Eight Yorkton Speed Swim Club members competed at the second Annual Prairie Cup Meet this past weekend.
The meet was moved from the Lawson Aquatic Centre in Regina to the Shaw Centre in Saskatoon after a Health Advisory was put into place at the Regina Pool. According to Swim Club Co-President, Michele Haczkewicz the advisory is in effect due to air quality issues in the building.
This was the biggest meet of the season for the Yorkton Club. It featured the top swimmers from across the province. Yorkton's own Jennifer Haczkewicz continued where she left off at the last meet. Haczkewicz captured a silver medal in the 50m Backstroke, and a bronze medal in the 50m Freestyle. Having wrapped up "AA" times in her usual sprint distances, Haczkewicz was entered in some longer races at this meet.
"The longer distances were meant to challenge her, and she didn't let us down," said Head Coach Ashley Benko. Haczkewicz also placed fourth in the 400m Freestyle, 200m Backstroke, 100m Freestyle, and fifth in the 200m Freestyle.
Jacob Baker qualified for the final in the 100m Butterfly and 100m Breaststroke. Shea Guest, who won the Storm Chaser Award for the biggest improvement at the last swim meet qualified for the final in the 50m Freestyle. Benko added, "Having three Yorkton swimmers make the finals in this meet with over 350 swimmers in attendance is huge for our club."
There were lots of great performances turned in by those in attendance. The Storm Chaser Award for the biggest improvement on average at the meet was Jennifer Haczkewicz who improved an average of 6.67 seconds over her eight races. She narrowly edged out Auston Roberts who improved an average of 5.80 seconds. He had a massive 22.7 second improvement in the 100m Backstroke. Baker was third in line for the Storm Chaser Award with an average improvement of 4.59 seconds. Jacob had a huge improvement in the 200m Individual Medley race of 30.5 seconds. Randi Jones who was racing at her first out of town competition took 12.5 seconds off in her 100m Freestyle. Ella Kozak took 18.5 seconds off in her 100m Freestyle.
According to Benko, "Kozak, Guest, and Matlyn Bulych are fast becoming the clubs version of the 'Three Musketeers.' These young ladies are showing steady improvement and are going to growing into sensational swimmers."
The next meet for the Yorkton Speed Swimmers will be January 31-February 2 in Minot, North Dakota.
