The Creston Wave Swim Club has been working hard over the summer competing in cities across the region.
After hosting their home swim meet, the Creston Waves headed down to Colville, Wash., to compete against eight other clubs in the region. Carter Pelly raced through the water, placing first in five Div. 2 girls events and obtaining best times in her 100-metre individual medley (IM) and 50-metre breaststroke. She also brought home the Div. 2 girls aggregate gold medal.
Kylee Pemberton blew the crowd away, taking an astounding 44.64 seconds off of her 50-metre breaststroke and 36.16 seconds off of her 50-metre butterfly.
Div. 1 boy Hayden Persad took off 3.96 seconds in his 100-metre freestyle, adding to his three personal bests for the weekend. His brother, Isaiah Persad, slashed 22.75 seconds off of his 100-metre freestyle, placing in the top 10 for Div. 2 boys. Their sister, Nadine Persad, got a total of three best times in novice butterfly, back and free.
Mack Sanderson started with a powerful jump off the blocks and finished strong, taking 14.58 seconds off of his 50-metre breaststroke, adding to a total of four best times for the weekend. His sister, Regan Sanderson, placed in the top 10 in her 100-metre IM, 50-metre freestyle, 50-metre breaststroke and 100-metre freestyle and also obtained two best times.
Div. 5 girl Emily Simpson placed in the top three in five of her races and also represented the Creston Waves by swimming the Guts and Glory 400-metre IM, placing second in the region! Her brother, Kieran Simpson, slashed some time off of his 50-metre breaststroke, for a time of 36.5 seconds, and placed first in the Div. 6 boys 100-metre breaststroke. Their sister, Sierra Simpson, got best times in all six of her races and placed second in the Div. 2 girls 100-metre freestyle.
Div. 6 boy Peter Tarrant slashed 12.21 seconds off of his 50-metre breaststroke and placed sixth in his 50-metre backstroke and 100-metre freestyle.
Coach Monique Ares placed top three in four of her Div. 8 ladies races and obtained personal best times in three of her races. Coach Kevin Woykin placed in the top five in five men’s Div. 8 races.
On July 14, the Waves headed to Castlegar, bringing 13 athletes. Div. 6 girl Anita Bjarnason placed first in five out of six of her races. Her 100-metre freestyle brought the crowd to its feet for an exciting close finish.
Alex Mottl got three huge best times and placed eighth in her 100-metre free and 100-metre IM. Her sister, Ashley Mottl, placed in the top five in her 100-metre IM, 50-metre fly, and 100-metre freestyle and getting best times in all of her races. Their brother, Nicholas Mottl, has also been training hard, getting personal bests in all of his races and placing second in all of his races.
Pelly once again blew the crowd away, placing first in all of her events and taking off 1.6 seconds in her 100-metre IM for a time of 1:34.65. Pemberton took more time off in three of her races, and made finals in her Div. 3 girls 50-metre backstroke.
Mack Sanderson raced hard, making the finals in 100-metre freestyle and 50-metre breaststroke and took time off in four of his races. Regan Sanderson placed in the top four in her 50-metre backstroke, taking off 3.35 seconds for a personal best of 54.18 seconds.
Emily Simpson broke the three-minute mark with a time of 2:59.24 in her Div. 5 girls 200-metre IM, placing second. She also placed in the top three in her 50-metre freestyle, 100-metre breaststroke and 100-metre freestyle. Kieran Simpson, nearly obtaining a personal best, placed second in his Div. 6 boys 100-metre breaststroke. Sierra Simpson took more time off of her races, placing third in the 100-metre freestyle and 50-metre breaststroke, and second in her Div. 2 girls 50-metre butterfly!
Woykin placed second in the Div. 8 men’s 200-metre IM. Ares placed first in the Div. 8 ladies 100-metre freestyle, and second in her 100-metre backstroke and 100-metre breaststroke.
Medal winners for the Castlegar swim meet included Nicholas Mottl (silver), Monique Ares (silver), Emily Simpson (bronze) and Carter Pelly (gold).
The Waves also took part in a mile swim challenge sponsored by Subway and tied for third among eight other teams in the region. At the Castlegar swim meet, eight of the swimmers from Creston competed against the region’s seven other clubs in a mile relay (64 lengths of the pool). Each swimmer had to swim four 50s each. Creston and Colville were neck at neck the entire race and tied at the finish for third place, beating out Grand Forks, Nelson, Kimberley, and Cranbrook.
— CRESTON WAVE SWIM CLUB