Yorkton speed swimmer Jennifer Haczkewicz, 11, just returned from the biggest competition of her speed swimming career. Haczkewicz swam at the ManSask Long Course Championships in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
The meet, which ran from July 7-11, was open to all swimmers from Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Western Ontario that met the qualifying standard times in competition during the swim season.
Haczkewicz was the only Yorkton swimmer to meet the qualifying standards this season.
Head coach Ashley Benko says there are three more swimmers on the verge of making the meet standard. Benko says, "There are three ladies, Jayden Lang, 12, (50m butterfly), Jessica Santfleben, 16, (50m freestyle), and Kelsey Haczkewicz, 11, (50m breaststroke), who are all within one second of making the "AA" standard time to qualify.
Haczkewicz competed in six races at the meet, finishing in the top 20 in all six. Her best finishes came in the 50m butterfly and the 50m backstroke. In the butterfly she chopped a remarkable two and a half seconds off her personal best time to place 12th in a time of 39.38 seconds. She also qualified for the "A Final" in the 50m backstroke as an alternate and placed 10th.
"The pool was awesome!" says Haczkewicz. The meet was held at the Pan Am Pool, a facility designed for the 1999 Pan Am Games. The building itself is enormous, and needs to be to hold the eight lane 50m training pool, eight lane 50m main competition pool and warm-up pool all under one roof. Having been designed for the Pan Am Games, the spectators were definitely accounted for in the buildings' design. Spectators have unobstructed views of the entire pool from all areas of the building.
"I'm glad to say that my times improved at this meet," added Haczkewicz, "I was a little nervous to begin with. Those Manitoba and Ontario swimmers were pretty quick."
The competition was tough; each race had the top 11 year-old prairie swimmers in them. If swimmers weren't on their game they were left behind rather quickly.
Once in the pool Haczkewicz settled down to the business of swimming and focussed on the job at hand. She is very thankful to Coach Ashley Benko and her assistant swim coaches for all of the tips and training advice that she received this past season. "Without their help and constant reminders I may not have reached this level," says Haczkewicz.
She says that having competed at this level she now knows that it will take slight improvements to technique such as flip turns, breathing patterns, stroke technique and body awareness in the water to continue to chip away at her personal best times. "I am really excited to get back into te pool this fall and get back to work," she adds.
The young phenom turns 12 in August and will face tougher qualifying standard times as she attempts to return to the competition next year.
As the provinces top swimmers enjoy some well deserved down time before the start of the season in September Haczkewsicz is looking forward to competing in her next endeavour, triathlon. She is competing in a race in August at Clear Lake, Manitoba in preparation for her attempt to make the Saskatchewan Summer Games Team as a triathlete next summer.
