The Trail Stingrays swim team put the cherry on top of a banner year by swimming to victory at the regional swim meet in Castlegar this weekend.
The Rays topped seven other West Kootenay teams in winning the regionals for the third year in a row.
“Wow what a weekend,” said Gurney. “Overall, the amount of personal best times achieved was outstanding and it was by far the best results the team has ever had at the regional championships.”
The team won four of seven meets this year leading up to the regionals, and peaked at just the right time, both from an individual and team perspective.
The Rays racked up 71 individual medals and 17 relay medals at the regionals surpassing even their strongest meets of the summer.
The Div. 4 relay of Daniel Merry, Jerome Santiago, Martin Gonzalez and Josh Zhang broke the Medley relay record with a 2:26.23, then also smashed a 28-year-old record by swimming the Free relay in 2:06.60
Oleg Liferovich was also awarded the Russell Beatie Award for best Division 6 Breastroke.
The Stingrays dominated the relays, winning 12 gold medals, to go with three silver and two bronze.
Dylan and Eden Kormendy, Kayla Fraser, Jerome Santiago, Jennifer Chung, and Samme Beatson all swept their divisions winning gold in all four of their events.
The following is a summary of individual performances as well as those swimmers attending provincials.
Dylan Kormendy - 4 Golds (Provincials)
Ian Markus - Silver (Prov.)
Reid Dunham - Silver
Kayla Fraser - 4 Golds (Prov.),
Maddy Fraser (Prov.)
Eden Kormendy - 4 Golds (Prov.)
Tess Markus - 4 Silvers (Prov.)
Jovan Santiago - 2 Silvers, 1 Gold, 1 Bronze (Prov.)
Jerome Santiago - 4 Golds (Provincials)
Martin Gonzalez - 2 Golds, 2 Silvers (Prov.)
Josh Zhang - 2 Bronze
Sam Theobald - 3 Bronze
Jennifer Chung - 4 Golds (Prov.)
Cassidy Martin - Gold, 3 Silvers
Madison Green - 2 Golds, 2 Silvers
Sharman Thomas - Bronze
Sydney Billingsley - Silver, Bronze
Eric Gonzalez - Gold, 3 Bronze (Prov.)
Oleg Liferovich - Gold, 2 Silvers (Prov.)
Timothy Chung - Bronze (Prov.)
Anne Marino - Silver, 2 Bronze
Christine Cook - 3 Silvers, 1 Bronze (Prov.)
Samme Beatson - 4 Gold (Prov.)
Mike Bell - 2 Silvers