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The Yorkton Storm Swim Club (YSSC) recently attended their very first international swim meet. The club sent a record number of swimmers, 24 in total, to a swim meet in Minot, North Dakota. According to Head Coach, Ashley Benko, never have so many represented the Yorkton club in a competition before.
"It was a really great experience for our swimmers, their parents, and for me as a coach to be part of a meet like this one," says Benko. She adds, "The Americans really know how to do things up right, they had two young ladies sing the national anthems of both countries at the start of each days' events." "Just watching our swimmers standing at attention for O'Canada gave me a tingle down my spine," she went on to say. The team received a huge round of applause when they were announced at the start of the meet. Benko commented on the hospitality saying, "they really enjoyed having us at the meet, and I guess we made a good impression because the club from Williston, North Dakota has invited us to attend their meet next year." Benko was quick to add that although the competition was great south of the border, the times swam by the Canadians are not convertible to meet the Canadian Standards back home. This poses a problem for the swimmers trying to swim "A" times to qualify for the Provincial Short Course Meet.
The Yorkton swimmers were all sporting temporary red maple leaf tattoos thanks to one of the moms who came up with the idea the day before the team left for Minot. Competing in the USA was interesting for a number of reasons. Perhaps the biggest reason was the length of the pool. In Canada during the Short Course season our swimmers compete in 25 metre pools, while in the USA the Short Course pools are 25 yards long.
"Twenty-five yards converts to about 22.9 metres so our Canadian times needed to be converted to American times before we were entered into the competition," said Benko. "Another big interest for our swimmers was how competitive the North Dakotan's were going to be, and if we could swim with them south of the border," Benko added.
The club answered their competition question in spades. The meet was used as a qualifying meet for the North Dakota State Championships so there were some very fast swimmers in attendance. The Canucks from Yorkton brought their "A" game though and by meet's end had amassed 6 gold medal performances, 6 silvers, and 12 bronze.
Jennifer Haczkewicz (14) turned in a stellar performance in Minot. Jennifer came home with five first place finishes in the 50yd Butterfly, 200yd Freestyle, 50yd Backstroke, 100yd Butterfly and shared a first place finish in the 200yd Medley Relay. The other three members of the first place relay team were Cassidy Flasch, Kelsey Haczkewicz, and Tia Slowski. Haczkewicz had two second place finishes in the 100yd Freestyle and 50yd Freestyle. She also added two third place efforts in the 100yd Backstroke and the 50yd Breaststroke. Asked to comment on the experience Jennifer was quick to say how friendly and nice all of her fellow competitors were to her and the rest of the team from Yorkton.
Jacob Baker (13) also had a successful meet in preparation for the upcoming "A" Provincial Meet in Prince Albert. Baker captured two second place finishes in the 200yd Breaststroke and the 50yd Freestyle. He was also an integral part of the 200yd Freestyle Relay Team that won a bronze medal. The three other members of the relay team were Adam Kindjerski, Connor Watrych, and Auston Roberts.
Adam Kindjerski (14) found his stroke so to speak at the Minot Meet as he added three third place finishes to his resume along with the bronze medal in the 200yd Freestyle Relay. Kindjerski raced to bronze in the 200yd Breaststroke, 50yd Breaststroke, and the 50yd Freestyle.
While Benko is always quick to praise the older swimmers in the club for competing so well and setting a standard for the young ones coming up, at this meet she made special mention of the up and comers, "We have a group of young ladies, that if they stick with the sport will be finding the podium on a regular basis in a couple of years' time."
That group of up and comers is led by Matlyn Bulych (8). Bulych came home with seven top three finishes from the meet. She placed first in the 25yd Breaststroke and added silver medals in the 50yd Breaststroke and the 100yd Medley Relay. The three other members of the "up and comers" relay were; Ella Kozak, Anna Bulych, and Alexandra Poncelet. Bulych closed out her trips to the podium with four third place finishes in the 25yd Freestyle, 25yd Butterfly, 50yd Backstroke, and the 50yd Freestyle events.
Anna Bulych (6) who is too young to swim competitively in Canada due to age restrictions put in place by Swim Canada was able to compete in Minot where the rules don't apply. She swam like a speed demon against the girls who were two years older than her all weekend long. Her hard work paid off for her in the 25yd Backstroke where she swam to a third place finish.
The Storm Chaser Award handed out by the swim club to the swimmer that takes the most time off overall in all of their races was again awarded at this meet. This meets' Storm Chaser Award was given to Josh Haczkewicz who improved a whopping 10.04 seconds per race.
The next meet for the Yorkton Club will be the "A" Provincial Swim Meet in Prince Albert held February 28 - March 2. The team has had five swimmers qualify for the meet; Jennifer Haczkewicz, Jacob Baker, Kelsey Haczkewicz, Cassidy Flasch and Randi Jones. According to Coach Benko expectations are high for this group of five swimmers as she expects them to do well. Benko pointed out, "There will be opportunities for all five to compete at high levels at this meet and do well." She went on to say, "Each of these swimmers could potentially medal at this meet, that's how strong they are."
