Ben Shand has been through this drill before, and he liked it.
In his first meet of the season, Shand wasted no time collecting his first provincial qualifying time. He turned himself into an human torpedo Saturday at the Prince George Aquatic Centre and touched the wall 30.76 seconds after he started his 50m freestyle.
That was a full second faster than Shand needed to be to qualify for the B.C. Summer Swimming Association provincial finals in mid-August in Richmond and he won the race, a sign of golden things to come for the 12-year-old, one of the hometown stars of the two-day Prince George Pisces swim meet.
Shand owned the 11-12-year-old boys medal podium, winning the 100 individual medley, 50 backstroke, 50 butterfly, 50 breaststroke and 100 freestyle events. While winning medals is motivating, so is swimming faster than you ever have before, and Shand was at his personal best more often than not.
"I noticed that I'm getting lots of really good PBs, I took off six seconds in the 50 freestyle," said Shand.
The Pisces meet was the first of five weekend events for Shand in the lead-up to provincial championships and the chances are good he will reach provincial qualifying standards in the 100m freestyle, 50m and 100m backstroke.
Now into his third season with the Pisces club, Shand qualified for last year's provincials in Kamloops and that's where he swam his fastest 100m freestyle time (1:13) while finishing 12th. He also placed 13 in B.C. in the 50m backstroke.
"I had lots of adrenaline at provincials last year and I took off lots of time there, but it's getting harder to take off time," Shand said. "There were lots of really fast kids from everywhere around the province and it was just on fire, you could feel everyone cheering for you. I didn't think I could take that much time off.
"I like the environment in the club, they're really encouraging. I used to do a lot of lessons and my first year with the club I wasn't that good, but then I started improving."
The 70-member Pisces Swim Club meets three times per week for training during the winter months, then steps up its practice schedule once school is out. Shand is one of the most fit Pisces swimmers and according to his coach, Dave Bennett, he's getting the results he deserves.
"He's taken off lots of time this meet and all of his strokes are getting better," said Barrett. "He's swimming up with the senior swimmers now and he's got to be fast to keep up with them. He's fairly focused most of the time and he's just a natural athlete."
Shand plays in the Prince George Youth Soccer Association house league, plays basketball, runs with the track team at Immaculate Conception school, and also finds time to play piano, saxophone and drums.
"I do lots of running and I have really nice friends who encourage me to be active," said Shand. He's also a straight-A Grade 6 student, which pleases his mom Lorann, who was busy at Sunday's meet directing swimmers to their lanes.
"He's a cool kid and he's well-rounded," Lorann said. "He is driven, but in a casual manner. He sits back and he's happy with what he gets."
Ben's nine-year-old brother Matthew also joined the Pisces three years ago and Ben thinks it's only a matter of time before his younger sibling starts trumping his own accomplishments in the pool.
"He's probably going to be better than me," said Ben. "He started at a younger age and I've taught him everything he knows."
The Pisces meet drew 120 swimmers for north Central B.C.
Pisces swimmers are scheduled to compete this summer at meets in Quesnel, Mackenzie, Dawson Creek and Kelowna.
