Fourth-place finish for Tritons at East Coast championships

BY JOHN DECOSTE

jdecoste@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

The Wolfville Tritons Swim Club swam to a fourth-place finish in the final team standings at the East Coast Long Course championships held July 3-6 in Halifax.

A total of 15 Wolfville swimmers took part in the three-and-a-half day competition, which included teams from Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and the Northwest Territories as well as Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Tritons finished with 1,281 combined points for top placings. The Wolfville female swimmers were third overall with 1,062 points while the much smaller men’s team was 13th overall with 219.

A highlight of the meet from the Tritons’ perspective was Nicole Campbell earning the High Point Award for 13-14 girls. Campbell, 14, who has had an outstanding 2007-2008 season, won five of her six events. In addition to Campbell, Mary Claire Lynch and Ceilidh MacPherson also posted event wins at the meet.

Kristen MacPherson (five), Tanisha Bezanson (two), Pete Porskamp and Colin Vibert (one each) all captured medals for top-three finishes. Kayla Boudreau, Luc Boudreau, Stella Champion, Adam Deutsch, Rebecca MacPherson, Shauna Manning and Brendan Vibert all managed at least one top-10 placing.

“I’m very pleased with our swimmers’ and our team’s performance this weekend,” Tritons’ head coach Chris Stone said Monday.

“It was a very long weekend and many of our swimmers traveling to Calgary for Age Group Nationals were swimming ‘off events’, so for them to be winning as many events as they did, coupled with scoring as well as they did, is very encouraging.”

In addition, “the fact we were able to place as high as we did with less than half the number of swimmers as some other clubs at the meet was also impressive. Several coaches from other provinces complimented us on our talent, versatility and tenacity.”

In conjunction with the meet, a 2km Open Water swim was held on the Monday following the pool events. Porskamp and Ceilidh MacPherson were the men’s and women’s overall winners, and Campbell topped the 13-14 girls’ age class.

Seven members of the Tritons will travel to Calgary later this month to compete at the 2008 Swimming Canada Age Group Nationals.

Kayla Boudreau, Luc Boudreau, Nicole Campbell, Ceilidh MacPherson, Kristen MacPherson, Pete Porskamp and Colin Vibert have all qualified for the national meet, which will officially mark the end of the 2007-2008 season for the club.