous time for a new time of 2:34.57.
Olivia Pearson, 15 years old, finished strong in all of her events. She had two second-place finishes, one third and three fourth-place finishes. Olivia’s biggest time drop was in the 100m Backstroke, dropping .28 for a time of 1:14.81.
Olivia is just seconds off the Swim BC Time Standards in many of her races, which when met will qualify her for the biggest meet in the Province.
Hannah Pearson, 17 years old, was the Marlins’ most senior swimmer at the meet. On top of her swim training, Hannah also works as a lifeguard.
Hannah’s top finish was in the 50m Butterfly, placing third. The fly is the most gruelling of all the strokes because it requires the most energy to execute it well.
Lucas Johnston, 13 years old, also did well. He placed third in the boys 50m free and his biggest time drop was in the 100m Individual Medley, dropping 4.86 seconds.
The Individual Medley has swimmers swim all four strokes: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle.
Lucas and his brother Jadyn will compete together this coming summer at the North American Indigenous Games in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The boys are proud to be representing the Carrier and Tsilhqot’in Nations.
Jadyn, 15 years old, is Kitimat’s highest level swimmer. He has competed at BC Games, Provincials, Western Canadian Championships and Canadian Junior Championships. A huge part of swimming is goal setting and the prize is the grit that is developed through trying to achieve those goals.
That grit came through this weekend for Jadyn, with all top three finishes and best times in all of his races. Jadyn’s biggest time drop was in the 200m Fly, dropping 5.17 seconds for a time of 2:13.05.
The Marlins will continue to work hard as they continue to set goals and prepare for their next swim meet.