Weeks and weeks of hard work appeared to pay off for the 麻豆社国产Pirates during the Vancouver and District Regional Championships at the Brennan Park Aquatic Centre Friday and Saturday (Aug. 7 to 8).
Seven Pirates qualified for the British Columbia Summer Swimming Association's Provincial Championships, and coach Ryan Corbett praised the entire team's dedication.
"Our whole team has worked really hard this season," he said. "It's just really nice to see all the hard work pay off and so many Pirates deliver.
"It was likely the best regionals for the Pirates in recent years with every single Pirate competing achieving at least one personal best, with many achieving personal best times in all of their events this weekend."
Coach Allison Corbett agreed with her brother, saying the team trained well for this meet.
"I think it goes to show that hard work can pay off in success," she said. "It was an outstanding meet for us and everyone improved their personal best times."
The seven swimmers heading to the provincials are; Sarah Dale, Wyatt Pederson, Aura Mullings, Eric Aikens, Ethan Toom, Luke Herron and Eli Chappell.
Coach Ryan said Sarah Dale and Wyatt Pederson both had impressive weekends, with Sarah qualifying for four different events provincially and Wyatt moving on in three.
Sarah, who has won a number of gold medals at the provincial level in the past, really stepped up her game, he said.
"She qualified in the maximum number of individual events [four] and broke a regional record in the 50 metre butterfly event."
Wyatt stood out by breaking the one-minute mark in the 100-metre freestyle race.
"Wyatt qualified in three events and for him to break a minute is just outstanding," he said. "That time is a sizable improvement over his previous best time and constitutes a big milestone for swimmers on their way to success in that event."
Newcomer Aura Mullins also pulled her weight for the team by qualifying for the provincials in the 50-metre backstroke in what was her first competitive season swimming.
The Pirates also managed to qualify in the four by 50 metre Freestyle relay - a feat that Corbett found especially notable since the Pirates have a relatively small team compared so the other groups.
He also praised the work of the volunteers, parents and organizing committee who helped the meet run smoothly and in a timely fashion.
"The meet really relied upon the hard work and volunteerism of countless parents who run and officiate the meet in addition to supporting their kids at what is for many their biggest and best competition of the season," he said.
"The parents of the kids on this team are so dedicated, we have three early morning practices a week and they always get their kids to it on time. Without them our team wouldn't have been as successful as we were this weekend."
The seven Pirates who qualified for the BCSSA Provincial Championships will next travel to Kamloops to compete against B.C.'s best Friday to Sunday (Aug. 20 to 22). They will then get some time off before training resumes in October.
