With Santa Claus watching from the pool deck, the Ravensong Breakers once again showed their stuff at the 14th annual Christmas Cracker Meet in Saanich.
Racing their way to the holidays, the Breakers kicked off December competing against 800 of the top swimmers from across Canada and the Western United States in the largest invitational swim meet in the country.
The Breakers sent 16 swimmers and coach John Campbell said, “I’ve never seen such a high percentage of best times in a single meet in my 43 years of coaching.”
Breakout swimmer Jakob Brager, age 12, led the Breakers with three first place finishes in the 50m butterfly, 400m freestyle and the 50m freestyle. In the 400m freestyle, he led from start to finish surprising the rest of the field. He was also second in the 100m backstroke and 200m freestyle and third in the 200m backstroke.
Distance swimming specialist Jack Confortin, 14, once again won the 1,500m freestyle, making him undefeated in that event for almost a year. He was second in the 800m freestyle and third in the 400m freestyle.
Confortin and teammates Alex Roberts and Megan Romkes will travel to Winnipeg for the Canadian Western Canadian Championships in February.
Camryn Stannard, 11, made five finals in the 12 and under age group, placing second in the 100m freestyle with a strong 1:03.88 time, third in the 200m individual medley and 200m breaststroke and fifth in the 100m breaststroke and 200m butterfly.
All of the Breakers in this year’s swim meet, including Ella Confortin, Jayde Herr, Jenna Horton, Montana and Tyson Krieger, Bridget McGibbon, Leila-Indira Mohabeer-Ortiz, Alex and Ben Roberts, Lochlan Rogers, Megan Romkes, Jordyn Shields and Ethan Stannard, accomplished at least one best time.
Next up for the Breakers is the Vancouver Island Regional Championships in mid-January at the Nanaimo Aquatic Centre, where they will compete against the best swimmers from across the Island.