Contributed by the Revelstoke Aquaducks
Kelowna’s H2O Aquatic Centre was the site of this past weekend’s 65th annual Ogopogo Invitational Swim Meet, where Revelstoke Aquaducks’ swimmers competed against stiff competition from the Okanagan, Kootenay and Lower Mainland regions.
The small group of Aquaducks managed to rack up 982.5 points to place fifth in the club standings behind White Rock, Vancouver, Kelowna and Salmon Arm. Head coach Jeff Beatty was pleased.
“During mid season training we were surprised by the substantial time drops and many personal bests” he said, adding that the swimmers “endured stiff heats and finals competition and gained valuable experience.”
With just four weeks remaining until the regional championships in Kamloops, assistant coach Cynthia Pfeiffer recognized the value of swimming in such an “intense competition” and how it will get the swimmers “psyched up to come home to train even harder.”
In the junior age groups, aggregate medals went to Beth Granstrom (silver, Division 3 Girls), and Alex Jay (Gold, Division 1 Boys).
Senior aggregate winners included Cynthia and Emily Pfeiffer (tie, Gold, Division 8 Girls), Nadia Salon (Bronze, Division 8 Girls) and Jeff Beatty (Gold, Div 8 Boys).
New meet and club records were set by Emily Pfeiffer in the 50m and 100m butterfly, while her sister Cynthia set records in the 100m backstroke, 100m freestyle, and 200m individual medley.
Alex Jay broke a decades-old Division 1 50m backstroke club record.
The Aquaducks are heading to Golden this weekend and then will be competing at home on July 14 and 15 at the Revelstoke Aquatic Centre.