The Cochrane Piranhas are growing stronger after every practice and the proof is in the results.

Forty-five Piranhas attended the June 15-16th Region E meet in High River, says Head Coach, Breanna Hendriks, with swimmers coming from Calgary, Cochrane, Airdrie, Didsbury, Okotoks, High River and Canmore.

It was a great meet, shares Hendriks. "We had a lot of kids do 400 Freestyle for the first time, Breaststroke and Fly events for the first time. So lots of achievements that way, not just personal bests. All around the group did great, a lot of firsts and big events, 400 Freestyle is kind of daunting for some of these kids and to accomplish that and not cry or stop in the middle that is the starting point."

Hendriks is quite pleased with how quickly the swimmers are progressing. "Tons of improvement just technically with our younger swimmers and older swimmers. I am quite impressed with the improvements they have made thus far considering we are only a month and a half in. It is pretty amazing the progress they have made."

Much of the Piranhas training season last year was spent at the Big Hill Leisure Pool and perhaps this session's fast progression swimmers could be attributed to practising at the new pool. "We can do different sets than we used to be able to do and definitely having more lane space helps a lot."

Some highlights are listed below and a full list can be found HERE.

  • ·Ben Barclay placed 1st in Boys 12&U 400 m Freestyle and 50 m Fly and placed 3rd in the 100 m and 50 m Freestyle events
  • ·Jake Barclay placed 2nd in the boys 15 to 17 year old 100 m Backstroke, 3rd in 200 m IM and 3rd in the 50 m Backstroke
  • ·Natalie Barreto-Waringer placed 3rd in the girls 13&14-year-old 400 m Freestyle and 100 m Breaststroke
  • ·Cadence Bashow placed 1st in the girls 6&U Flutterboard
  • ·Sam Cheverie placed 2nd in the Boys 6&U 25 m Backstroke and 3rd in 25 m Freestyle
  • ·Kaitlyn Eiserman placed 2nd in the girls 9&10-year-old 50 m Freestyle; 2nd in 25 m Butterfly and 3rd in the girls 12&U 400 m Freestyle
  • ·Quinn Fitzsimmons placed 2nd in the boys 12&U 400 m Freestyle
  • ·Kyla Fritz placed 1st in the girls 15-17 100 m Backstroke and 3rd in the 200 m IM
  • ·Jamie Harris placed 1st in the girls 15-17 200 m IM and 2nd in 50 m Fly
  • ·Ella Kruger placed 2nd in girls 12&U 400 m Freestyle and 3rd in 100 m Backstroke
  • ·Max Kruger placed 1st in boys 13&14-year-old 200 IM; 2nd in 400 Freestyle and 3rd in 50 m Breast
  • ·Tegan Lester-Olivier placed 2nd in the girls 9&10-year-old 100 m Freestyle
  • ·Travis Lester-Olivier placed 1st in the boys 9&10 100 m Freestyle; 2nd in 200 Freestyle and 3rd in both 50 m Back and 25 m Fly
  • ·Jade Macosky placed 1st in the girls 15-17 400 m Free and 2nd in 200 IM
  • ·Bria Michalski placed 3rd in girls 13&14 50 m Breast
  • ·Grace Pawliuk placed 3rd in girls 7&8 50 m Backstroke
  • ·Josie Powers placed 2nd in the girls 11&12-year-old 200 m IM
  • ·Mackinley Smith placed 1st in girls 6&U 25 m Back and 2nd in both 25 m Freestyle and 25 m Flutterboard
  • ·Aaron Swedlo placed 3rd in boys 12&U 400 m Free and 200 m IM
  • ·Catherine Swedlo placed 2nd in girls 13&14 400 m Freestyle
  • ·Evan Thibodeau placed 2nd in boys 7&8-year-old 25 m Breast

In relays the Piranhas had some excellent results in fast times as well:

  • ·In the girls 12&U 200 m Freestyle relay the team of Ella Kruger; Josie Powers, Danika Richter and Clara Washburn placed 2nd
  • ·In girls 14&U 200 m Freestyle Bria Michalski, Natalie Barreto-Waringer, Madyson Cheverie and Anjali Simms placed 3rd
  • ·The Mixed team of Jamie Harris, Jake Barclay, Catherine Swedlo and Max Kruger placed 2nd in the 17&U 200 m freestyle event
  •  The ·The team of Jade Macosky, Levi Lewko, Kyla Fritz and Ben Barclay placed 3rd in the 17&U 200 m Freestyle
  • ·The team of Reid Boukall, Gavin Lange,  Jacob Corcoran and Sam Cheverie placed 3rd in the boys 8&U 100 m Freestyle
  • ·Quinn Fitzsimons, Mackenzie Banfield, Isabella Barreto-Waringer and Aaron Swedlo placed 2nd in the mixed 12&U 200 m Freestyle

The Cochrane Piranhas tackle their third meet in Okotoks this upcoming weekend (June 22-23rd) and the schedule only grows more intense. "We have a swim meet every single weekend until the end of our season minus the long weekends. so it going to be a busy month and a half coming up here."

Once school is out the Cochrane Piranhas will spend a little more time in the pool as training picks up.