Ian Markus’ incredible performance at the Kamloops Classic Swim Meet earlier this month has qualified him for the Zone 1 B.C. Summer Games team.
The Trail Regional Aquatic eXcellence (TRAX) swimmer won six gold medals and a bronze in the Boys 11-12-year-old category to finish the event with 392 FINA points.
“Ian swam exceptionally well,” said TRAX coach Bill Park. “He swam lights out, and had the overall best TRAX times as well the most FINA points as a 12-year-old. He’s made huge improvements in his 200-metre swims which can be attributed to the work he’s done with coach Eve (Fournier) and all the technical aspects of his strokes from the beginning of the year until now, it just surpasses all expectations.”
Markus won gold in 50-metre free and 50-m butterfly, the 100-metre fly, 200 Individual Medley, 200 backstroke, and 200 fly, and took bronze in the 50-m breaststroke. Markus also represented TRAX at the regional training camp and hopes to be selected for the provincial camp as well.
In U14 boys and girls, Sam Matthew also shone, winning gold in the 100-m breaststroke and the 200-m IM and placing second in the 50- and 200-m breast, and 100-m back events and third in the 50-m backstoke.
Aby Elwood, meanwhile, won bronze with a personal best time and new club record in the 200-m fly event.
“It was a really good swim, because she was the youngest of the 13-14 year old girls in the final,” said Park.
In U12 girls, Cyan Ross Van Mierlo and Jessica DeBiasio, who joined TRAX this spring to improve their competitive skill sets in a quality program, both qualified for the finals. Ross Van Mierlo, who was an alternate for the 200-m free, broke the in-season club record during the evening final. DeBiasio improved her morning swim personal best time in all the evening finals.
“Young swimmers work to improve their skills with TRAX and we promote excellence in the sport of competitive swimming and proper fundamental skills – we are very proud of our junior swimmers and their effort,” said coach Park in a release.
In senior girls, Maneet Natt achieved a provincial AA time standard in the 200-m breaststroke during the morning prelims Saturday.
Natt and Thryn Irwin improved on their preliminary times in the 50-m back final, scoring points for the TRAX team along with Ella Conliffe, who has the top TRAX time this season in the 50-m fly for her age group and our team.
Tenysha Ross-VanMierlo set two new in-season club records for the 50 and 100-m breaststroke, while Kayla Fraser took ten seconds off her best time in the 400-m free event
Anyone interested in joining TRAX please email: programdirectortwsc@outlook.com