Members of the Winskill Dolphins Swim Club travelled to Winnipeg for the 2012 Western Canadian Championships.
The fastest meet west of the Great Lakes preceding Olympic Trials, the Westerns saw the best 15 and under and 16 and over swimmers in the country facing off in some terrific competition.
It was a weekend of firsts for the tiny swim team from Tsawwassen. Of their 12 competitors at the Westerns, the Dolphins boasted six newly minted qualifiers, first-time competitors at the meet; four first-time finalists; three first-time "A' finalists and one newly minted relay medalist.
Sidney Peake's consistently strong performances not only qualified her for her first Western "A" final but also rewrote the club record books, making her the obvious star of the meet.
The 14-year-old qualified for "A" finals in the 200 breaststroke, 200 individual medley, and 200 freestyle, finishing eighth, sixth, and sixth respectively. She swam five seconds better than her previous best in breaststroke and set new senior girls club records in both 200m IM and free. She also helped her affiliate Vancouver Dolphin teammates place fifth in the 4x200 free, 4x100m Free, and concluded the meet with bronze in 4x100 medley.
Also making her debut in the "A" finals at Westerns was NuNu Singh (14) in the 100 back.
She finished sixth overall with a time that tied the Winskill and Vancouver Dolphins 13-and-14-ear-old girls record. Singh moved up the rankings and into finals for 50 and 200 backstroke and demonstrated her versatility by making the "B" final in 100 fly.
Continuing to produce milestone performances were the Western rookies, like Markus Thormeyer (14) who raced a new WDSC 13-14 boys club record in 50m and 100m backstroke.
In the 4x100 medley relay Thormeyer further lowered his 100m back record - leading off the team in 59.23 seconds.
