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Saanich swimmers sweep podium at long course provincials

Island Swimming Club athletes qualify for AAA long course provincials
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Saanich swimmers Sloane Wensaeur (gold), Paper Heaney-Corns (silver) and Kaysha Bikadi (bronze) swept the 12-13 year old 400m individual medley at the AA long course provincials in Richmond last week. Submitted

A crew of Island Swimming Club athletes returned from last week’s AA long course Provincial Championships in Richmond with medals in hand.

Some of the swimmers, who are based out of Saanich Commonwealth Place, also qualified for the upcoming AAA provincials in July.

Island Swimming sent 32 swimmers to Richmond and the girls half of the team finished second in the province and fourth overall out of 39 clubs participating.

Kaysha Bikadi, Sloane Wensaeur and Marisa Smith all qualified for the AAA long course provincials in Kamloops, July 6 to 9.

There was no bigger moment for Island Swimming at the provincials than the podium sweep in the 12-13 year-old 400m individual medley with Wensaeur winning gold, Paper Heaney-Corns silver and Bikadi bronze.

Smith also put in a great swim to win gold in the 200m free, and a bronze in the 100m back. Bikadi won silver in the 100m back and bronze in the 200m IM. Jamie Harker moved up from seventh in the preliminary heat to take gold the 100m fly final heat and a bronze in the 200m fly.

Sophie Marshall picked up bronze finished in the 50m and 100m free events, meeting the AAA standard. Wensaeur won bronze in the 400m free with a spectacular sprint in the final 50m sprint and a surprising touch, one tenth of a second ahead of teammate Smith. The latter was fourth with a personal best time also met the AAA standard.

Kristopher Hulten let the Island Swimming boys with silver in the 200m breast and 100m breast. Matthew DeMerchant also had a great meet with two bronze, in the 100m fly and 200m fly.

The girls also won bronze in the 14-and-under 200m free relay and silver in the 12-and-under 200m IM relay. Picture: Saanich swimmers Sloane Wensaeur winning the 400m IM with Team mate Pyper and Kaysha. The only podium sweep of the meet from ISC.