The Similkameen News Leader
Sports Page - August 26, 2008
THREE LOCAL SWIMMERS COMPETE AT PROVINCIALS
Over 1,500 athletes and 200 coaches from across BC, Washington State and Yukon competed in the BC Provincial Championship Swim Meet held in Trail from August 14th to August 17th.
The meet is the largest annual sprint meet in Canada. Amongst the athletes were three members of the Princeton Kokanee Summer Swim Club.
Taylor Carmichael competed in the Division 3 girls (ages 10 1/2 to 12) 50-metre Butterfly, 50-metre Backstroke and the Regional Medley Relay Team. In the fly Carmichael achieved a personal best time and a club record with a time of 38.95-seconds, placing 20th overall.
In the backstroke she swam to a 15th place finish. Carmichael had an amazing finish to the swim meet when she and her Okanagan Regional Medley Relay Team challenged Simon Fraser Region for a Gold Medal.
After a very close race, the team placed second and won the Silver Medal. Carmichael contributed to the team by swimming the lead leg in the backstroke with a personal best time and also breaking the club record with a time of 37.41-seconds.
Mark Cimbaro competed in the Division 6 Boys (ages 15 and 16) 50-metre Freestyle. Cimbaro swam an amazing personal best time of 33.42-seconds placing 24th overall. He improved on his previous personal best by more than 1.3-seconds.
Denis Gutierrez-Ogrinc, the Kokanee Summer Swim Club Head Coach, competed in the Division 7 Boys (ages 17 to 19) 100-metre breaststroke, as well as in the Regional Medley Relay. Gutierrez-Ogrinc swam the breaststroke in 1:29.23, placing 13th overall. His relay team finished 5th.
With the Provincials now complete, the competitive season for Kokanee Summer Swim Club is done for another year.
Planning will begin right away to help make next years season as successful as this one.
The club would like to thank the following for their generous support and contributions: The Province of BC, Princeton and District Community Forest Corporation, the Princeton Rotary Club, Overwaitea and Weyerhaeuser Company Limited.
