The Vernon Kokanee Swim Club sent 19 swimmers to 琉璃神社鈥檚 H2O Centre June 24-26 for the Interior and North B.C. Regional Championships and returned with multiple medals and new personal best times.
The meet included 14 teams and 250 swimmers from around the province.
Breanna Jolly raced to six medal performances in the girl鈥檚 senior category. With a bronze medal and new provincial qualifying time in the 50-metre butterfly, Jolly鈥檚 time was 30.12 seconds. She also won gold in the senior girls 50m backstroke in 32.2, silver in the 200m back in 2:30.99, silver in the 100m fly in 1:08.69, bronze in the 200m fly in 2:37.62, and bronze in the 100m back with a final time of 1:09.03.
Other Kokanee medal winners from the meet included Hera Serzane, who won the gold in the 50m fly for 12 and under girls in a time of 33.83. Kubrick Reed won a bronze medal in the boys 12 and under 200m breaststroke with a time of 3:12.05. Julia Russell won gold in the 400m freestyle in a new provincial qualifying time of 5:06.25 and also won gold in the 100m fly.
Ben Whibley won silver in the boy鈥檚 senior 50m breaststroke in 34.11. Max Wright won the silver in the senior boy鈥檚 1,500m free race with a new best time of 18:49.79.
The club鈥檚 13 and 14 girls鈥� 4 x 100m freestyle team relay consisting of Julia Brandner, Emily Adam, Mariia Kuzmenko and Julia Russell raced to a bronze medal in a combined time of 2:01.4.
With big drops in time, the Kokanee swimmers showed some very strong improvement.
Kenzie Krahn had big improvements in the backstroke events with a 37-second drop in the 200m back and a 14-second drop in the 100m back events.
Johnny Kroes finished with an eight-second drop in the 200m free event. Reed went 11-for-11 in best times including a 22-second drop in the 200m individual medley (IM) event. Russell had an eight-second drop in the 400m free for a gold medal performance.
Serzane included a 23-second drop in the 100m fly and a 10-second drop in the 200m IM to go with her top spot in the 50m fly. Kayne Clark dropped 12 seconds in the 200m free along with a 13-second drop in the 100m free.
Robbie Duke finished his 200m back with a drop of 25 seconds. Andres Erikson dropped 19 seconds in the 200m breaststroke and added 7-for-7 in best times over the weekend. Hannah Gordon swam a 200m IM and dropped five seconds. Nathan Hubbard had a 13-second drop in the 100m back and a six-second drop in the 200m back.
Jolly dropped 19 seconds in the 200m fly. Zion Ellis lowered a full second off her 50m back time. Alee Whibley competed in two events and dropped .3 off her 50m breaststroke. Bella Nelson raced in four finals, which included a four-second drop in the 20m breaststroke, finishing in fifth place overall.
The Kokanee鈥檚 outstanding weekend resulted in a sixth-place finish at the championships. The club will race next at the BC Provincial Long Course Championships, July 14-17, at the UBC Vancouver pool.
roger@vernonmorningstar.com
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