By Brady Lang

Orcas medal, set best times in successful ManSask games

Dec 18, 2018 | 4:00 PM

It was a successful weekend for the Battlefords Orcas Swim Club.

The club, lead by Head Coach John McLeod, embarked on its biggest test of the year at the ManSask Swimming Competition in Saskatoon. Six swimmers hit the water in Taylor Parker, Brandon Nord, Madison Higgs, Reece Sommerfeld, Elizabeth Johnson and Lyndsay Reimer. All throughout the weekend, the swimmers set new personal bests and performed well overall with some highlights and notable performances at the Shaw Centre.

Four provinces took part in the competition from Alberta to Ontario, and every single swimmer made a final. Madison Higgs won a gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle, with two medals overall. Reece Sommerfeld took home three bronze medals and was also selected to the Saskatchewan Relay team. Throughout the competition, every swimmer had a best time in the water in terms of every race with half the team clinching an all best time in terms of their careers.

In general swimmers, the Orcas ended up finishing as the fourth best team in the province of the 12 that competed — something McLeod said he expected from his group. He said they did very well competing and preparing, with all previous meets led to this.

“They stepped up really well, didn’t get overly nervous, they were very focused on the process,” he said. “The team spirit was very good. Everyone was supporting everyone. This was the first big snapshot to see where we rank against all the other provinces close to us.”

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The Orcas Swim club has come far in the past while and is competitive across the province. With their fourth place finish it was a far cry from five years ago. In 2013, the team had no one at the ManSask competition. Now the club boasts a provincial champion, two swimmers medalling and all six of their swimmers making the finals.

“It shows our own swimmers and our town that racing against the province is more than possible, it’s an eventuality,” McLeod said. “We’re more about the quality and it sends a message that were ready to race the other provinces and pretty soon the rest of Canada.”

McLeod says two of his swimmers, Brandon Nord and Taylor Parker, are setting the tone for the other competitors in the club. The two are leaders thus far in the season. With both of them looking for scholarships and to continue swimming, it shows the program is coming together as a whole to create swimmers careers, rather than just swimmers for a season.

The next meet is in the middle of February in Saskatoon followed by the Prairie Champs meet in Regina the following month.

brady.lang@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @BradyLangCJNB

by Brady Lang

Orcas medal, set best times in successful ManSask games

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