Myslavelake.com

M.Partington-Richer

Members of the Slave Lake Sharks swim club came home draped in medals again last weekend after a meet in Valleyview saw no fewer than three capturing aggregate honors too.

Coach Lyla Smith says 16 of her swimmers took part, recording a number of personal best times as well as capturing medals at the meet.

“Everybody dropped tons of time,” in the outdoor pool, Smith said last week. “Kim Poitras dropped a minute and a half and some of the others were dropping 30 and 40 seconds” in their time. “But I can’t say I’m shocked,” she added. “I just don’t see anything less happening for them, they such a good group of kids.” And Coach Smith was also quick to lavish praises on some of her young swimmers.

Braydon Bassett won bronze in the Boys 6 and Under flutter-board contest, “and three weeks ago he couldn’t swim a length of the pool.” His sister Morgan had a good meet too, says the coach, bringing home silver in the Girls 8 and Under 25m breaststroke, and bronze in the 25m freestyle

Senior swimmer Morgan Hogberg was back in the winners circle and the aggregate podium after the Valleyview meet, capturing gold in the Boys 17 and Over 100m freestyle and 50m butterfly and silver in the 50m free and 100m breaststroke. That was good enough for silver aggregate in his age group.

Brianna Ladouceur captured gold in the Girls10 and Under 50m freestyle and silver in the 50m breaststroke. Her sister Erikka captured bronze in the Girls 13 and 14-year-old 200m Individual Medley and 50m fly.

Michael Smith

Six-year-old Tayah Livingston was also back on the silver aggregate podium at the Valleyview meet after taking gold in the Girls 6 and Under 50m freestyle, and silver in the flutter-board and 25m freestyle contests. Also in that age-group, Julia Smith swam her way to bronze in the 25m breaststroke. Her brother Michael was the third Shark to win aggregate honours at the Valleyview meet – this one gold – his third gold aggregate for the season. That came after he placed first in the Boys 6 and Under 25m butterfly, 25m backstroke, 25m freestyle and 50m freestyle.

Marcus Zimmer won silver for the Boys 9 and 10-years old 150m freestyle and 50m backstroke.

Michael Zachary won silver in the 13 and 14-year-old Boys 100m backstroke.

The Sharks will travel to Peace River this Saturday (July 4) for their next meet and their coach is again predicting they’ll return with “tons of hardware.

“They’re all moving quickly up the ranks, and we’ll have more aggregate winners too.”

Sharks capture gold in Grande Prairie, Fairview meets 

Earlier this month the Slave Lake Sharks wasted no time getting onto the winners’ board, capturing gold aggregates at invitational meets in both Grande Prairie and Fairview.

Coach Lyla Smith says 14 Sharks took part in the first meet of the season June 6 in Grande Prairie. And they claimed no fewer than four gold aggregate standings at the meet.

“It was our first meet and we had a lot of first swims,” she said last week. But more importantly “we had a lot of personal best times.” Four swimmers won gold aggregates, too, she said, meaning “they scored the most individual points in an age category.”

It was no small coup so early in the season, but the coach wasn’t surprised.

“No I wasn’t surprised because we have a strong club with a strong base of young and older swimmers. And I expect it’ll (the base will) grow throughout the season.”

Tayah Livingston captured the first gold aggregate in the Girls six and Under category when she won gold in four swims. Those included the Girls 6 and Under 50m freestyle, the 25m backstroke, the 25 m breaststroke and 25m freestyle.

Teammate Michael Smith likewise captured the gold aggregate in the Boys 6 and Under category when he won first in the 50m freestyle race, the 25m butterfly, the 25m backstroke and the 25m freestyle.

In the 15 and 16-year-old Boys category, Shark Kirk Lukan-Ruecker wasted no time getting back onto the gold aggregate podium with gold-medal swims in the 100m fly, 100m free, the 50m fly and the 100m backstroke.

And finally, Morgan Hogberg captured the Sharks’ fourth gold aggregate after he captured gold in the Boys 13 and over 400m freestyle, the Boys 17 and over 50m fly and the 50m free as well as silver in the 100m breaststroke.

Erikka Ladouceur also won bronze in the Girls 13 and over 200m freestyle at the Grande Prairie meet.

A week later just four Sharks took part in the Fairview invitational meet, says coach Smith. But even with that few swimmers, the Sharks clearly made some waves in the pool when Michael Smith again won the gold aggregate for boys six and under. The win came after he was the first to touch the wall in the 25m free, the 50m free, the 25m fly and was second in the 25m backstroke.

Smith says 45 swimmers make up this year’s Sharks’ roster, about the same number as last year.