Swimmer Jordan Vertue is a habitual record-breaker.
That comes with the territory when you're ranked No. 1 in the country.
The 10-year-old Vertue kept up that record-setting trend this past weekend at the Aquatic Centre, establishing four new Prince George Barracudas Swim Club 10-and-under girls records and eight personal bests at the Prince George Medical Northern Sprints meet.
She clocked 2:26.79 in the 200-metre freestyle, finished the 100m breaststroke in 1:30.34, posted a 33.84-second time in the 50m butterfly, and also smashed the club-best time in the 200m individual medley, covering all eight lengths of the 25m pool in 2:42.80.
In the Swim Canada 10-and-under girls rankings, Vertue's times this season put her on top in the 800m and 1,500m freestyle events. She has the second-fastest times in five events, including the 100 and 200 backstroke, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle and 100 individual medley. She's third-quickest in Canada in the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke, fourth in 50 butterfly and fifth in the 400 freestyle.
"It feels pretty awesome, it's almost like the feeling when (Barracudas swimmers) Hannah Esopenko and Avery Movold got to go to the Olympic trials, it's like whoa," said Vertue. "I kind of feel this emotion of how hard I've worked to get there, and I'm finally getting there, but I still have to work harder.
"I want to go as far as I can go and my goal is to make the Olympics."
Of the 11 club records she now owns, Vertue was most proud of breaking Esopenko's mark in the 100 backstroke. Now in her third year of competitive swimming with the Barracudas, Vertue started shredding the record book last year.
"It's not just this year, that's what she was doing last year in short course and long course," said Barracudas head coach Jerzy Partyka. "It's still a long way to go, she's only 10 years old, but the most important thing is she's improving her skills and she's very coachable. Everything you tell her, she's doing. It's a combination of her technical ability and physical skills and she has a positive attitude. She's on the right track."
Vertue, a Grade 5 student at Hart Highlands elementary school, has no doubt inherited some of her athletic prowess from her parents, who emigrated to Canada from South Africa. Her mother Johanna was a competitive swimmer in her native country until she was 18 and her father Louis played competitive tennis and softball. With the winter meet schedule heating up, Jordan is training in the pool once a day every day. Her next competition is the Kamloops Ice Classic, Dec. 9-11.
She said it helped working with 2012 Olympic bronze medalist freestyler Brent Hayden just before the sprint meet when he came to Prince George for a training camp.
Vertue ended the meet teaming up with her nine-year-old sister Chloe, Maria Wood and Liberty Vaughan to win the 200m freestyle relay. Together, they own the eighth-fastest time in Canada in the medley relay.
One of the older Barracudas to watch is 16-year-old Trey Kish, who moved to Prince George after swimming competitively for seven years for the Prince Rupert Swim Club.
"My parents put me in it when I was about seven and I've loved it ever since," said Kish.
Kish's Northern Sprints 53.85-second time in the 100 freestyle was a major improvement over his previous best (55.12).
"My friend Sava (Yungman) was swimming next to me and he really pushed me to get the best times," said Kish. "Sava is my main competition for freestyle in my best events. I improved on my 50 freestyle as well (a PB of 24.86 seconds), which I'm pretty proud of. I hope to get close to club records sometime this year."
Kish was taken by surprise when Partyka entered him in the 1,500 freestyle Saturday and admits he was mad at his coach at the time.
"The 1,500 is not my event and I wasn't aware of it but I got over it," Kish said. "It's a long race and I had just finished my 100 freestyle but it went alright. It could have gone worse, for sure."
Kish, an honours Grade 11 student at College Heights secondary school, is an avid runner and mountain biker who also likes snowboarding. His six-foot frame and long limbs give him an advantage in the pool when he reaches out for the wall at the end of each race.
"Trey is working harder and is starting to improve his kicking and is getting lots of results in his 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle," said Partyka. "The challenge is in his kicking so we're trying to improve his legs and he's doing very good. He's swimming lots of distance now and I'm putting him in long events. In the long run, about two or three years from now, he's going to have lots of benefits from that."
Yungman, 19, established new club standards in the 50m backstroke (27.56), 100m backstroke (58.79) and 200 back (2:05.75).
One other meet highlight for the Barracudas was Katerina Wood, 13, posting double-A qualifying times in 100 back, 200 back and 100 breast. Wood is a first-time qualifier for the provincial short course double-A championships.
The three-day meet attracted 82 Barracudas who took home 85 gold, 65 silver and 44 bronze medals.
