All season long, Kayla Korolek had been falling just shy of her goal of competing in the Swim B.C. double-A championships.
She finally stopped the clock quickly enough at the Dental Moose Meet, held Friday to Sunday at the Prince George Aquatic Centre. And she did it not just once, but five times.
At the meet, the 12-year-old member of the Prince George Barracudas qualified for provincials in the 100-metre breaststroke, 200m freestyle, 200m individual medley, 200m backstroke and 400m IM. One of the reasons for Korolek's success was the fact she was swimming in a long-course or 50m pool instead of a short course one, which measures 25m. A longer pool means fewer turns, and for Korolek, that's a good thing.
"I'm not the best at turns -- I need to work on those," she said. "I'm not really a short course person."
The Dental Moose Meet was the first long course event of the season for Korolek and the rest of the Barracudas.
Korolek also had another challenge during the short course portion of her schedule -- she was recovering from a broken right wrist, an injury she suffered in September while trying to stop a shot on the soccer pitch.
"It took three weeks to get my cast off," she said. "My first meet coming back wasn't what I wanted to do [for times] but I couldn't have high expectations."
Korolek's provincial-qualifying times on the weekend were: 100m breaststroke, one minute 33.36 seconds; 200 freestyle, 2:37.83; 200 IM, 2:57.13; 200 backstroke, 2:59.23; and 400 IM, 6:22.48. Korolek's coach, Jason Smith, was full of praise for his swimmer.
"I'm very happy with her performances and it's because of how hard she works in practices, with dryland, with paying attention to detail," Smith said. "If there's a step that's a little more challenging, she does it. She doesn't sit there and go, 'Woe is me, I can't do this.' And that's the reason she's doing really well in long course. And I think long course suits her better too."
The double-A provincials are June 22-24 in Victoria. Other first-time Barracudas qualifiers for the championships were Jenna Korolek and Mackenzie Lewington.
Binnema faster than ever
Josiah Binnema left all of his old records sinking in his wake.
Binnema, 14, swam in eight events at the Dental Moose Meet and established eight new personal-best times. He loves being at the pool and loves to swim, and that positive attitude leads directly to quick times.
"The most important part is that I had a lot of fun doing it," he said of his weekend accomplishments. "Through my whole swimming career, I've always more wanted to have fun than really to go fast. It works quite well for me."
Binnema, in his eighth year with the Barracudas, said a growth spurt at the start of the season has also helped him significantly.
"I started growing a little bit taller and so then I made Team B.C. training camp," he said. "I went there and they taught me some useful racing tips and they got me motivated to try harder in the pool during practice. With all that, and additional training and growing, I just felt really good this weekend."
Binnema's clockings were as follows: 50m backstroke, 30.25, club record; 100 butterfly, 1:03.94; 100 backstroke, 1:05.85, club record; 200 freestyle, 2:08.30, 200 IM, 2:30.40; 200 backstroke, 2:19.65, club record; 400 IM, 5:08.22; and 400 freestyle, 4:30.49.
Cudas top team standings
At the five-team competition, the Barracudas accumulated the most points, with 2,000. They finished ahead of Points North (1,707), Chetwynd (307), Quesnel (254) and Williams Lake (249). Chetwynd, Quesnel and Williams Lake all have significantly smaller clubs.
Aggregate award-winners from the Barracudas were Julie Wing (11-12 girls), Patricia Fortier (13-14 girls), Binnema (13-14 boys), Danica Ludlow (15-and-over girls) and Sterling King (15-and-over boys).
Two other notable accomplishments were Samantha Bleackley's new club record in the 11-12 girls 50m breaststroke (time of 34.26 seconds) and Wing becoming a first-time qualifier for the age group national championships (200m backstroke).
