The Estevan Golden Eels wrapped up their season with an impressive showing at the provincial swim meet in Humboldt on Saturday and Sunday.
Estevan finished third, behind only Regina and Nipawin, in the process earning 33 individual medals, including 14 gold.
"Estevan's swimmers put their best efforts forward to help the Â鶹´«Ã½AV win the high point trophy. All the swimmers should be proud of their accomplishments, with many improved times and medals on the podium," said co-coach Erin Wilson.
The Eels also took part in relays for the Â鶹´«Ã½AV side, which brought home a combined 22 medals.
The team performance was an improvement on 2010, when the Eels finished fourth, just behind Weyburn.
Akeela Jundt was part of two 18-and-over girls relays that set new provincial records, those being the 200-metre medley relay and the 200-metre free relay.
Perhaps the highlight for the Eels was sweeping the podium in the 25-metre freestyle for the age 7-8 category.
Hannah Mantei won the race with a time of 21.76 seconds; Alia Burlock took silver with a time of 23.66; and Taylor Haux swam the race in 28.17 to earn bronze.
"The highlight for me was definitely when my 7-8 girls took gold, silver and bronze in the 25m freestyle race, because they were the only ones out of all the clubs and all the age groups to sweep the podium this year," said Jundt.
Mantei went on to win the overall age group title, as did Lanelle Bilokraly for the 11-12 girls category. Mantei won all five of her races for the Eels, while Bilokraly took gold in the 100 backstroke and 50 free.
Other gold medallists were Auriel Bill (50 free, 13-14 girls), Preston Bilokraly (100 fly and 50 free, 15-17 boys), Jundt (100 fly, 100 breast and 200 individual medley, 18-and-over girls) and Josh Wilson (25 fly, 7-8 boys).
"My swimmers had an awesome experience this weekend, both in and out of the pool," said Jundt.
"They swam hard, and when they weren't in the pool they were busy making friends with swimmers from other clubs and cheering each other on, which is what I love to see. I can't wait until next year."
With 26 swimmers qualifying but only 15 attending the meet, Wilson said first place likely would have been within reach if more had been able to make it.
She called it "a reminder of how important every team member is to your club. We had a few qualifying swimmers unable to attend and they certainly would have easily helped close the just over 100 point gap between us and (Regina).
That said, Wilson was more than pleased with the performance of the contingent that went.
"Provincials are the cream of the crop of summer swimming and Estevan swimmers showed they had what it took to swim with the best," she said.
"(I'm) very proud of them all, a job well done."
