Four Westlock Gators won medals as the Aquatic Centre was packed to the gills June 2 for the Fred Morie Invitational Swim Meet, the first of the season for the ‘B’ region in the Alberta Summer Swimming Association. Gator Renko Wepener won gold in the boys 9-10 category after completing the 25-metre fly stroke in 18.03 seconds, the 25-metre breaststroke in 25.46, the 50-metre breaststroke in 51.77 and the 50-metre freestyle in 38.91. His sister Nika won silver in the girls 8-and-under finishing the 50-metre backstroke in 1:11.89, the 50-metre freestyle in 1:00.90, the 25-metre backstroke in 34.82 and the 25-metre freestyle in 31.16. Kaden Tuiniga won silver in the boys 11-12 category with a time of 3:15.70 in the 200-metre freestyle, 1:46.29 in the 100-metre breaststroke, 49.00 in the 50-metre breaststroke and a time of 46.01 in the 50-metre fly stroke. Jared Lunger claimed bronze after finishing the 100-metre individual medley in 1:17.85, the 50-metre breaststroke in 41.43, the 50-metre fly in 33.46 and the 50-metre freestyle in 28.46. Gators coach Kirsten Tabert said the 39-member team is growing in both numbers and age. “We have some kids who have moved up in age categories so they’re trying some longer distances,” she said. “We also have about 10 new swimmers under age eight.” One area she was particularly impressed with was their streamline technique. “You want a really tight form off the block and we’ve been working really hard on that,” she said. “I’m seeing that, even in our little guys, so that’s good.” She added she was happy with the results but says there’s always work to do. “We are really weak in backstroke, so we are going to working on it a lot more,” she said. “Part of the trouble is we have to put the flags up every week, which are crucial to backstroke, so as coaches we are committed to getting those flags up every week so we can practice that skill.” Having flags up during practice will help the Gators focus more on their technique, as the flags help them gauge how far they are from the edge of the pool. “The kids are afraid of hitting their heads on the wall if they don’t have the flags, so they need to train themselves to be able to know how many strokes they have until they reach it.” Overall, Tabert liked what she saw at the meet and congratulated her swimmers. “Even our youngest swimmer at age five finished a flutterboard in 39 seconds. Our swimmers are posting amazing times and really gaining. It’s exciting to watch.”
