Yorkton Aquabatix Synchronized Swimming Club recently competed at the Provincial championship held in Regina April 12th and 13th. Swimmers competed in age categories ranging from 8 years and under to 18 years.
Competitors had the choice of competing in a Compulsory Figures category, followed by a Solo or Duet presentation.
Yorkton swimmers saw some success in the Compulsory Figures category.
Jordanna Watrych placed second in the Eight and Under Recreational Figures category with a score of 41.082.
Jordyn Mickle finished 16th in the Nine and Ten Recreational Figures category with a score of 40.580.
Sarah Walker, by virtue of her impressive score of 45.498 finished first overall in the 13-15 Recreational Figures category while another swimmer, Keauna Heimbecker, also took home gold in her respective category, scoring a 51.596 in the Nine and Ten Competitive Figures category.
Brielle Kitchen, who also competed in the Nine and Ten Competitive Figures category also found the podium. Kitchen finished third overall with a strong score of 50.306.
Yorkton Aquabatix swimmers had a harder time in the Novice Competitive Figures category, however. Yorkton's Hanna Fyck finished 16th overall, the highest of three Yorkton swimmers, with a 44.667 score while Kalah Gabel (44.583) and Grace Malinowski (40.000) finished 18th and 30th respectively.
Fyck, showing not only her physical strength, but her mental strength as well, brushed off a weak Competitive Figures swim to outshine every other swimmer in the Novice Competitive Solo finals, finishing with a combined score of 46.7169 to win gold.
Gabel and Malinowski also tossed aside their weaker swim in the Competitive Figures side to claim the silver medal in the Novice Duet finals, finishing with a combined score of 44.3624.
Yorkton's Chloe Popoff found the podium not once, but twice on the weekend. Popoff's first podium trip was thanks to her 55.085 score in the 11-12 Competitive Figures category; a score good enough for third place while Zoe Pfeifer, who also swam in the 11-12 Competitive Figures category finished in 13th place with a 48.500 score.
Popoff's second trip to the podium was made later on in the weekend. However she didn't make the second trip alone as Pfeifer, her swim partner for the 11-12 Competitive Duet finals, joined her on the podium as their combined mark of 52.4296 was good enough for second overall.
There was no podium finish for Mikayla Madsen in either the 13-15 Competitive Figures or 13-15 Competitive Solo finals events. Despite strong performances, she scored 56.748 in Figures and a combined 55.3407 in Solo, she failed to reach the podium, instead finishing sixth and fourth respectively.
Three is magical
Former professional baseball player Larry Walker (Maple Ridge, BC) believed that the number three was magical. In fact Walker, who was known to be extremely superstitious, was so enamored with the number that he wore 33 on his uniform and got married at 3:33 on November third.
So it makes sense that Walker would be extremely proud of Yorkton swimmer Jessica Lewthwaite.
The 15-year-old swimmer in her eighth synchronized swimming season capture not one, not two, but three Provincial titles over the weekend. What's more is that those titles were won in a competitive age group where girls were up to three (there's that three again) years older than her.
Lewthwaite first won gold in the 16-18 Competitive Figures category with a 59.0820 score. Her second title came not long after in the 16-18 Competitive Solo category where she scored a combined 57.691 while her third first place finish came in the 16-18 Competitive Duet final where her and swim partner Mikayla Walker combined to score 57.2784 points.
The three Provincial titles marks the third (yep) year where Lewthwaite has captured a Provincial title.
Mikayla Walker (no relation to Larry Walker), also put forth strong individual efforts in the 16-18 Competitive Figures and 16-18 Competitive Solo events with a 55.165 score, good enough for sixth overall in Figures and a combined 54.9659 score in Solo that left her trailing only Lewthwaite for top spot overall.
