Whitecourt Blue Dolphins Club celebrates fantastic showings at Regionals and Provincials

“All the swimmers are really excited and I know as a coach, I am really excited,” exclaimed Alice Boll, head coach of the Whitecourt Blue Dolphins, in speaking about her group having competed in Provincials on August 19 and 20. Held at the Kinsmen Centre in Edmonton, the Provincials are a big deal for all the swimmers and coaches.

“Provincials is a really big deal! It’s the end game for our whole season. This is our chance to swim and compete against swimmers from across the whole province.  Throughout the season we compete with swimmers just in our region, so this is our chance to diversify and see all the other swimmers in our province and put ourselves to the test against the top swimmers.”

The Blue Dolphins are just coming off a shiny weekend at Regionals, also held at the Kinsmen Centre, where multiple swimmers won multiple medals. “Every swimmer had the opportunity to swim four races of their own then they could also form relay teams.  They swam preliminaries in the morning. If they finished in the top eight they moved onto the finals in the afternoon. It was very exciting! We had 21 swimmers who attended Regionals, and we had 13 that qualified for Provincials.”

With only one week separating the two big competitions, the team practiced hard at the Allan & Jean Millar Centre. “You see all the hard work they put in during the season coming to fruition. I couldn’t be prouder as a coach just seeing how much effort and hard work they put into their practices and showing up for everything. It’s been a fabulous season so it’s exciting to have had 13 swimmers who made it to the final step.”

One of the 13 qualifiers, 14-year-old Kevin Blain, has been swimming with the Blue Dolphins team since he was six. “I love swimming because it keeps you really fit and its really fun to do,” he said. Kevin medaled in all six of his events at Regionals and was looking to improve on last year’s eighth place at Provincials.

The 2017 Whitecourt Blue Dolphins club was the biggest they’ve ever had. “We had 70 swimmers this year! You get the little guys who start the season and they can’t really swim yet, but by the end of the season they are just going and have an amazing kick.  The parents are always saying that this is the best thing they could’ve done for their kid!  We love to hear that!”

All season long the swimmers are working for personal goals aside from ribbons or medals, and seeing their own personal development and improvement is a big confidence boost for the whole team. “When they qualify they have this huge look of satisfaction on their face. They know they did it. Whether they place 1^st or 16^th, they’re saying, I’m at that level where I get to go to Provincials and get 16^th place and that’s amazing.”

After the weekend wrapped up, the 13-member team placed a lot of personal best times. In fact, they set a total of 31 new personal bests altogether. Madeline Blain placed 8^th and 12^th in her two events, setting a record for herself. Kevin Blain took part in six events reaching 6^th in the Medley Relay and 7^th in the Free Relay, both bests for him. He also placed 5^th in the boy’s 50m Breaststroke.

Eric Davidson bested himself in four of his five events including placing 6^th in the Medley Relay. Samia Davidson swam in five events and set personal bests in every single one including a 5^th place finish in the 50m Backstroke. Eden Durocher swam twice (Medley, Free Relays) setting personal bests both times, as did Alex Hoyda who swam in the 25m Backstroke and 50 Backstroke, finishing 8^th and 7^th. Alysa Tarcon performed in four events and bested in three of them: 100m Fly, 100 IM and the 200m Relay.

Matthew Hill placed 12^th in the 25m Backstroke, Kimberly Maxwell placed 8^th in the 200m Medley and Josh Robinson, alongside Duncan Wild, placed 12^th in the Free Relay all of which are personal bests. Rylee Witherly finished 6^th in the 50m Backstroke and 12^th in the 25m Backstroke while Peyj Woykin bested herself in all six events she swam in including the Medley, Free Relay, 100m and 50m Backstrokes and the 100m and 200m Free. Congratulations to all the Whitecourt Blue Dolphins on another amazing season!