Orcas Win 38th Straight Region-F Meet at Home

Thank you to our photographers (Shannon Bos, Derek Chomiak, and Steve Kwan) for the photos from the weekend. Links to their photos can be found at the end of the article!
 
On Saturday, July 27, the Lethbridge Orcas won their home meet, scoring 2,030 points. This marked the 38th consecutive Region-F meet that the club has won. They are now one meet away from tying the historic record of 39 consecutive meets, a streak that ended in 2014.
 
With 114 swimmers in attendance, we saw a range of goals achieved at the meet. Some Orcas were racing in their first meet of the season, others were working out race plans for Regionals, and others were figuring out their event line-up for the Championship season. This wide array of goals ultimately lead to 25 aggregate medals and 198 best times.

Zada McLean-Borggard and Riley Ginther (left) rest after completing a breaststroke event. The Orcas are currently dominating the Girls 7&8 field with five girls in the Provincial top ten in the 50m breast and four girls in the 25m breast, definitely an event to keep your eye on. Ava Caputo (right) dropped a two second best time as the anchor on the X Open 200 FR this weekend, she has put some quality training in this week swimming in the Summit Swim Camps Performance Camp in the morning and still crushing some hard sets in the evenings; she’s setting herself up for some great end of season racing. (Photo credits: Steve Kwan)

7 of the 25 aggregate winners were able to earn gold aggregates by going undefeated in their individual events. Those swimmers were: Keeley Watt, Josh Adams, Kira Armstrong, Tyson Chomiak, Lily Petry, Bentley Togo, and Riley Ginther. Notably, Bentley Togo closed out an undefeated regular season, in which he won all 32 of his individual swims this season. The complete list of aggregate medal winners from the Lethbridge meet is below:
 
Bronze:
            Rachel Peake – G6&U
            Alex Ginther – G7-8
            Kallen Weighill – B7-8
            Elliott Pilsner-Roberts – G9-10
            Petra Tymko – G11-12
            Sean Vanderzee – B13-14
            Charlotte Vanden Elzen – G15-17
            James Kwan – BOpen
 
Silver:
            Brandon Boras – B6&U
            Hannah Lundquist – G11-12
            Jake Odorski – B11-12
            Ben Adserballe – B13-14
            Maddie Bennett – G15-17
            David Kindley – B15-17
            Soleil Letourneau – GOpen
            Owen Guyn – BOpen
 
Gold:
            Riley Ginther – G7-8
            Bentley Togo – B7-8
            Taylor Ginther – B9-10
            Lily Petry – G11-12
            Tyson Chomiak – B15-17
            Kira Armstrong – GOpen
            Keeley Watt – GOpen
            Josh Adams – BOpen

Jake Odorski (right) and Hannah Lundquist (left) of the P2 group both took home a silver medal aggregates in their age category this weekend (Boys 11&12 and Girls 11&12). Keep an eye on them as we head into the Regionals meet. Jake will be swimming the challenging 200 free and 100 fly double and Hannah will be racing with a focus on freestyle and backstroke; both will have their sights set on a Provincial qualifying spots. (Photo credits: Steve Kwan (top) and Shannon Bos (bottom))

On the note of best times, several Orcas helped as much as they could towards the total of 196 best times, as they earned best times in 100% of their individual events. The Orcas who did this were: Taylor Ginther, Paul Vanden Elzen, Kallen Weighill, Alexa Weighill, Davida Letourneau, Hugh Swain, Ethan Boras, Carmen Letourneau, Brooklyn Filipenko, Golden Letourneau, Hannah Guidinger, Maddie Bennett, Sydney Martindale, Carter Koop, Nico Madsen, Gage Myer, Danielle Koop, Keith Lundquist, Drew Ginther, and Toshi Oshima.
 
The Orcas are now looking forward to the Championship Season. Region F Regionals will be held in Lethbridge from August 9-11. It will serve as a qualification meet for the Provincial Championships in Edmonton from August 16-18. The top two finishers in each event will automatically qualify for the Championship meet, while 4 spots in each event will remain for wild-card swimmers; wild-cards are given out to the next 4 fastest swimmers in the province who did not place 1st or 2nd in their Regional Championship meet. On the Provincial scale, the Orcas are currently ranked 2nd in the large team age-group (7-17) scoring, while the Orcas masters’ team is currently ranked 1st. The Orcas will be looking to swim well throughout the Championship season in order to maintain or improve upon their current rankings. 

Sydney Martindale (left) and Nico Madsen (right) both prepare to race the 25m flutter board event. These two Mini Orcas have taken great strides this year having completed the challenging competition readiness standards at the age 5 and 6 respectively. Both also achieved 100% best times at the Lethbridge meet, and Nico did so in his first ever swim meet. (Photo credit: Shannon Bos)

Photo Links:
 
Shannon Bos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/146206833@N02/albums
 
Steve Kwan: https://www.flickr.com/photos/93976654@N02/albums
 
Derek Chomiak: https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPV6HF9CNR6MpBj-XEIN754WzJ0SuXnpqK1lSbj6FN-fgFw17SeuYm3q_3O83zqSg?key=NExtUkJ2ZWlETHRmQ1NmQmk5VmZGeEdhN3E3NjlB