INNISFAIL – The Innisfail Dolphins are hosting the 2019 Alberta Summer Swim (Region D) Regionals.
The event takes place at the Innisfail Aquatic Centre Aug. 9 to 11.
“Regionals is what swimmers build (and work) towards every year. It’s quite a positive event and it’s pretty cool that we’re hosting it in town,” said Kendra Haldorson, president of the Innisfail Dolphins.
Innisfail falls under Region D in the Alberta Summer Swim Association, said Haldorson, adding there’s about 10 clubs in the region including Hanna, Lacombe, Killam, Olds, Forestburg, Red Deer and Innisfail.
It is the first time the Dolphins have hosted regionals, she noted.
“It takes a lot of work and a lot of volunteers to make it happen,” said Haldorson. “We are estimating around 250 to 270 swimmers (for regionals)."
The three-day competition will include a variety of swim events.
“There’s a long distance event of the 1,500 metres on the Friday night. Then on Saturday and Sunday there are preliminaries in the morning and finals in the afternoon for those events on those two days,” she said.
Swimmers who participate in regionals and other swim meets throughout the season range in age from five to over 18, noted Haldorson, adding that local swimmers with the Innisfail Dolphins participate in regionals every year and several of them move on to the provincial championships.
“We have a very good track record of getting our swimmers to provincials so they generally place quite well (at regionals). We do have quite a few swimmers going to provincials every year and we’re anticipating the same after this event,” said Haldorson, noting the large, competitive swim club has about 93 registered swimmers this season.
Haldorson said it has been a great season for the Dolphins and attributes members' success to dedicated coaches, a great effort from swimmers at practices and swim meets and a positive atmosphere within the club.
"So far this season our club is doing extremely well. There’s been meets most weekends that swimmers travel to. We’re ranked very high in the province,” she said, noting their current fourth-place sitting.
“We have a lot of swimmers for the size of town we have. This year I definitely think that we are placed higher and at regionals we’ll find out if our club wins the trophy for best team in the region,” Haldorson concluded.
