Plan for new 50m pool drives Vernon swimmers

Oct 18, 2022 | 5:30 PM

The Vernon Kokanee Swim Club (VKSC) used the approval of an Active Living Centre as motivation during a swim meet in Penticton last weekend (Oct. 14-16).

The centre, which will include a 50 metre pool, was given the go ahead by voters in a city referendum Oct. 15, and should be ready to use by 2026.

Penticton hosted its annual Pentathlon swim meet along with a Jamboree for newer swimmers, which included nine teams from the Interior and Lower Mainland.

Julia Bradner of Kokanee Swim Club doing a breastroke turn in Penticton. (Submitted photo/VKSC)

The VKSC fielded 25 swimmers and achieved 136 new best times in the Pentathlon and 10 swimmers in the Jamboree.

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“Results were very strong considering the swimmers had only been training for two weeks leading up to the first competition of the year,” said Steven Vander Meulen, assistant coach. “With the news of a new 50 metre pool approved by the voters of Vernon, the swimmers were excited to get to work and raced really hard over the three day meet.”

During the Jamboree, the club’s newest swimmers were able to set 28 new best times.

Making their next step from Jamboree racing to regional swim meet racing, was Norah Danielsson with a 200 Individual Medley time of 3:52.08. Also making the regional standard was Rylan McGowan in a time of 3:53.67.

The VKSC Jamboree swimmers also included Davis Gordon, Joelle Martin, Jacob McLean, Kilian Russell, Nilah Mulligan, Chloe Ruessmann, Korbin Wade and Severin Williamson.

In the Pentathlon event, the Vernon club had three swimmers complete the full schedule with 15 races over the three days.

“Congratulations to Emily Adam, Julia Russell, and Max Wright. Emily had significant drops in eight events including a 17 second drop in 200 Backstroke. Julia improved her 100 Backstroke and Max dropped 2 seconds in the 100 Butterfly,” said Van der Meulen.

Athletes who participated in the swim meet and improved in all their races included Violet Jenner, Janelle Johnson, Emily McWilliam, Noah Mulligan and Alex Puchkov.

The Kokanee Swim Club will be hosting its own swim meet November 3-5.

by Pete McIntyre

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