The Nelson Neptunes started off their competitive swim season with an amazing performance at the annual Trail invitational meet this past weekend despite the troubles the team has faced with the pool uncertainty.
With registration down by half for this season, 29 Neptunes travelled to Trail to compete against other swimmers from all over the Kootenay region over both Saturday and Sunday.
It was the most successful first meet of the season coach Cynthia Pfeiffer — who has been coaching for over five years — has ever seen.
The Neptunes made their presence known in and out of the pool. Not only did they perform well, accumulating over 95 best times altogether, they also showed astounding team spirit throughout the weekend. Everyone in the building took notice.
Overall, the Neptunes finished second out of seven teams, closing the gap on the undefeated team of 2014, the Castlegar Aquanauts, who beat the Nelson Neptunes by only 70 points.
Many meet records were also broken by the Neptunes: Imogen Cowan broke the Division 1 girls 50m butterfly and 50m backstroke marks and Jaylen Rushton broke the Division 3 girls 100m individual medley, 50m freestyle, 50m butterfly, 50m breast, and 100m freestyle records.
Many meet aggregates for overall points were also awarded to Neptune swimmers. Kallie Badry won bronze for Division 1 girls, Imogen Cowan won silver for Division 1 girls, Lachlan Bibby-Fox won bronze for Division 2 boys, Chloe Malenfant won bronze for Division 2 girls, Jaylen Rushton won gold for Division 3 girls, Morgan Robertson-Weir won gold for Open Category 1, and Matthew Holitzki won silver for Division 5 men.
Junior coaches Olivia and Sage Cowan both took home the gold in Division 5 and 6 women, while Pfeiffer won gold for Division 8 women. The team’s next meet is in Grand Forks on June 20.