Not many observers of the recent BC School Sports Aquatics Provincials would have batted an eye if members of the South Delta Secondary swim team attempted to swim home from the annual meet held in Nanaimo in mid-November.
The Sun Devils dominated the competition winning 17 gold medals, 39 total medals, four relay trophies, and a combined point total of 607 to win the (unofficial) Top Scoring Overall provincial title.
“Going back 10 years, the school has never won more than nine medals at the provincial meet, so to come away with 39 this year and 56 over the last two years is quite the accomplishment,” said Kevin McGregor, who has coached the team the last two years along with Richard Hortness and community coach Sam Cates. “Although we didn’t get a banner, both the coaches of St. George’s and Penticton congratulated us on our ‘unofficial’ finish atop the combined standings.”
For the second straight year SDSS had the largest team at the event with 39 qualifiers who swam stroke for stroke with B.C,’s perennial contenders in the Penticton Lakers and St. George’s Saints.
The girls finished second to the Lakers for the second straight year and the boys finished second to the Saints.
The Top Scoring Overall title, (with no banner since 2017), was the first ever for SDSS and they became only the fourth B.C. school to accomplish the feat in the last 23 years joining St. George’s, Penticton, and West Point Grey Academy.
“We are fortunate to have two competitive clubs and one recreational club that feed into our school,” said McGregor. “Other clubs in the Lower Mainland are split among four to five schools. I put the kids in the best position to compete and succeed. It is pretty rewarding to watch some of them step out of their comfort zone and onto the block at their first ever provincial level competition.”
He said the success is a credit to the community coaches including Judy Baker (Winskill), Alex Wheatcroft (Ladner), and Jeanelle Thomas (Boundary Bay).
“Swimming is no different than any other sport in the schools. If you are not playing the particular sport within the community, it is hard to even make the school teams these days,” McGregor added.
The list of medals are as follows:
Relays
GOLD Girl’s 200 Freestyle Relay OPEN (Abby McLeod, Naomi Mynott, Tiffany Ho, Caitlyn Fowler)
GOLD Mixed Medley Relay B (Keaton McGregor, Sophie Perlotto, Dylan Bradbury, Jade de Fondaumiere)
GOLD Mixed Freestyle Relay B (Thomas Denney, Madi Dahl, Jade de Fondaumiere, Dylan Bradbury)
GOLD MIxed Freestyle Relay OPEN (Jeremy Slinn, Tiffany Ho, Abby McLeod, Zach McLeod)
SILVER Girls 200 Medley B (Chloe Mason, Sophie Perlotto, Jade de Fondaumiere, Madi Dahl)
SILVER Girl’s 400 Freestyle Relay OPEN (Abby McLeod, Tiffany Ho, Caitlyn Fowler, Naomi Mynott)
BRONZE Girl’s 400 Freestyle Relay B (Chloe Mason, Madi Dahl, Rowan Christiansen, Jade de Fondaumiere)
BRONZE Girl’s 200 Freestyle Relay B (Chloe Mason, Sophie Perlotto, Rowan Christiansen, Madi Dahl)
BRONZE Boy’s 200 Freestyle Relay B (Keaton McGregor, Thomas Denney, Maxim Wenzel, Dylan Bradbury)
Individual
GOLD Dylan Bradbury 50m butterfly B
SILVER Keaton McGregor 50m backstroke B
BRONZE Zach McLeod 100m butterfly OPEN
Team members
Nicole Abercrombie, Sophia Barber, Dylan Bradbury, Michelle Brotherston, Sara Brotherston, Katelyn Brotherston, Annali Buchanan, Tessa Buckley, Lucas Chown, Rowan Christiansen, Tyler Cui, Madi Dahi, Jade de Fondaumiere, Carmen De Troya Molina, Thomas Denney, Marley Dodds, Cooper Dodds, Adaira Engelsjord, Quinn Engelsjord, Caitly Fowler, Sarah Gao, Ines Goulart, Will Gower, Leni Heinicke, Tiffany Ho, Bodey Iverson, Charlotte Jones, Wil Jones, Elliott Jorgensen, Sophia Jung, Zeina Khalifa, Leo Kim, Ethan Knight, Adalia Lekais, Aiden Lew, Nick Macpherson, Evan Maloney, Kyla Marshall, Chloe Mason, Charlie McDowell, Keaton McGregor, Abby McLeod, Zach McLeod, Naomi Mynott, Kayla O'Donnell, Sophie Perlotto, Ferdinand-Heinrich Rennemann, Nicole Rheiner, Adrian Riley, Jeremy Slinn, Sydney Taylor-Hunt, Alexa Vetter, Maxim Wenzel, Jacob Zabudsky.
