OLDS — Members of the Olds Rapids Swim Club did well in a meet they hosted Jan. 11 at the Olds Aquatic Centre.
Coach Wesley Wilks told the Albertan that Rapids swimmer Aella Ziai became a provincial qualifier. She won a 50-metre breaststroke event.
A club record was set in the men's 15-16 4x50 free relay by Max Martin, Lachlan McNeil, William Repka and Liam Abrams Pittman.
Also, Rapids swimmers obtained more than 50 best times during that meet, the first the club has hosted in roughly 20 years.
Wilks was asked why the gap between Rapids-hosted meets was so long.
“Board leaderships,” he wrote in a text. “Since 2006, the board presidents have believed that we could not host a meet that well, even though coaches believed that we could.
“Even during 2022-2024 when I was also coaching, the board believed that not enough people would help out and make the meet good.
“The constant saying was ‘we don’t have enough people to host,’ which was strange, as visiting teams will often send volunteers to help run the meet.
“This year, we have a board that believes, and therefore, we had very (few) problems.
“Our current board believes in our abilities and works more with our coaches than previous boards (did).”
Members of Special Olympics Olds & District (SOOD) also made it possible for the meet to be held by helping to get the pool sanctioned and enabling the training of officials before a meet SOOD hosted in December.
Wilks believes the club will host another meet in 2026, likely around the same time of year. He said the club received “a lot of good praise” for the way they held this one.
The club is now preparing for the Mavericks Madness swim meet, which will be held Feb. 7-8 in Calgary, hosted by the Okotoks Mavericks swim club.
Wilks is confident his athletes will achieve good swim times and that maybe more will obtain provincial times.
“We have a few that stand a real chance of winning some medals,” he wrote.
