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Lloydminster Aquanaut Newspaper Articles.

Aquanauts hit the pool

Larry Fisher
Friday June 16, 2006
Lloydminster Meridian Booster

Shortly after finding the pool for their first meet of the year in Vermilion, the Lloydminster Aquanauts found themselves back on top of the podium.

The club sent 16 swimmers down the Yellowhead Highway this past weekend and they returned home with 33 personal bests, two gold medals, two silver medals, and two bronze medals.

It was a marked improvement over their showing at last year’s Vermilion meet and the club’s success as a whole was reflected with 429 total team points – up from 348 last year despite sending 13 fewer swimmers.

“We wanted to have a strong start to our season and that was certainly it,” said coach Tyler Totman. “Everyone swam well for the most part and we even had a few surprises like Jeanna Siemens who was swimming in her first-ever meet and ended up placing really well in both of her events.”

As far as individual highlights go, Jessica Kelly picked up where she left off last year breaking four club records in Vermilion despite graduating into a higher age bracket. Now swimming alongside 15 and 16-year-old girls, she posted record times in the 50-metre freestyle, 50-metre butterfly, 100-metre butterfly and 100-metre backstroke.

“The records are nice, but there’s definitely room for improvement,” said Kelly, 15, who settled for silver in Vermilion. “I didn’t swim my best times or anything and I still have my eye on a couple more (club) records, so hopefully this weekend will be better.”

Kelly wasn’t the only Aquanaut rewriting their record book in Vermilion. Cory Totman shattered a club record dating back to the 1980s in the boys’ 17-and-over 100-metre backstroke, eclipsing the previous mark by almost five seconds with a time of 1:09.24.

“I crushed a 20-some-year-old record, so it was pretty sweet,” said Totman, whose efforts helped earn him a bronze medal at the meet. “We all did amazing, we got a ton of new medals and lots of kids medalled for their first time ever. It was the start we were looking for and now we have a lot to build on for the rest of the year.”

Jonathan Smyth and Britt Wells accounted for the Aquanauts two gold medals in Vermilion, as the top point getters among 17-and-over boys and eight-and-under girls respectively.

The Aquanauts will try to follow up their Vermilion performance this weekend with 33 club members set to take the pool for their annual Father’s Day Weekend Swim Meet. The event will run Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Leisure Centre in Bud Miller Park.