While the teams from BC and Pacific Swimming put up a good challenge at the start, the swimming powerhouse that is Southern California pulled ahead and easily won the 2007 Pacific Coast All Star meet, held January 20-21, in Richmond, BC.
This meet, held every January, with the participating teams taking turns hosting, is a five-team meet, with eight boys and eight girls from each of just two age groups: 11-12 and 13-14.
The participating teams are:
- Team BC (the host this year)
- Southern California (Los Angeles area)
- Pacific Swimming (Northern California)
- Pacific Northwest (Washington state)
- Oregon (last year’s host)
Final team scoring had Southern California way out in front with 1027 points, while BC and Pacific Swimming were in a close battle all weekend, with Pacific Swimming edging ahead slowly but steadily, finishing ahead of BC 763 to 684 points. Pacific Northwest was fourth with 527 points back, while Oregon finished fifth with 247 points.
Team BC Head Coach Ken McKinnon was very impressed with the performance of his team at this competition. ““I thought the BC kids swam great! We asked them to stand up and be tough, to get out fast, early in the swims and RACE, and they did just that.”
“We won lots of close one-on-one battles”, he continued. “Our relays really stood up and performed well, and the kids showed a lot of maturity throughout the weekend with the way they handled themselves in preparation before and after their races.”
He went on to thank coaches Dmitriy Kononenko (SFA), Marek Poplawski (WGB), Tyler Lewall (VPSC), and Janusz Kaczmarek (WVOSC) for volunteering their time this weekend to work with the Provincial Team, and for the great job they did coaching our swimmers. And also a special “thank you” to Chaperone Cheryl MacKenzie (Rapids) for her time and effort again with the Provincial Team.
Huge thanks go out to those parents and swimmers from the Richmond Rapids swim club and others who came out to the event and ran the logistical aspect of the swim meet. Without their assistance, it would have been impossible for Swim BC to put on event of this calibre and have it run so well.
Specifically, Swim BC would like to thank the following individuals:
| Referee |
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George Sze |
| Starters |
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George Vishniakoff, Barry Parish |
| Entry Chairperson |
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Betty Lum (Rapids) |
| Officials |
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Pam Gosel (Rapids) |
| Electronics |
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Alfonso Tejero (Rapids) |
| Announcer |
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Craig McCord (Rapids) |
| Stroke & Turn |
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Rita Steeple, Dave Bakken (PCS), Leisa Burdeny (Rapids), Glenda Au-Yeung (Rapids), Sherry Vicze (Rapids), Chase MacKenzie (Rapids), Kim Gosel (Rapids), Christine Au Yeung (Rapids), Richard King, Heather Stein (SFA), Marjorie Lynn (Gators), Jane Liu (Gators) |
| Timers |
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Alec Vicze (Rapids), Vlad Volchkov(Rapids), Stephanie Gosel (Rapids), Tamara Burdeny (Rapids), Jaqueiline Sara Lau (Rapids), Madison McCord (Rapids), Liza Bitkova (Rapids), Gillian Chalmers, Andrew MacKenzie (Rapids), Gorege Quon (UBC Dolphins), Medea Caslin-Murdoch (Rapids), Michelle Au-Yeung (Rapids), Renata King (Vernon) Rene Leveilee (KCS), Samantha Gosel (Rapids) |
Complete results are available on the Swim BC website.
http://swim.bc.ca/PacificCoastAllStar.aspx
As mentioned earlier, the meet is being hosted next year in Carson City, Nevada, which is a member of the Pacific Swimming local swim committee.