The Cochrane Piranhas Summer Swim Club is starting off the season hungrier than ever.
The Alberta Summer Swimming Association (ASSA) team, under the umbrella of Swim Alberta, competed in its first meet of the 2022 short-course season on June 4 in Didsbury, where they ranked first and achieved some new personal bests.
“It has been a strong start to the season,” said Kate Johnson, the club’s communications manager, adding Cochrane had 39 swimmers represented at the meet and ranked first with 874 points.
In all, the club’s swimmers made a splash by amassing 24 first-place finishes and 22 second-place wins, while 17 Piranhas swimmers paddled and kicked their way to third.
The boys 13-to-14 200-metre medley relay team of Tony Koo, Oliver Johnson, Eli Fitzsimmons and Caebri Smith finished their race and capped off the meet with a winning time of 2:22.65.
Johnson said the relay team is already looking forward to their next objective – going after the club record.
“I think they could certainly get really close to the record, so that would be very exciting,” said Johnson.
Whether they beat the Piranhas’ record or not is relative though, she says. While it would be a nice bonus, what matters most to her is that the swimmers can get excited about the idea of competing and connecting with other clubs again, after having two swim seasons interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s been a long time since the kids have been able to swim their full season,” said Johnson. “This is about the Piranhas, but this is also about kids’ sport and them not having been able to compete over the last couple of years.
“To see that excitement, I think, is the take-home that I get from it.”
The Piranhas competed alongside clubs from Didsbury, Okotoks, High River, Calgary and Innisfail at the June 4 meet. Swimmers ages six and under to 14 years old represented the Cochrane club, in races ranging from 25-metre backstrokes to 200-metre freestyles.
Training for the next short-course meets is in full swing with the club’s older, level-three swimmers training five days a week and levels one and two training four days a week.
At the end of the summer swimming season, the team will compete at ASSA regionals Aug. 6 to 7, with the hopes of qualifying to race at provincials the following weekend.
A first for the club this year was hosting the Cochrane meet over a Friday evening and full-day Saturday on July 15 and 16 at Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre. According to Johnson, the addition of the half-day was to provide an opportunity for longer-range swimmers to compete in 1,500-metre and 800-metre races where they don’t normally get the opportunity.
Both the 1,500 metre and 800-metre events will be offered at regionals as qualifiers to provincials.
The next meet for the club is in Okotoks June 25.
