Submitted by Karen Meagher
A beautifully hot but not sweltering day on July 15 saw approximately 100 swimmers, their parents and others descending on Assiniboia to take part in the Assiniboia Aquarians annual invitational swim meet. Swim clubs came from as close as Gravelbourg and as far away as Oxbow, also representing Regina, Swift Current, Estevan, Weyburn and of course, our own Aquarians. The meet involves hours of planning and many volunteers, but the day went off smoothly.
Swim meets are run entirely by volunteers, including the main officials – the referees. The two referees in charge of the Aquarians meet were Kim DeCorby of Melville and Joanna LaDouceur from Swift Current. Both officials have a great deal of experience in all of the volunteer positions and have great knowledge of swimming rules. It takes anywhere 30-80 volunteers to run a successful swim meet, so many volunteers were needed from the other clubs. In typical summer swimming fashion, all the clubs volunteered to help the day run smoothly.
Swimmers accumulate points for their finishes from first to sixth place in order to win gold, silver or bronze medals. This may sound excessive however, there can be over 30 swimmers in one category. The only Assiniboia swimmer to place in the medals at this meet was Nolan Franks who placed third in the 7-8 Boys. However, the Gravelbourg swimmers did very well with Julien Gauthier placing first for the 15-17 Men, Sydney Pinsonneault placing first for Girls 13-14, Ashley Packet placing second in Girls 13-14, and Chloe Forest placing third in 15-17 Women. The Estevan Golden Eels had a fantastic meet with their club capturing 11 of the 29 medals awarded.
Swimmers advanced on July 21 to Gravelbourg for South Semi Finals. The swimmers from the Aquarians who swam in Estevan were: Nolan Franks (7-8 boys), Martin Lozada (7-8 boys), Hayley Gibson (7-8 girls), Jenika Stevenson (9-10 girls), Radu Bumbac (9-10 boys), and Katherine Meagher (15-17 women). We wish all the swimmers good luck and great swimming in the season’s final weeks.
We would like to thank our sponsors who helped finance our meet, including Sask Lotteries, G3 Canada Limited, Nelson GM, Harvey’s Hardware and Haywire Electric. We would also like to thank the Town of Assiniboia for their help with the pool and the set-up.
