Members of the KISU swim team established more best times than their coach thought they would.
“We had some great swims,” said Tina Hoeben.
The first meet of the season for the club allowed Hoeben to see where the swimmers are in terms of their training. The three-day meet, which included a jamboree on Sunday, involved 440 swimmers from the region and some club teams from the Kootenays.
Hoeben said her swimmers showed lots of promise. Hoeben described Ashley McMillan, 9, as one of the team’s faster swimmers.
“She did a great job. She won the pentathlon event on the Friday,” said Hoeben of McMillan, whose combined time in five events was 9:28.98.
On opening day, McMillan was joined in the top three by Marlee Caruso, who finished in third for girls 10 and under. For girls 11 to 12, Acacia Benn was second. In boys 11 to 12, Tyler Wall was second, while in boys 13 to 14, Sam Lasinski finished first and Riley Wall, third.
Lasinski won the overall in the boys 13 to 14-year-old group with a combined time of 24:56.35, while Riley was third at 26:47.18. His younger brother Tyler was first in the 11 to 12-year-old group with a time of 30:28.35. Benn had a great performance finishing second in the 11-12-year-old group in 30:22.30. Hoeben said other young swimmers stood out as well, including Justin Fotherby, 10, and Anna Spence, 12.
On the third day, McMillan was second, Fotherby,10, third, Spence, 12, took second, Wall and Everton,12, finished first and second, respectively. Lasinski, 13, took first.
While all the results weren’t yet posted, Hoeben was very happy, especially with the number of swimmers who competed.
“It is the biggest meet that we have ever hosted,” she said. “That was exciting.”
While the quality of the swimmers isn’t what would be seen at a provincial or national event, Hoeben said it was still good and she liked seeing new faces.
“It was great to have that competition come to our area,” she said, adding that the next one is in Vernon, Nov. 8 to 10.
The next event Penticton hosts is the high school regionals this Sunday. Warm-ups begin at noon, then competition begins at 1until 5 or 6 p.m. The top three swimmers from each event will advance to provincials. With swimmers in Grades 8 to 12 able to compete, Penticton will have 48 competitors.
“That number is huge,” said Hoeben. “We have never had that many compete in a high school swim meet before.”
