The St. Albert Sailfish Swim Club breezed through the annual Sailfish Swim Meet, winning the tournament with a combined score of 1,238 points, almost double that of the second place finisher.
“Our swim team has been evolving over the last several years. It’s not an overnight thing that happens, all of our coaches met over a year ago, and came up with a plan to improve our team, mainly through retention of our swimmers. The score is a result of the kids focusing on personal performances, but trying to contribute to the team at the same time,” said coach Glenn Wilson on his team’s result.
The second-place Stony Plain Sharks finished with 645.5 points and capturing bronze was North East Edmonton with 572.5 points.
The Sailfish Swim Club boasted 69 athletes swimming over the weekend, from ages five and up.
“One of the biggest improvements our club has made has come from our little guys. We’ve changed our format in dealing with our youngest swimmers, we have four swimmers in the six and under category, we’ve increased the coach face time with those athletes, and we’ve seen astronomical improvements with them. You get to see kids getting fired up for the right reasons,” Wilson said.
Sailfish swimmer Zoe Dean, 5, walked away with four medals, three gold and one silver, over the weekend.
Despite the strong performance this weekend, Wilson is not letting the team sit back.
“Our swim team is based on the acquisition of skills, not just about swimming faster. It doesn’t make sense to come off a swim meet as successful as this one and celebrate and sit on our laurels. We have to go right back to square one and make sure everything is being done right. There were errors that we made that we still need to fix,” Wilson said.
Fourteen-year-old Sir George Simpson graduate and soon to be Paul Kane student Griffin Garrison won gold in all four events he competed in: the 50 butterfly, 100 butterfly, 50 freestyle, and 100 Individual Medley, which consists of each stroke (butterfly, breaststroke, backstroke, and freestyle).
“Swimming in your home pool really helps. It’s what you’re used to, you know all the lane lines, you know the flags. It puts you in a really comfortable place,” Garrison said.
After winning his first gold medal of the day in the 50-metre butterfly, Garrison used that momentum to push himself in his next events.
“After that first swim, you start to get confident in what you’re doing. You become more really encouraged and you want to keep pushing yourself,” Garrison said.
Despite each race being done individually, Garrison credits his team for the success that he has accomplished.
“We’re like a little family, it’s really nice to have that connection with everybody. We push and encourage each other. We’ve really bonded,” he said.
Garrison was one of five Sailfish athletes to win gold in all four of his events, garnering a perfect score of 36 individual points. Emily Flowers, Jonathon Farr, Amelie Sherwin, and Logan Fulford were the others.
The Sailfish compete again this weekend in Stony Plain, at the outdoor Stony Plain Pool.
