CRKW Recognizes it's Best

Saturday night was awards night for the Killer Whales Swim Club. The following is a list of award recipients from the 2004-2005 season.

Top Swims
10 and under Girls Taylor Padington
10 and under Boys Carter Gorjeu
11 and 12 Girls Kirsten Rowbotham
11 and 12 Boys Matthew Sharpe
13 and 14 Girls Amberle Bakker
13 and 14 Boys Tyson Berkenstock
15 and Over Girls Andrea Gilbert
15 and Over Boys Tyson Berkenstock

Sportsmanship
Mini Whales Emma Walker
Bronze Annalies Turley
Silver Tylor Love
Gold Mackenzie Grant
Junior - Senior Aven Preston

Alpha Award
Bronze Hayden Arbour
Silver Carter Gorjeu
Gold Morgan Healy
Junior - Senior Marisa Gorjeu

Most Improved
Bronze Returning Siobhan Hudson
Bronze New Tamara Adamscheck
Silver Returning Mackenzie Kennedy
Silver New Alec Page
Gold Returning Courtney Maranduk
Gold New Morgan Healy
Junior - Senior Kirsten Rowbotham
Junior - Senior New Marisa Gorjeu
Mini Whale Girl Emily Dahl
Mini Whale Boy Kodie Borton

Hardest Trainer
Silver Karlyn Healy
Gold Taylor Padington
Junior - Senior Brock Hoyt

Tom Cross Memorial Alisha Clark

Heats Wrap Up for Day 3

Kyron was 57.5, about a second over his lifetime best from last weekend in the 100 free while Andrea wasn't quite up to her prediction but managed a best time of 1:02.80 in the 100 free. On short rest she wasn't quite able to match her lifetime best in the 100 back but did manage to swim a 1:11.0 with a 35.2 / 35.8 splitting.

Both of our swimmers need to be commended for the way they represented our program this weekend. This is the first time in a long time that we've qualified anyone for this meet and they both swam very tough. I look forward to seeing more swimmers from our club qualify for this meet next season so let's start getting ready now!!!

Kyron 10th again - Andrea makes bold prediction

Kyron's stroke struggles continue in the 50 breaststroke, missing the final and placing 1oth again and will swim in the B Final tonight. His time of 31.2 was .3 off of his best time. Andrea is about to swim 100 freestyle and will be looking to build on her solid performances so far. Her goal and prediction - under 1:01.2, which is lofty considering her best SC time is 1:00.9 and LC is 1:03.57. Go Andrea!

Winkelmeyer 3rd in B Final - again

Kyron Winkelmeyer was 3rd in the B Final again tonight at the Mel Zajac International, improving his time from the morning heats for a time of 2:31.55, still off his best time of 2:29.5 set last weekend in Victoria. The final day of competition is tomorrow, with Kyron swimming 100 free and 50 breast, where he is a threat to make the A final where Andrea swims 100 free and 100 back and will be looking to make her first second swim of the meet. Live results - Click here.

Andrea writes about her 50 Free

Well my race was definitly better then my 50 free has been in a while. Aaron's been trying to fix my stroke for quite a while now, and this weekend I'm finally starting to get it. I knew that I had to find a way to swim my free long, fast, and powerfull, instead of choppy and a (very) high stroke count. In my race today my stroke was long and smooth, powered by the legs instead of windmill arms. The time wasn't amazing, but I feel like my stroke is making way for plenty of future fast swims.

Winkelmeyer 3rd in B Final

Not quite able to match his speed of the first morning, Kyron Winkelmeyer had to settle for third place in the night B Final on day one of the Mel Zajac Junior International. In morning action on day 2, Andrea Gilbert once again moved up in the rankings with a 33.69 clocking, moving her into the top 30 with a 28th place finish. Kyron was able to win his heat of the 200 IM with a 2:19.48 but will not advance to the final. Andrea still has her 50 freestyle to swim and Kyron has his 200 Breaststroke.

Winkelmeyer 9th on Day 1

Kyron Winkelmeyer's time of 1:07.31 in the morning preliminaries on day 1 has him placed 9th going into tonight's session. Barring a scratch from the A final, Winkelmeyer will be seeded 1st going into the B final. His 1:07.31 was a best time this season and about .5 of a second over his lifetime best of 1:06.7. More results tonight.

Gilbert Climbs Rankings at Mel Zajac International

Zajac 001,
originally uploaded by Campbell River Killer Whales Swim Club.

Andrea Gilbert got the Killer Whales off on the right foot on the first day of competition at the Mel Zajac International Swim Meet at UBC this morning. Her time of 2:33.63 was a LC best time by over three seconds and a best converted time of about one second. She placed 32nd overall, moving up 5 spots from her ranking going into preliminaries. Later this morning, Kyron Winkelmeyer will test the waters in the men's 100 Breaststroke. In his heat this morning are National Team members on their way to the World Championships in Montreal Mike Brown and Matthew Huang. Winkelmeyer will be looking to compete with them in the morning and earn a spot in tonights final. Live and real time results can be found here.

CRKW Swimmers to attend World Class Mel Zajac International Meet in Vancouver this weekend.

originally uploaded by Campbell River Killer Whales Swim Club

Kyron Winkelmeyer and Andrea Gilbert of Campbell River will be representing CRKW this weekend at the Mel Zajac Junior International Swim Meet at UBC in Vancouver. Kyron is currently ranked 10th in the 50 and 100 Breaststroke and 14th in the 200 Breaststroke and will also be swimming 100 Free and 200 IM. Andrea, in her first big International Meet will be swimming 50 free, 100 free, 50, 100 and 200 Backstroke. Live results can be found, starting Friday morning by clicking here. Check back often for news, stories and videos of their swims.

Killer Whales settle for third at VIR Champs

All along placing third and beating rivals Ravensong Aquatic Club was their goal, but in the end, after achieving their goal of a third place finish, it felt empty because right up until the final events of the night, the Killer Whales Swim Club was hanging on to second place. In the end though it was the University of Victoria - Pacific Coast Swimming Association that sneaked past them by a mere 124 points...2254 - 2130.

"It feels good to know that we are still improving and still getting better. Our team battled hard all weekend and put a real scare into a team that is very deep and very big. It took their all out effort to beat us this weekend and that's a bit of a victory for us I guess" said Aaron Dahl, Head Coach after the meet. "We knew that we were in tough on the last night as we didn't have nearly as many finalists as they did but the kids that did swim tonight swam their hearts out and deserve a lot of credit for where we are tonight".

Alec Page was impressive again, dropping time in all three of his finals, placing 3rd in the 200 back, 2nd in the 200 fly and winning his final event of the night, the 100 free with a time of 1:08.5. Aven Preston was able to win a bronze in the girls 200 fly as did Kyron Winkelmeyer in the 100 free and Andrea Gilbert in the 200 backstroke. Brock Hoyt swam two very tough events tonight in the 400 free and 200 fly and Marisa Gorjeu was very busy, swimming the A finals of the 400 free and 200 fly and then finishing off her meet with a best time in the 100 free. Final results from the meet can be found by clicking here.

Crunch Time for Killer Whales on final night of VIR Champs

With one night to go in the 2005 VIR Long Course Championships at the Commonwealth Pool in Victoria, the Killer Whales Swim Club remains in 2nd place after an amazing morning where the 10 and under swimmers dominated the pool over their competition. Winning an unprescidented 11 medals in just the one session, including dominating the relays by winning gold in both the girls and boys relays, they put the Killer Whales in a commanding position going into the final night of competition where the 11 and over swimmers will have to fend off the competition to hold onto 2nd place, which would be their highest placing in the club's 26 year history. Gold medals were won by the relays, Carter Gorjeu and Jocelyn Cormier in the 50 free and 50 fly respectively. Silver went to Gorjeu and Jennifer Guindon in the 50 Back and 100 breast while Gorjeu, Cormier, Sam Myers and Karlyn Healy chipped in with bronze medal performances. Results will be live here tonight so check in and see how we ended up!!!

Preston, Gorjeu strong in fly final, Page wins 3 medals on day 2.

Aven Preston and Marisa Gorjeu, shown in the video below, were prominent in the girls 100 fly final on day two of the VIR Championship meet in Victoria. Preston placed 3rd while Gorjeu placed 5th in the final, both taking more than a second off of their lifetime best times. Meanwhile, not to be outdone, Alec Page was a force Saturday night, winning two silver and a bronze medal in finals that night. Competition resumes Sunday with the Killer Whales holding a 103 point lead for second place over University of Victoria-Pacific Coast Swimming and a 210 point lead over the Ravensong Aquatic Club out of Qualicum.

Day 2 Prelims - VIR's

After a monster day for our 10 and unders, which saw them win the girls relay, place second in the boys relay and win numerous medals and top 8 placings, the Killer Whales swim club now sits in 2nd place overall at the 2005 Vancouver Island Regional Swimming Championships behind the Victoria Amateur Swim Club. 223 points ahead of third and fourth place teams from Victoria and Qualicum, they will be in tough tonight against those teams as neither of them have ever been beaten by the Killer Whales and they will be looking for revenge after this mornings thrashing. News and live results here.

Kyron Winkelmeyer and Brock finished 1st and 2nd in the mens 100 breaststroke final at tonights first night of finals at the VIR Regional Championships. In other actions, Deirdre Huestis made her first ever AAA time in the 100 breaststroke and there were a ton of medal wins on day 1. Overall the club sits in 3rd place a mere 24 points out of 2nd. More results tomorrow - keep checking the blog.

VIR's Day 1 Prelims - Great Start

An incredible start for the Killer Whales at this seasons VIR LC meet included a gold medal performance by Marisa Gorjeu in the girls 1500 freestyle as well as a gold for Alec Page in the boys 800 freestyle. The majority of swimmers will be swimming in the final tonight here at the Commonwealth pool in Victoria. Live results can be found here and I will be posting video of tonights three best swims, so all the kiddy's are pumped to be on the net. Check back soon for more results - finals start at 6:00 pm.

31 Swimmers Strong, CRKW Heads for VIR Champs looking for a third place finish

With their strongest team ever in the works, the Killer Whales are headed to Victoria this weekend for the Vancouver Island Regional Championships. 31 local swimmers will represent CRKW and, with their strong team, will be looking to improve on their fourth place finish in the Short Course Championships in January. Coach Aaron Dahl feels confident that they will be able to match up well against the strong Ravensong Aquatic Club team from Qualicum. "We look just as good as they do on paper, now we just have to perform to expectations. For some swimmers this is their last chance to qualify for AAA provincials in four weeks. For others they are looking to make Club National Qualifying times. Whatever the level of swimmer we have at this meet this weekend, the important fact is that everyone is on the same page and committed to our goal, which is to move into 3rd place overall on the Island."

We are not sure of where results might be found live but check here from time to time for the possibility of live results.

Merritt 2005

Merritt 2005 009,
originally uploaded by Campbell River Killer Whales Swim Club.

Coach Aaron as well as Andrea G and Brock went to Merritt this past weekend to run an annual swim camp. A good time was had by all and this was the campsite that they stayed at. 20 swimmers from Merritt, Lillooet and Kamloops took part and Andrea and Brock even got in and showed off their skills from time to time.

KIller Whales strong in Nanaimo at Outdoor Meet.

The culminating meet for any Killer Whales not yet qualified for VIR Championships, the Nanaimo Outdoor Meet is a highlight of the season for many and 21 young Killer Whales attended their annual meet this past weekend with many excellent results. Overall the team swam 56% personal best times, which is a difficult task when swimming outdoors and battling the elements in the process. This meet is always exciting when a swimmer makes a new qualifying time and this meet was no exception. Congratulations go to Hayden Arbour and his new A time in the 10 and under boys 50 freestyle as well as Finn Page, who’s time of 7:44.67 was just under the 10 and under boys A standard of 7:44.70.

Many top 8 results were recorded. Brandon Pehrsson’s 3^rd place finish in the 11 and 12 boys 200 Backstroke was the top finish of the meet but there were many others in the top 8. Hayden Arbour was 4^th in the 100 free and 50 free while Finn Page’s best finish was a 4^th in the 10 and under boys 400 free. David John Palmer was 5^th in the 11 and 12 boys 200 breaststroke as was Nicolas Heuser in the 10 and under boys 50 butterfly. Tyler Cowan was 7^th in the 10 and under boys 200-meter breaststroke.

On the improvements side, there were many amazing results put in. Tamara Adamschek swam all of her events for best times, improving 5 out of 5. Her 100 IM time of 2:27.31 was almost 30 seconds faster than her best ever time in that event. There were also many more big improvers, Greg Robertson’s 32 second improvement in the 50 freestyle, Tyler Cowan’s 31 second improvement in the 200 breaststroke and David John Palmer’s huge drop of 53 seconds in the same event. Mackenzie Kennedy dropped 24 seconds in the same event as the other two and Hayden Arbour, Taylor Arbour, Nicolas Heuser, Siobhan Hudson and Michelle Westfall all had improvements of more than 10 seconds. Other top performers were Brooke Guindon (3 best times), Nicole Johnston (1 best time), Tamasyn Kennedy (4 best times), Stacey Oakley (4 best times) and Annalies Turley (2 best times)