“Oh, wow.”
That was Tina Hoeben’s reaction to learning that KISU won its home Pentathlon meet Oct. 14 to 16 at the Penticton Community Centre.
The KISU coach knew her swimmers did well, just not that well.
KISU finished with 104 ribbons, including 51 for first. Kamloops Classic Swimming was second with 71. They won the meet last year.
"It's always our goal to win our home meet," said Hoeben.
Hoeben said that KISU had great swims over the three days adding it's a good starting point for techniques and fitness. The meet is a good test to see where swimmers are at.
"We haven't been training for all that long," she said. "It's a great way to highlight what we need to focus on for the next few weeks going into bigger meets."
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Among the athletes having good performances were younger swimmers Talen Dekleva, Thomas Caruso, Ashley McMillan, Ava Wall and Justin Fotherby.
McMillan took first overall, while Ava Wall was third and Justin Fotherby was first. Hoeben said the start for those swimmers is pretty good. Most swimmers competed in 15 events.
Myah Nakoney, 16, said the meet went pretty good for her as she earned some best times, which surprised her.
“I wasn’t expecting to get any best times. I got some in individual medley and breast strokes,” she said.
Nackoney completed the 50-m breast stroke in 42.54, the 100-m breast stroke in 1:30.46 and the 200-m breast stroke in 3:16.38. In the medley, Nackoney finished the 100-m distance in 1:14.26, the 200-m distance in 2:42.79 and the 400-m distance in 5:52.24.
Nackoney found the field to be strong as it was tough for her to keep up, but said the competition was good. What she enjoyed most about the meet was being around her teammates.
Haley Berrisford had a good meet, which included achieving best times.
“When you’re an experienced swimmer it’s a big deal to get a best time, especially this early on in the season,” she said.
Berrisford came into the weekend with a focus on technique and hitting her strokes, which she was happy with. Against the rest of the field, Berrisford liked how she competed and was where she wanted to be, around 15th place in the freestyle, roughly the same in the back stroke, 16th in the breast strokes and around 18th for butterfly and averaging 15th in the medley.
“I love getting to renew all your times. See where you are at compared to last year,” she said.
It was the first competitive event for Samuel Holinaty and Sarah Bond. Holinaty felt good about what he did in the freestyle and breast stroke. In the 50-m freestyle, he finished in 30.54 seconds, just under six seconds behind KISU teammate Riley Wall, who won in 24.37. In the 100-m distance, he finished in 1:12.01 and the 200-m distance in 2:47.22. Holinaty competed against swimmers with roughly the same experience.
“Personally I probably would have preferred people a bit better. It would have pushed me harder,” he said.
KISU swimmer Mackenzie Wallich.
Bond got past the nerves she felt after her first event to enjoy the weekend.
“It’s kind of fun when you are racing,” said Bond, whose best event is the freestyle.
She completed the 50-m distance in 38.9 seconds. The top swimmer, her teammate, Ashley McMillan finished in 29.92. In the 100-m distance, Bond clocked in at 1:25.78. McMillan won in 1:05.68.
“It’s been pretty good. I haven’t been timed before,” she said.
Hoeben said all the swimmers met her expectations.
"It just shows that we're on the right track," she said.
Dekleva was second in the 50-metre freestyle finishing in 38.65 seconds, the 50-m backstroke in 45.04, 200-m backstroke finishing in 3:32.79, the 50-m butterfly in 47.52 seconds and the 200-m medley in 3:31.008. She placed third in the 200-m breast stroke finishing in 4:05.41.
Thomas Caruso, 10 and under, placed second overall on the first day of competition. He took first in the 50-m freestyle in 33.47, the 100-m freestyle in 1:14.86 and the 200-m freestyle in 2:45.60.
In the 50-m backstroke he took first in 36.56, the 100-m backstroke in 1:18 and the 200-m backstroke in 2:50.94.
In the breast stroke, Caruso earned silver in the 50-m distance in 46.35 seconds, the 100-m distance in 1:41.59 and the 200-m distance in 3:36.09. In the butterfly, Caruso earned gold in the 50-m distance in 36.71 seconds, the 100-m distance in 1:27.21 and silver in the 200-m distance in 3:19.05.
In the medley, 100-m distance, he earned gold in 1:21.70 and silver in the 400-m distance in 6:11.08.