A small school of Trail Stingrays journeyed out of their comfort zone on the weekend, traveling to Golden to compete against swimmers from the Okanagan Region.
Due to renovations on the Kimberley pool, 11 swimmers from the Stingrays swim team joined other Kootenay teams in the Golden Dophins Meet, the final preparation for the Kootenay Regionals in Colville next week.
“It was really great watching them race against different swimmers and not with the usual suspects, because they didn’t know who they were up against so it created more push on them and quite a few best times were achieved,” said Jennifer Chung, the Stingrays swim coach.
Despite being in the East Kootenay, Golden competes in the Okanagan Region against teams from Merritt, Penticton, Revelstoke, Kamloops, Princeton, Salmon Arm, Lumby, and Kelowna. Combined with the Kootenay Region teams, it was the largest meet the Stingrays have competed in all season. But despite its small size, the Greater Trail swimmers performed well, coming seventh overall out of 14 teams.
According to Chung, there were plenty of highlights, but most impressive was Ripley Shubert in Division 3, who ripped off four seconds on his 100 Individual Medley, placing sixth, and Juliana Zhou in Div. 4, who crushed her 100 freestyle time, by taking two seconds off, and placing second in the race.
The good finish helped Zhou win Grand Aggregate gold in Div. 4, while Kayla Fraser also topped the podium in the Open Category. Diego Greenwood, Div. 6, and Chung, Div. 6, each took home Aggregate silver.
The Stingrays have a week to prepare for the Zone 1 Regional Swim Meet in Colville on August 6 and 7.