It's that time of year for the RAC Breakers, as members of the local high performance swim club have been digging in at some big events.
Breakers' coach Gary Cheung took 11 swimmers to Surrey for the 2013 SwimBC Short Course AA Championships Feb. 8-10.
A big meet featuring some 400 swimmers, the BC Short Course AA provincials ran Feb. 8 - 10.
"This is definitely one of the most exciting meets of the year," said Cheung, explaining how most of the swimmers there were looking to touch the wall for their first AAA times and to qualify for the AAA Provincial Championships slated for Saanich's Commonwealth Pool Feb. 28 - March 3.
On day one, the Breakers' Hannah Lorette turned in a AAA time of 1:21.38 in the 100 Backstroke, and Jordana Bater earned herself a silver medal in her 200 Fly.
Other results that day included Hannah Lorette, 11, who finished fourth in the 100 Back with a AAA time of 1:21.60. Jordana Bater, 11, earned herself a sivler medal in the 200 Fly at 3:26.48; Hana Edwards, 9, grabbed fifth in the 200 IM and sixth in the 100 Back; Sydney Raduy, 11, was 8th in the 50 Free, and Kira Edwards, 12, was fifth in her 100 Back.
On day two, the Breakers said their coach "raised their bar higher."
In the 11&U girls 100 Freestyle, Katie Redenbach, 11, Hannah Lorette, 11, and Hana Edwards, 9, all swam personal best times in the morning preliminaries to qualify for the evening finals. Ayden Jager, 13, also qualified for the finals in the 12&under Girls 100 Free event.
In their 100 Free finals, Jager mined a silver medal with a time of 1:05.94, Redenbach bagged bronze with a time of 1:12.56, while Lorette earned seventh and Edwards, 8th.
In other results that day, Lorette secured a silver medal in the 400 Free with a time of 5:28.10, and Alexandra Roberts, 9, earned a bronze in the 400 Free with a time of 5:31.74. Redenbach also finished fourth in the 400 Free, as did Maude McGibbon, 15, in her 400 Free. Lauren Gilmour, 15, was sixth in the 100 Free; Hana Edwards, 9, was sixth in the 100 Fly.
The atmosphere, said Cheung, “was getting more intense and electrified at the Surrey pool on day three,” explaining how his swimmers went into the last day of the championships and last chance to obtain their AAA times fully focused.
“Our girls took on the initiative during warm up and gave their best swim in the morning preliminary,” said their coach,
Sydney Raduy, Hannah Lorette, Katie Redenbach and Jordana Bater) qualified for finals in 11&U 200 freestyle finals, while Maude McGibbon made her way in 15&O 200 freestyle finals. Kira Edwards and Hannah Lorette qualified for finals in 200 Backstroke.
At the end of the day, Katie, 11, bagged herself a bronze medal in the 200 Free with a time of 2:35.92, and Sydney, Hannah and Jordana finished fourth, fifth and seventh. McGibbon, 15, finished fourth in her 200 Free, and Edwards, 12, garnered gold in the 200 Back with a AAA time of 2:41.36, and Lorette, 11, earned bronze at 2:52.67.
“I couldn’t be more proud,” Chueng said of his team’s performance.