The Trail Aquatic and Leisure Centre will be a beehive of activity this weekend as the Trail Stingrays get set to host its annual swim meet.
The Stingrays will dive into the competition against six other swim teams on Saturday with a unique twist on this year’s meet.
About 150 swimmers will compete in a Jamboree style event that puts the emphasis on personal-best times rather than gender and age groups.
“Jamboree style means that swimmers will be seeded by times instead of the traditional style by their division,” said Stingrays coach Jennifer Chung. “However, there will an age breakdown in the junior and senior sections. Div 1-3 and O Cat 1 will be considered juniors and Div 4-8 and O Cat 2 will be considered seniors. So if a Div. 1 swimmer has the same time as a Div 3, they will be placed in the same heat and race each other.”
Trail will host the Castlegar Aquanauts, Nelson Neptunes, Creston Wave, Grand Forks Pirhanas, Kimberley Sea Horses and Colville Sharks with parents and volunteers out in full-force to make the meet a success.
“This year we have a lot of new junior swimmers and many of them are already excelling,” added Chung. “So I’m very excited to see them race this weekend. We also have a lot of strong returning swimmers. Kate Fricke in Div. 1 broke several records last weekend at our first meet in Nelson and I’m eager to see what else she’s going to do.”
The Stingrays are in the pool five days a week to prepare for the upcoming meet and the competitive season that will see them attend the Creston Swim Meet next on June 23-24.
The Stingrays club then will compete over three consecutive weekends in July at Kimberley, Castlegar, and Colville to be in tip-top shape for the Regionals on Aug. 4-5, which Trail will also host.