The Abbotsford Whalers’ collective performance at the Fraser Valley regional swim championships in Mission was notable in terms of both quantity and quality.
The local summer swim club not only won the overall team aggregate title for the most total points on the weekend, they also took home the prestigious “points per swimmer” award for the highest average per swimmer attending.
Individually, the Whalers claimed an eye-popping 10 division aggregate awards, courtesy Emily De Jager (Div. 2 girls), Haley Klenk (Div. 3 girls), Mervin Jerodico (Div. 3 boys), Fallon Quast (Div. 4 girls), Ely Davidson (OCat1 boys), Jean Leslie (OCat2 girls), Brady Utas (Div. 6 boys), Madeline Fedora (Div. 7 girls), Gavin Wiese (Div. 7 boys) and Alycia Connorton (Div. 8 girls).
The Abby club also toppled seven meet records, including five in individual races. Lauren Jones (Div. 7 girls) broke the 100-metre butterfly record twice on Saturday, while Fedora erased a 100m backstroke mark that had stood since 1985. Utas’s 100m butterfly record was also long-standing – it had been established in 1989 by former national team swimmer Mark Leurs. And Quast continued her record-breaking streak in the 50m butterfly.
The Whalers’ Div. 4 girls relay teams broke regional records in the 200m medley (team members were Quast, Amy Connorton, Brynn Kampf and Lauren Kennedy) and the 200m free (Quast, Connorton, Kennedy and Rachel Mortimer).
Up next for the Whalers is the provincial championships in Kamloops next week.