Neptunes continue to build from ground up; several great swims in Colville
By The Nelson Daily Sports
Castlegar continues to dominate the Kootenay Summer Swim Association season.
But don’t overlook the improvement of the Nelson Neptunes.
The club continues to build from the grass roots, turning in several exceptional performances during the recent KSSA stop during the wekeend in Colville, Wash.
“We were in awe of our younger swimmers as they tried the ‘more challenging events’,” said Neptune skipper Cynthia Pfeiffer.
“I was extremely impressed with our team spirit and positivity (cheers, dance parties, team potluck). We have the best time together.”
Three Neptunes finished in the medals.
Morgan Roberston-Weir, in Division one girls; Jaylen Rushton in Division two girls; and Ohia Wintraub in Division four girls all won bronze medals.
Pfeiffer won silver in Division eight womens.
“Ohia Wintraub had an amazing 100 meter butterfly giving her a time that would be very competitive with kids way beyond her age,” Pfeiffer said.
“Kallie Badry represented the Neptune in the 400m IM — four lengths of butterfly, then four lengths of backstroke, four lengths of breaststroke, and four lengths of freestyle.
“She completed the race with a time 0f 12:10.40 and was the youngest swimmer to do take on this challenge at only 6 years of age.”
Neptune highlights include:
Imogen Cowan, Morgan Robertson-Weir: 50m butterfly
Paige Ross: 50m freestyle
Aubree Fillion, Ella Chouinard: 100m freestyle
Elissa Centrone: 100m backstroke
Lachlan Bibby-Fox: 50m breaststroke
Jaylen Rushton, Locke Finley, Joanna Blishen: 50m butterfly
Castlegar won the meet with 3370 points. Grand Forks, Penticton, Colville and Kimberley were next followed by Nelson in sixth.
Trail and Creston rounded out the field.
“We are also so happy to see how receptive the swimmers have been to our feedback and training,” Pfeiffer said.
“All the little things are coming together – for example, we had lots of kids making sure they were doing their flip-turns at every wall.”
The Neptunes have the weekend off before heading into the two most intense weeks of training to prepare them for regionals which will be held the first weekend of August.
