After training hard all season, the Creston Wave Swim Club swimmers were off to the biggest competition of the season, the provincial championships held in Nanaimo from Aug. 16-19. Nearly 2,000 of B.C.’s best athletes attended the summer swimming provincials, competing in water polo, diving, synchronized swimming and speed swimming.
Five of the Creston Wave swimmers represented the club on the Kootenay regional team: Kieran Simpson, Emily Simpson, Sierra Simpson, Carter Pelly and coach Kevin Woykin. The swimmers competed in both individual races and regional relay events.
Kieran Simpson (Div. 6) competed in the boys 200-metre individual medley (IM), and 100m breaststroke. He got an all-time best in his IM (2:51.54), and swam fast in his breaststroke, placing 18th in the province. Kieran also competed on the Div. 6 boys Kootenay regional relay team, placing fifth out of the province’s eight regions.
Emily Simpson (Div. 5) competed in the 100m breaststroke, 50m butterfly and 50m freestyle. Emily slashed time off in her freestyle for a best time of 0:31.76. She also came close to her best time in the butterfly and placed 19th in the province. Emily swam her heart out in breaststroke, placing in the top 16 and moving on to the afternoon’s finals, where she finished with the eighth fastest time in the province. Emily also competed on the Div. 5 girls Kootenay regional relay team, placing seventh.
Sierra Simpson (Div. 2) competed in the 100m IM, 50m breaststroke and 50m freestyle. She placed 24th in her IM race, and blew the crowd away in her freestyle, taking off over two seconds for a time of 0:39.01. In her breaststroke, she also took off time and placed 18th in the province.
Carter Pelly (Div. 2) competed in the 50m butterfly, 50m backstroke, 50m freestyle and 100m freestyle. In her 50m freestyle, she placed in the top five in the province in the morning preliminary races with a best time of 0:34.36, and finished in the afternoon’s final seventh in the province. In the butterfly, Pelly improved from the morning preliminary races, obtaining a time of 0:41.13 and 10th place in finals. She continued her racing successes, breaking 40 seconds in her backstroke and placing fifth in the province. She also broke another milestone in her freestyle, taking four seconds off for a time of 1:16.42 and finished eighth in the province. Pelly also competed on the Div. 2 girls Kootenay regional relay team, placing sixth in the province.
Coach Kevin Woykin (Div. 8) competed in the 200m IM, 100m backstroke and 100m freestyle. He placed 12th in the province in his IM with a season best time of 2:43.14. He got an all-time best in backstroke for a time of 1:16.29. He swam hard, placing 16th in the preliminaries of Freestyle. Woykin also competed on the Kootenay region’s coaches mile relay. The Kootenay coaches placed fifth in the province, beating out the Caribou, Okanagan and Fraser Valley regions.
The swimmers will be resting up before starting to train for high school swimming competitions this fall.
— CRESTON WAVE SWIM CLUB