Dozens of Piranhas will be swarming the pool at the SLS Centre on July 15.
But there's no need to worry – these aren't the man-eating fish that occupy the Amazon, but rather members of the Cochrane Piranhas Summer Swim Club, who will be competing for medals and personal bests at the club's annual home meet.
According to meet manager Lisa Preston, 66 swimmers from the Piranhas will be in action at Saturday's competition, which gets going early in the morning around 8 a.m. and will last until about 4:30 p.m. In total, she 238 swimmers from throughout Alberta will be competing.
Amid a busy summer of swim meets taking place nearly every weekend in cities and towns across Alberta, Preston said the Piranhas athletes are excited to compete in their home pool for a change.
“We have a few developmental swimmers…and this will be their first time at a swim meet, ever,” she said “It’s a busy season, summer swimming. There are a lot of back-to-back meets, and hosting our home meet is nice. It’s on our home turf, so you don’t have to get up quite as early to get there, and there’s an opportunity for your buddies to come and watch you swim.”
The Piranhas are coming off a strong collective performance at their latest competition, which was hosted by the Calgary Triton Swim Club at MNP Family and Community Centre last weekend. According to club rep Kate Johnson, the Piranhas sent 45 swimmers and recorded five new club records at the meet in in Calgary.
The Cochranites proved their competitiveness in abundance, registering 38 first-place finishes, 21 second-place finishes, and 14 third-place finishes to round out a successful weekend.
“Some of the other clubs have had a trickier time coming out of COVID, and all the restrictions,” Preston said. “But the Piranhas have managed to build despite those challenges. Over COVID, many clubs lost their older swimmers. We’ve managed to keep many of our older swimmers, and we’ve been recruiting old and young alike.”
For many Piranhas swimmers, Preston said Saturday's event is not just a chance to compete on home soil, (or rather, water) but also a crucial qualifier in terms of their own prospects when it comes to competing at the provincial championships later this summer.
“There are some pretty intense qualification times and some swimmers are trying…[qualify] and this is the last shot before the deadline,” she said. “For kids who are trying to qualify for that, there are some big swims they need to do.”
For more info on the Cochrane Piranhas, visit cochranepiranhas.ca
