Haley Black and four other members of the Prince George Barracudas swim club hauled medals home from the Western Canadian championships.
At the meet, held last weekend in Saskatoon, Black stroked to three gold medals and a matching number of silvers. Meanwhile, Harrison Lagzdin powered his way to a gold and a silver. Danica Ludlow and Sava Yungman earned silver medals and Patricia Fortier picked up two bronze medals.
Black, 16, set club-record times while winning gold in the 50-metre backstroke (29.04 seconds) and 100m backstroke (one minute 1.22 seconds). She was also golden in the 100m butterfly (1:00.81) and earned her silver medals in the 50m butterfly, 200m butterfly and 400m individual medley.
Lagzdin, also 16, won his 200m backstroke race in a personal-best time of 2:01.82. His silver medal came in the 400m IM. The 16-year-old Ludlow, meanwhile, zipped to her silver in the 800m freestyle in a clocking of 8:52.26. Yungman, 16, swam to his silver in the 200m butterfly (2:06.80), while the 15-year-old Fortier grabbed her bronze medals in the 200m backstroke (2:14.57) and 200m IM (2:23.29).
Sterling King, a 17-year-old Barracudas athlete, also had an excellent showing at Westerns. While in Saskatoon, he set new club marks in four events -- the 800m freestyle, 200m freestyle, 100m butterfly and 100m freestyle. King placed fourth in the 800 free (8:08.17), seventh in the 200 free (1:51.00), 21st in the 100 butterfly (56.82) and 25th in the 100 free (52.50).
Jessa Wing, Julie Wing, Bailey Hardy and Aiden Kim also competed at the championships. Jessa Wing, 16, posted her best result in the 1,500m freestyle, where she finished 12th in a personal-best time of 17:58.27.
As for the 13-year-old Julie Wing, she was at her quickest in the 200m backstroke. In that event, she placed 10th in a best-ever clocking of 2:21.28.
The 15-year-old Hardy's top result came in the 200m breaststroke, which saw her touch the wall in 20th place in a time of 2:43.17.
Kim, finally, stroked to personal-bests in all three of her swims. She was 22nd in both the 50m breaststroke (30.53) and 100m breaststroke (1:06.42) and was 24th in the 200m breaststroke with a time of 2:27.90.
The Barracudas ended the meet as the top-finishing club in B.C. Overall, they were sixth out of 55 in the team standings.
