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.