Three swimmers from the Lac La Biche Whitecaps Swim Club attended the 22nd Annual Poppy Invitation last weekend in Edmonton, their first meet of the season, and showed teams from across the province just how much competition a small community can bring.
Darah Nowicki, 10, achieved four personal best times at the meet, and took an accumulated 40 seconds off of her times. Kayla Nowicki, 14, had five top ten finishes, placing seventh in two of her events and ninth in three of her events. Katelyn Coleman, 13, finished her last meet in the 13-year-old age category with four first-place finishes, one third place finish and one eighth place finish. The two-day meet was held at Kinsmen pool and hosted by Sherwood Park’s Silver Tide Swim Club.
Coach Roberta Coleman said she was really proud of how well the girls did, considering they were swimming all of their “off” (their least favourite/best) strokes or events, and they had all been sick the few days prior to the meet.
“They were wiped out, but they certainly showed that they’ve been training hard,” said Coleman. “They’ve been applying the skills we’ve been working on. As a smaller club, we’re weaker on our technical side, so that’s why we’ve been trying to get them to swim wide (swim more than just they’re best stroke) as opposed to their specialized ones.” The next meet for the club is in Edmonton next month, and there is another held in January in Fort McMurray.
There are over 50 swim clubs and teams in Alberta that compete in short course (in a 25-metre pool, from September to March) and long course (in a 50-metre pool, from April to June or July).
The club has more members this year than ever before, said the club’s president, Kim Nowicki. “We’re sitting at between 40 and 50 swimmers right now,” she said. “Our numbers are really growing big time; swimming has become cool again.”
The club divided into a 12-week intro program and a competitive program, and the goal this season is trying to get more members to transition to competitive. Practices are held Monday to Friday from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m, and the season runs from September to July.
