Thirty-five members of the local Rocky Island Swim Club gathered at the Huntsville Centennial Centre Pool with swimmers from Orillia Channel Cats and Muskoka Aquatic club, on Feb. 10 for the second Huronia Region Swim Association’s north zone development meet of the 2007-2008 swim season.

Regional development meets are held three times each season to offer a low-key, interclub swim opportunity for developing swimmers to prove their improvements in stroke, start and turn technique over the past few months.

An overall achievement of 80 per cent personal best times (PBs) was achieved with 12 novice-level swimmers and five competitive-level swimmers reaching 100 per cent PBs.

For Mitchell Cox (8), Nathan DeNardis (8), Zach DeVries (8), Cody McLaren (11), Sean O’Neill (10) and Alex Pattillo (11) this was their first, yet very confident, experience at a swim meet.

Fin Awards for top overall time reductions by swimmers were: for novice level – Cameron Peace-Hall (7) dropping 16.9 seconds with runners up Jessie DeVries (11, 15.0 seconds), Sheerise Dube (8, 12.8 sec.) and Sabrina Schaly (9, 11.5 sec.); for competitive level – Emaleigh Dodds (11) dropping 151.6 seconds total with runners-up Tori McLaren (14, 32.9 seconds), Chris Cannon (9, 25.6 sec.) and Lisa Cannon (11, 25.2 sec.).

 Other meet highlights included:

Natalie Arnott (9) – 6.3-second improvement in 50 m freestyle;

Olivia Baguley (9) – Ontario E time in her first-ever 200m Individual Medley (IM) combining all four strokes;

Courtney Bobyk (13) – 14-second drop in 400 m free;

Tegan Campbell (9) – four seconds off 50 m freestyle;

Christie Carr (11) – first-ever 200 IM;

Emily Cutler (14) – 4.2-second drop in 100 m free;

Halle DeNardis (9) – 4.3 seconds off 50 m freestyle;

Alex Griffiths (12) – Provincial C time in first-ever 400 m IM;

Justin Helie-Masters (13) – 11.6-second drop in 400 m IM earning a C time and junior provincial pre-requisite;

Emma Kolbuc (13) – E standard in first-ever 400 m IM;

Shelby Ludlow (9) – 3.1-second improvement in 25 m free;

Andrew Markham (7) – 7.7 seconds off his 50 m free;

Lena Petersen (13) – 3.9 seconds off 50 m backstroke;

Rachel Reeds (14) – 3.8-second improvement in her 200 m IM;

Andrea Sandstrom (11) – five-second drop and an Ontario E standard in 100 m breaststroke;

Scarlett Sedore (12) – 4.9 seconds off an ever-improving 50 m freestyle;

Kennedy Smales (11) – 7.8-second drop in 50 m backstroke;

Jesse Stewart (13) – 3.2-seconds off an already fast 100 m free;

Autuman Urquhart (13) – 2.1-second drop in 100 m free;

Olivia VanGelder (9) – 4.2-second improvement in 25 m butterfly

The University of Guelph was the setting Feb. 16-17 for the 16th annual Owen Sound Aquatic Club’s Invitational Meet and was the destination for 10 of Rocky Island Swim Club’s competitive squad.

Kohl Steed’s (13) 100 per cent achievement of personal best time (PBs) improvements, including a 25.6-second drop in 200m freestyle, led the Rocky Island swimmers to a team overall PBs of 76 per cent.

Top meet Fin Award for the Guelph meet went to Andrea Sandstrom (11) dropping 92.6 seconds total combined (with over 83-seconds improvement in 200 m freestyle alone), with runners-up Justin Helie-Masters (13, 65.4 sec.), Alison Sandstrom (14, 47.6 sec.) and Steed (45.3 sec.).

Alison Sandstrom was top finisher with a gold medal in 50 m freestyle earning an Ontario A standard. Alex Griffiths (12) earned six top-seven place finishes. Emma Kolbuc (13) swam to 2:59.83 in her 200 Individual Medley (IM) earning a C standard.

Other highlights included:

 Courtney Bobyk (14) 10.8 second drop in 100 m butterfly; Joshua Campbell-Kelman’s 20.4-second improvement in 200 m free; Emaleigh Dodds (11)14 seconds off her 100 m free; Helie-Masters’ B time in first 200 m breaststroke and Autumn Urquharts’ (13) first-ever 100 m and 200 m breaststroke with strong technical swims in both.