National Success & Local Dominance

                Five members of the Charlottetown Bluephins travel to Ottawa this weekend to compete in the Eastern Canadian Championships.  Four females and one male will take on the best swimmers in the country over the four day event with national success being their goal.

                The veteran of the squad will be breaststroke specialist  Paige Crowell.  She will compete in four events; 50-100-200 Breaststroke and 400 IM.  This will be Crowell’s second time at Easterns and she will be looking  to challenge for a second swim (top 16) in her Breaststroke events.  The remaining four swimmers are all rookies at the Eastern Canadian Championships.  They will look to gain experience on the National stage and hunt for a second swim.  The youngest swimmer on the squad will be Alison MacEachern who turned 14 only days before the meet.  She will swim in the 50 Butterfly, 50 Freestyle and 100 Freestyle.  Emma MacKay has been waiting almost a year to go to Easterns.  Last season she qualified a week after the event so she has been looking forward to this trip for 12 months.  MacKay will compete in the 50 Backstroke, 50 Freestyle and 100 Freestyle.  Graduating swimmer and Team Captain Rhea Hurnik was probably the most excited about qualifying for the meet.  Hurnik will take to the pool in the 400 Freestyle, 50 Butterfly and 100 Butterfly.  The lone male swimmer on the squad is James Profit.  He had a terrific season last year swimming to 100 personal bests over the season.  He will compete in the 400 Freestyle, 800 Freestyle, 100 Backstroke and 200 Backstroke.

               “All of the swimmers have been putting in some great preparation for this meet.  They are ready to shine on the National stage and show what Charlottetown swimming is all about.  Preparing for such a high calibre event can sometimes be a difficult task.  These swimmers have been very focused and I am proud of their efforts in the pool,” commented Head Coach William Calhoun.

                Another highlight of the weekend will be the relay events.  For the first time in several years the Bluephins will compete on a National stage in relays.  The girls will compete in the 4x200 Freestyle on Thursday, 4x100 Freestyle on Friday and 4x100 Medley on Saturday.  Relays are always exciting and the atmosphere will certainly motivate our swimmers to swim at the highest level.

                The remainder of the Bluephins will travel to Summerside this Sunday to compete at the February Fling Development Meet.  Nearly 50 swimmers will be looking to gain experience, gain East Coast Championship qualifying times and have a blast! 

                “Gaining racing experience is vital to every swimmer.  Being able to step up and race will allow our athletes to make the necessary adjustments at practice.  While I will not be at the meet, I do look forward to seeing the great results our team will post,” added Calhoun.

We have been very successful and dominant at Island development meets this year and this one should continue the trend.  Keep your eye out for results from this meet next week.

Go to www.charlottetownbluephins .ca to keep up to date on all the results this weekend.