Two Vernon swimmers are splashing their way to national recognition in the pool.
Alexanne Lepage and Angel Loseth both competed at the Bell Canadian Swimming Trials in Toronto earlier this month.
Lepage set two club records in the 50 metre backstroke and 100 metre breaststroke with 30.10 second time and 1:09.66 time, respectively.
Loseth also had an impressive meet. In the 50 m freestyle, she improves from 51st to 46th overall. In 50 m butterfly, her position improved from 29th to 25th.
Both are a part of the Vernon Kokanee Swim Club (VKSC) and for Loseth, her time in Toronto was extremely motivating.
“It was a really good experience” said Loseth. “It was great being around the really fast swimmers. I had a matching suit with Summer McIntosh which was super cool.”
McIntosh is the 16-year-old Toronto phenom who has shattered numerous records on the national team, racking up an exorbitant amount of World Championship and Commonwealth Games medals.
“It was interesting because they (Canadian National Team Swimmers) don’t look that unusual,” Loseth explained. “They are just regular people, but super fast.”
The 16-year-old is now gearing up for Junior Nationals (in August) and will be training nearly every day for her upcoming meets.
“Swimming calms me down. It is really relaxing to do repetitive laps in the pool,” Loseth said. “It’s not for everyone, it can be really boring for some people, but I really like it and it tires you out so much that you just don’t have room to be worried about school and stuff.”
The 18-year-old Lepage had an extremely successful Trials appearance, which landed her a prestigious appointment as being one of 26 swimmers across the country (11 male, 15 female) to be selected to the National Development Team.
She will be competing at the World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships 2023, taking place in Netanya, Israel from Sept. 4-9.
“It’ll actually be my first time out of North America. I’m pretty excited for that,” Lepage said.
“It’s a really fun team. I’m friends with some of the girls. It is nice to have all the hard work and hours of training and everything to be worth it.”
Lepage will be heading to the University of Calgary next year to join the Dinos swim team.
“I will be in the engineering program as well, so I am really excited for that.”
Head coach Jason Brockman has been shepherding the two girls throughout the majority of their time with VKSC and has been impressed with their results.
“Alexanne, I am so excited for her,” he said. “She definitely has the ingredients outside of the pool, and she was able to dial in and capitalize on the opportunity in Toronto. She has hit the crescendo at just the right time and I can’t wait to see her success (In Israel).”
Brockman, who has been coaching with VKSC since 2018, also sees the great progression of Loseth’s abilities.
“Angel has the same type of potential and opportunity, with colleges knocking on her door. She has the same ingredients to make this process happen as well.”
“Having the two of them is just a great opportunity as a silent observation of those that are coming up of what it would take. All the small things, like activation, consistency and dedication, but it is great for the program.”
For more information on the Kokanee Swim Club, visit gomotionapp.com/team/canvksc.
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