Senior Circuit #1 - Friday

The first real racing of the season took place for our senior swimmers in Victoria tonight. Results were strong considering the time of the season and the fact the meet is LC early on. The goal is race strong this weekend in preparation for our two most important meets before Christmas. Live results can be found at http://www.pacificcoastswimming.com/LiveResults/2007-08/Senior1/

Highlights of the session were Kirsten Rowbotham's personal best time in the 200 IM (2:36.1) and a strong swim in the 100 breast. Alec Page swam well and was within striking distance of his best times in the 200 breast and 100 fly. Marisa Gorjeu had strong 200 free and 800 free's and a pretty good 200 fly to start the meet. Also participating in the meet were Aven Preston, Morgan Healy and Adriaan Kruger.

Competition continues tomorrow.

Final Standings - Age Nationals 2007 - Montreal

The final standings are in and yes, we are on the first page!!! 43rd overall was the the final result, which is impressive in itself. However, when you look a little closer, you will see that we did much better than that. Far be it from be to make excuses for not living in a large center, because I don't believe in that, but we were the third best team at the meet for teams that don't live in a major center (ie: Vancouver, Victoria, Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Saskatoon). Only Vernon (pop 40,000) and Whitehorse (30,000) beat us in the team standings. However, a closer look reveals that all of Vernons points came from one swimmer (380 points - 26th) and all of Whitehorse's points (340 points - 33rd) came from 2 swimmers. We had three swimmers in finals at the meet, plus a scoring relay which neither of the two other teams could say.

Every one of the 6 swimmers that we brought to the meet contributed to the success of the team. Alec Page scored 167 points on his own for the boys (which turned out to be 4.5 points more than the whole Island Swimming team could manage for the boys) while the girls came up with 65 points on their own, 9 from the girls relay, 9 from Marisa's 200 fly and 47 from Kirsten's 4 individual finals in the 50 free, 50 breast, 100 breast and 200 breast.

Day 4 Finals - Age Nationals 2007 - Montreal

The meet finished with more strong swimming from CRKW. In the 13 and under boys 400 IM final, Alec slashed another 4.5 seconds from his best time and club record to finish with his 5th medal of the meet, a bronze. His time of 5:00.9 was almost 10 seconds under his best time from the last meet and 7 seconds under the previous club record.

In our other final of the meet, Kirsten was a little off her morning swim and finished in 7th place in the the 15 year old girls 200 breast final. She was strong out on the 1st 50 and picked up the pace on the third before faltering somewhat on the way home.

Team scores are not available at this time, although we think that we held our place tonight with those two swims and Alec's silver medal in the 800 freestyle. Complete team scores will be reported when available.

On a final note, I'd like to thank all our supporters for their kind emails and notes throughout the meet. It's been inspirational to see how many people are following our results and we just wanted to say thanks.

Parents, we expect to be on the 3:15 ferry from tsawassen to duke point tomorrow, possibly getting us home for 7:00 pm. We will meet at my house. I will have the swimmers call tomorrow when we get on the ferry.

CRKW SWIMMING RULES!!!!!

Day 4 Preliminaries - Age Nationals 2007 - Montreal

Day four saw more sunny weather and fast swimming from CRKW swimmers. 400 IM was the first events and Alec was our only entry. His time of 5:05.3 was 5 seconds under his best time and placed him 3rd in this mornings preliminaries heading into finals tonight. He will swim in lane 3. His time was also a new club record in the event by over a second. In the 50 fly, Aven was our only swimmer and her time of 31.4 was also a club record and a best time, although she will not be moving onto finals in the event. In the 100 free, Kirsten was our only swim and her time of 1:02.2 was slower than she wanted to go but a second under her best time and a strong swim with her 200 breast coming right up after it. In that 200 breast, she swam the first half of the race perfectly before falling off the race plan somewhat on the 3rd 50. Her time of 2:47.2 was only a half second over her best time and will put her in lane 2 in tonights final in 5th place. Morgan had a very strong 2o0 breast, swimming a 2:59.6, a best time and her first time under 3:00 Long Course.

In the 800 freestyles, just completed and todays last preliminary event, Morgan and Taylor was both best times in 10:30.5 and 10:08.8 respectively in a heat that just finished about 3o minutes ago. Marisa was in a different heat and in a league of her own as her time of 9:43.1 was well under her best time and good enough to win her heat this morning by almost 25 meters. Alec was also in the 800 free and, although we don't know the final results yet, it is thought that he's picked up his 4th silver medal of the meet, just out-touched by a swimmer in his heat. His time of 9:08.6 wasn't his best time but a solid swim nonetheless.

Finals start tonight with Alec swimming at approx 2:50 pm PDT while Kirsten will swim approx 4:00 pm PDT. Last night the swimmers enjoyed a night out at the Hard Rock Cafe and even got to have some desert!

LATE BREAKING NEWS

We just found out that the girls 14 and under relay placed 10th in tonights overall standings, scoring 9 points for our team. Our team currently sits with 171 points in 44th place overall. Our goal for tomorrow is to move up to 43rd as this puts us on the first page of team scores, not at the top of page 2!!!

The girls results and splits were as follows.


10.
CAMPBELL RIVER KILLER WHALES A
CRKW
4:47.66
Preston Aven 35.30 1:11.93
Healy Morgan 38.66 1:23.13
Gorjeu Marisa 32.22 1:09.83
Padington Taylor 29.56 1:02.77

Final time 4:47.66
Final Place 10th
Points Scored 9

Day 3 Finals - Age Nationals 2007 - Montreal

Day three only saw two swims from CRKW make it through to the finals but both opportunities were taken full advantage of.

First up was Alec, 5th at the 50 in 29.7, he exploded in the middle 100, splitting 31.9 / 31.9 to take a half second lead at the 150. The swimmer in lane 7, who swam with Alec the whole race, passed him just at the end for a victory, but Alec's time of 2:05.4 was an outstanding swim, good enough for a best time, club record and the silver medal, his third of the meet.

Next up was Kirsten's 100 breast. With less than a second separating 2nd from 10th in this race, the key was to go out fast. Kirsten split 35.6, three tenths faster than her 50 from last night and faded slightly at the end, missing the bronze medal by only a tenth of a second, but moving into 4th place out of lane 0 was no small feat. Her time of 1:17.4 was her second best time ever in the event.

Tomorrow is the last day of competition, with 400 IM, 50 fly, 100 free and 200 breast on the agenda.

Day three Preliminaries - Age Nationals - Montreal

Day three saw the sunshine come through and some good swimming for CRKW swimmers. In the 200 free, the first event of the day, Taylor was right on her best time in 2:20, good enough for 14th place overall. Alec was also close to his best time in 2:09.0 and will swim in lane 3 in third place in tonights final.

Next up was the 100 breast. Morgan had a best time of 1:24.5 in her event while Kirsten was off her best time in 1:18.3 but was fast enough to place 9th this morning and will swim in lane 0 in tonights final.

In the 200 back, Aven was 2 seconds under her best time and broke her own club record with a time of 2:34.2 and placed 20th.

In the 100 fly, Alec was off his best time and missed tonights final. Aven and Marisa both swam a best time in 1:09.9, their first times under 1:10 ever.

In the 14 and under girls relay, they were able to take over 6 seconds off of their entry time with a 4:47.6. Their splits of 1:11.9 (Aven - Back), 1:23.5 (Morgan - Breast), 1:09.8 (Marisa - Aven) and 1:02.8 (Taylor - Free) put them 3rd with one heat left to swim. Finals start tonight at 2:30 PDT.

Day 2 Finals - Age Nationals 2007 - Montreal

The rain...yeah, it's still here. But we hear that it's supposed to be sunny tomorrow. Anyway, we have some finals to talk about.

Up first was Marisa's 200 Fly. After having to take the long way to get there via swim off, she started her race right in the middle of the hardest rain of the day, a veritable monsoon, and was solid again but a little off her morning swim in 2:35. Marisa finished 10th in her very first ever National final. Congratulations to her. Alec was up next and was also a little off his morning swim in 2:24.2, missing the bronze medal by .03, finishing 4th overall.

Kirsten was in lane 1 in tonights 50 breast final and swam her first ever 50 breast LC under 36 in a time of 35.8, making some very good adjustments from her morning swim. In the final swim of the night, Alec swam a very strong 400 free, going head to head for the whole race with the eventual gold medal winner. Alec finished only a second back of the gold with a time of 4:26.8, another best time and club record.

CRKW sits with 117 points, already surpassing their best ever total of 64 points from last season and 61 points from the year before with two days remaining in the meet. Tomorrow's session sees 200 free, 100 breast, 200 back and 100 fly before the 14 and under girls swim the 4 x 100 Medley relay. You can email your best wishes to the swimmers at adahl@uniserve.com

Day 2 Prelims - Age Nationals 2007 - Montreal

The skies opened today. Big time. Yet somehow through the blowing winds, hard rain and 15 degree weather or cooler, we managed to swim ok and move three swimmers through to finals in four different events.

The 200 fly was first off. Alec picked up a best time and club record with a 2:23.9 and will swim in lane 6 in tonights final. Marisa swam a 2:34.8 to tie for 11th place and had to have a swim off for the first alternate position. In the swim off, she overcame a 1.5 second deficit at the 150 to storm back and out-touch and out-tough her competitor from Etobicoke to win the swim off by .15. Immediately after the swim off, she was informed that there was a scratch in the final, meaning she will swim in tonights final in lane 9 in 10th place. Taylor had a good 200 fly, splitting in 1:20 and finishing in 2:49.0.

In the 100 back, Aven was our only competitor and, although she was not a best time, she had a very strong swim in 1:11.6 just after the storm broke. She was fast out at the 50 and won her heat with a strong race.

In the 50 breaststroke, Aven and Morgan were both best times in 37.7 and 39.0 respectively while Kirsten was slightly over her best time in 36.11 but was good enough for a club record and a 7th place finish, putting her in lane 1 in tonights final.

Finally, there were the 400 freestyles. Keep in mind, it's now been raining hard for about 4 hours and we're starting to get a little cold. Taylor was 5:02 and Marisa 4:51...enough said. Alec put in a great swim under the circuimstances in 4:27.9 and will swim in tonights final in lane 3 going in third.

In the girls relay, their splits of 1:02.9 (Aven - Club Record), 1:08.8 (Morgan), 1:06.0 (Taylor) and 1:03.3 (Marisa - 10 minutes after her 200 fly swim off) made up a time of 4:21.0 which was 4 seconds under their entry time, good enough for at least 15th place after tonights final heat.

Finals resume at 2:30 pm PDT.

Day One Results - Age Nationals - Montreal

Day one started with a bang...then the rain came.

Kirsten was the first swim of the meet and what a great swim it was. With a blistering time of 27.99 in the girls 50 freestyle, she not only became the first CRKW girl ever to swim the 50 free under 28 seconds long course, she qualified 10th to swim in tonights A final. She was a touch slower tonight but still finished in 10th place overall in the 15 year old girls age group. Following Kirstens 50 free this morning was Alec's 200 IM where he improved his time by 3 seconds, swimming a 2:26.7, qualifying 6th for tonights final. Improving his fly and breast splits in tonights final, he dropped another second in the final and finished in 7th place overall. The third individual swim this morning was Aven's 50 back where she improved her time and club record by half a second, swimming the race in 33.1, missing the final by a mere .06 seconds, placing 11th.

In the 1500 freestyle, the skies opened. The rain started half way through Alec's race and continued and strengthened and, by the time we ended with Morgan's swim, it was in full force. Marisa swam her second best time ever but was a little off her time. Taylor was under her best LC time and made the qualifying standard LC while Morgan was over her best time. Alec swam a best time of 17:23.9 which was the fastest time in his age group to that point but that time was bettered in the next heat, leaving him in second place with the silver medal.

Swimming continues tomorrow through Sunday and you can continue to check live results by clicking here.