It was a big weekend for the Nelson Neptunes as 14 swimmers attended the 56th annual BCSSA provincial swimming championships in Kamloops.
Due to not having a team last year due to pool closure, most Neptunes were at provincials for their first time. In 2012 the Neptunes sent four swimmers to provincials and placed 58th out of 62 teams.
This year the Neptunes jumped 11 places climbing to 47th out of 65 teams.
All the swimmers at provincials astounded their head coach Cynthia Pfeiffer.
“I was super impressed with how ready and focused these kids were for attending such an overwhelming meet (over 1,000 swimmers) for their first time. Many swimmers took off multiple seconds and were able to improve their placings dramatically,” she said.
“Going into the provincials I was just aiming to make it a positive experience for the Neptunes so they would enjoy it and be more likely to attend in the future years. I had no idea we would have so many swimmers qualify for the consultations and finals.”
The best placing of the weekend was Jaylen Rushton’s fifth place finish in the 50-metre breaststroke.
“I was super impressed by Jaylen’s step up of mental focus she had during the provincials and I’m excited to see what she can do next year when she will be the oldest in her division.”
Ohia Wintraub also finished with an impressive sixth in her 50-metre butterfly.
“This was Ohia’s first year at provincials and only second year being a Neptune so finishing in sixth in the province was pretty incredible to see.”
The girls division 1 Medley Relay team consisting of Ella Chouinard, Morgan Robertson-Weir, Imogen Cowan, and Chloe Malenfant also made the finals and finished in eight place at Kamloops.
“These girls have been training super hard all year and seeing their work pay off by making the finals at provincials was awesome.”
Swimmers who also made the consolation finals included Imogen Cowan, Olivia Cowan, Sage Cowan, Madeline Holitzki, Matthew Holitzki, and Jaylen Rushton.
“Not only was I impressed with their times and how many consolations and finals our swimmers made, but I was very pleased with their ability to race their competition and move up even more spots in their second swims. We are hoping that the pool will be open next summer, or at least a portion of the summer so the Neptunes can have a season and keep this incredible momentum of the club on the rise.”
Full Neptune Results:
- Joanna Blishen (Division 5 girls): 21st in 50m Freestyle, 20th in 100m Butterfly, 19th in 50m Butterfly, 21st in 100m Breaststroke;
- Ella Chouinard (Division 1 girls): 18th in 50m Backstroke;
- Enna Cowan (Division 2 girls): 23rd in 100m Individual Medley;
- Imogen Cowan (Division 1 girls): 19th in 50m Freestyle, 12th in 50m Butterfly, 19th in 50m Breaststroke;
- Olivia Cowan (Division 5 girls): 13th in 200m Individual Medley, 16th in 100m Backstroke, 14th in 100m Freestyle;
- Sage Cowan (Division 6 girls): 11th in 200m Individual Medley, 14th in 100m Butterfly, 19th in 100m Backstroke, 14th in 100m Freestyle;
- Madeline Holitzki (Division 3 girls): 23rd in 50m Butterfly, 14th in 50m Breaststroke;
- Matthew Holitzki (Division 4 boys): 15th in 200m Individual Medley, 20th in 50m Freestyle, 15th in 100m Breaststroke, 20th in 100m Freestyle;
- Chloe Malefant (Division 1 girls): 20th in 50m Freestyle, 21st in 100m Freestyle;
- Hannah Malenfant (Division 4 girls): 21st in 50m Butterfly, 24th in 100 Breaststroke;
- Morgan Robertson-Weir (Division 1 girls): 21st in 50m Butterfly, 21st in 50m Breaststroke, 22nd in 100m Freestyle;
- Jaylen Rushton (Division 2 girls): 9th in 100m Individual Medley, 7th in 50m Butterfly, 13th in 50m Backstroke, 5th in 50m Breaststroke;
- Ohia Wintraub (Division 4 girls): 24th in 200m Individual Medley, 18th in 50m Freestyle, 6th in 50m Butterfly, 20th in 100m Freestyle;
- Coach Cynthia Pfeiffer (Division 8 womens): 11th in 50m Freestyle, 6th in 100m Backstroke;
- Division 1 girls Relay — Ella Chouinard, Morgan Robertson-Weir, Imogen Cowan, Chloe Malenfant- Medley finished in 8th, Freestyle finished in 9th;
- Division 5 girls Relay — Olivia Cowan, Joanna Blishen, Ohia Wintraub, Hannah Malenfant — Medley finished in 10th, Freestyle finished in 9th.
- Division 6 girls Relay — Sage Cowan, Madeline Holitzki, Jaylen Rushton, Enna Cowan — Medley finished in 12th, Freestyle finished in 13th.