Hannah Esopenko came back from provincials with a lot of extra weight hanging around her neck.
Esopenko, a 16-year-old who trains with the Prince George Barracudas swim club, stroked to medals in all her events at the Swim B.C. short course triple-A championships. The meet ran from Thursday to Sunday in Victoria.
Esopenko was golden in four events, took silver in three and picked up one bronze. Her gold medals came in the 200-metre individual medley (personal-best time of two minutes 17.13 seconds), the 50m breaststroke (32.27 seconds), the 400m IM (PB of 4:51.78) and the 200m breaststroke (2:30.53). Esopenko claimed her silver medals in the 200m butterfly, 100m breaststroke and 100m butterfly and set new personal records in all those swims. She grabbed a bronze medal in the 50m butterfly, which she also completed in a personal-best time.
Fellow Barracuda Avery Movold was equally successful at provincials. The 15-year-old left Victoria with gold and silver medals in seven of her eight swims. Movold powered to gold in the 100m backstroke (PB of 1:02.70), 100m freestyle (PB of 56.47 seconds), 200m backstroke (2:15.75) and the 50m backstroke (30.37 seconds). She touched the wall for silver medals in the 800m freestyle, 400m freestyle and 50m freestyle.
Together, Esopenko and Movold combined to set five new Barracuda club records.
In total, the Barracudas had 14 swimmers at provincials. In the team standings, the club ended up 14th overall.
Another club member who had a strong meet was Jordan Vertue. In the girls 10-and-under division, she established new club records in the 100m backstroke (PB of 1:19.55, 14th place), 200m backstroke (PB of 2:48.75, ninth place), 400m individual medley (PB of 6:03.58, 11th place), 50m backstroke (PB of 37.19 seconds, 10th place) and the 100m butterfly.
Meanwhile, Hannah Coates set new personal standards in five of her six events - the 200, 400 and 800m freestyles, the 200m butterfly and the 400m IM.
Other Barracudas who attended provincials, and their top results, were: Sam Marchand, 16th in the 400m IM with a new PB of 5:04.90; Jordan Ozcan, 15th in the 50m breaststroke, PB of 32.17 seconds; Alivia Soares, 20th in the 100m breaststroke, PB of 1:18.65; Jenna Stevens, 12th in the 200m breaststroke, 2:57.73; Jackson Girard, 16th in the 50m breaststroke, 34.37 seconds; Trey Kish, 16th in the 50m freestyle in a new PB of 24.89 seconds; Kayla Korolek, 17th in the 50m breaststroke, 37.63 seconds; Mackenzie Lewington, seventh in both the 200m backstroke (PB of 2:26.15) and the 400m freestyle (PB of 4:34.96); Skylar Lewington, 17th in the 800m freestyle, new PB of 9:32.31; and Evelyn Marchand, 13th in the 50m backstroke, PB of 38.15 seconds.
