Vipers swim in the great outdoors

(Photo by Greg Price) LANE CHANGE: Mikaela Crowson (pictured here at a Vipers practice), made her way to the Crowsnest Pass Piranhas swim meet where she recorded a second-place time in her 50-metre backstroke event where she had to battle rainy conditions.

By Greg Price
Taber Times
gprice@tabertimes.com

It was a smaller contingent at the Crowsnest Pass Piranhas meet this past weekend, with 15 members of the Taber Viper Swim Club attending, as swimmers battled the elements in the outdoor conditions.

“It is a lot more challenging in outdoor meets. This past weekend, we had thunder breaks, and then it was raining and kids on the backstroke were getting rain on their faces trying to swim. Then you have the cloud shadows where you’re trying to find the wall, it’s hard to see sometimes ” said Teri Cook, head coach of the Taber Viper Swim Club. “And if it happens to be really warm, you have the sun in your eyes in the backstroke. The fact our kids were able to get around their best times, they did really, really good with the weather variables.”

Nevertheless, there were still plenty of top-three finishes to go around including Vipers teaming up to finish first in 14-and-under girls 200-MR and a third in 12-and-under girls 200-metre FR.

Mikayla Kress earned a bronze aggregate medal for six-and-under girls. Jessica Anderson earned gold for 11-and-12-year-old girls. Olivia Bos’ overall performance earned her bronze for 11-and-12-year-old girls. Morgan Bos won silver for 13-and-14-year-old girls.

“Mikayla Kress broke a Viper record for 25-metre flutterboard, a record that had been there since 2001,” said Cook. “We are having a lot of kids working their butts off, going to two practices a day now and working as hard as they can to get better and take time off their races. The dedication that has come through in July is amazing and you see how the kids are improving.”

The following are a list of top-three finishes in individual events:

Jessica Anderson swept her field of events for 11-and-12-year-old girls with first-place finishes which included 200-metre freestyle (2:51.49), 50-metre fly (36.48), 50-metre freestyle (34.33) and 100-metre backstroke (1:26.07).

Morgan Bos had top time in 100-metre freestyle (1:14.34) and 50-metre fly (37.60), to go with second-place finishes in 50-metre freestyle (33.06) and 100-metre IM (1:27.50) for 13-and-14-year-old girls.

Olivia Bos was top swimmer in 11-and-12-year-old girls 100-metre breaststroke (1:36.42) to go with second-place times for 50-metre breaststroke (43.61), and 100-metre IM (1:36.41).

In the same age category, Cadence Crowson was second in 100-metre freestyle (1:46.64).

For 13-and-14-year-old girls, Mikaela Crowson was second in 50-metre backstroke (57.03).
Kayleigh Klemen earned top time for 25-metre backstroke (21.66) for nine-and-10-year-old girls. She also took second in 50-metre backstroke (48.93) and a third in 50-metre freestyle (42.27).

In the six-and-under girls field, Mikayla Kress was first for 25-metre flutterboard (27.36) and third in 25-metre backstroke (33.05).

Petra Tymko was top swimmer in 50-metre backstroke (56.32) for seven-and-eight-year-old girls, while also taking third in 25-metre breaststroke (32.30).

In the field of 11-and-12-year-old boys, Dion Velarde took second place in 50-metre backstroke (48.96) and finished in third in 100-metre backstroke (1:41.65).

Taber Viper Swim Club is in an outdoor meet in Fort Macleod this weekend, followed by a weekend off. Then the Vipers compete in Nanton, followed by regionals and provincials.