Kayla Korolek shredded her own record book over the weekend at the Medical Moose Meet at the Prince George Aquatic Centre.
The first long-course meet of the season resulted in nothing but personal bests for the 14-year-old Prince George Barracudas Swim Club member. That has her believing it's now within her grasp to swim with the fastest fish in the country this summer at the age group nationals in Winnipeg.
"My times are really close [to national standards] -- I have to get three of them -- and I'm pretty close in 400 IM, 200 IM and 200 breaststroke," said Korolek.
"Last year my fly was terrible, my freestyle was terrible, my IM [individual medley] wasn't great, and my breaststroke was the only thing that kind of made me feel fast. This year I've improved on everything."
Korolek has already nailed down triple-A qualifying times in five events -- 800 free, 200 IM, 400 IM, 200 breast, and 100 breast. She'll have two more chances to meet the national grade when she swims at the Kamloops June Classic, May 30-June 1, and at the triple-A provincial meet, July 3-6 in Victoria.
She won Sunday's final of the grueling 200 butterfly, finishing in 2:53 and said it helps practicing nine times every week against the likes of older 'Cudas Haley Black and Patricia Fortier who set a blistering pace. Black won the 15-17-year-old girls 200 fly in 2:21, while Fortier was second in 2:29.
"It motivates you to go faster when you swim with people who are faster," said Korolek. "The first 100 isn't terrible but the last 100 is gut-wrenching. When you get to the wall and still have 50 left you wonder how you'll get to the end but somehow you do.
"This meet is not really about speed, the most important thing is working on your skill and things you can improve on. I'm pushing myself as fast as I can but I'm trying to work on holding my breath first stroke, faster turns, underwater dolphin kick and the actual stroke itself."
Korolek began taking swim lessons when she was six and like her 12-year-old sister Jenna has been a Barracuda for five years. She also plays basketball and soccer and is going to try to play high school soccer for Kelly Road if she can manage the busy practice schedule in both sports.
"Kayla's a very athletic girl, very positive-thinking and she's made very big progress this year,' said Barracudas head coach Jerzy Partyka. "She's very committed to swimming and it's nice to work with her.
"She's qualified for triple-A provincials but she's working toward age group nationals. Her best shot is the 200 breaststroke but I'm not 100 per cent sure that's the right thing, it's very early for her to specialize now. I want her to also swim the 400 IM , 800 free, 400 free. She's a very good kicker."
That strong finishing kick at the Moose Meet put noticeable distance between Korolek and the rest of the field and allowed her to finish the 200 freestyle in 2:18, six seconds quicker than her previous best, and she shaved four seconds off her 200 breaststroke time, clocking 2:56 -- her two most satisfying races of the weekend.
The three-day meet attracted 287 swimmers.
See Tuesday's Citizen for more coverage.
