(PHOTO: The Goulbourn Seahawks at a meet last December in Gatineau. “I love the picture because it shows how swimming builds strength and confidence in our kids,” says parent Andrea Gregoire.)
The Goulbourn Seahawks returned home from the Eastern Ontario Regional Championships in Belleville last weekend after setting records and winning medals in the pool.
The 33 Goulbourn swimmers who competed brought home 22 medals, 2 festival qualifiers and set 13 club records. (See below for a full list.)
The club is finally back in their home pool at the Goulbourn Recreation Complex after being forced out due to pool repairs. .
“For the first year, we borrowed pool time from other clubs. We drove to Perth on Saturday morning for 6:00am which usually meant leaving before 5:00am! We also went to Brewer Pool and to Carleton Place,” says club president Andrea Gregoire, who has a 15-year-old daughter on the team.
“The swim program suffered and we ended up losing kids and cancelling some of our programs. The kids who kept swimming were competing against kids who had a lot more pool time. Swimming is all about volume, which is why the kids often train twice a day,” she said.
Training became a bit easier with the opening of the Richcraft pool in Kanata North, and the team also found some time at the new Minto Recreation Centre in Barrhaven.
“For most families it (the GRC closure) meant much earlier mornings. For our family, we had a car pool but the kids were up around 4:30am to get to practice. We still do some of our training out of Richcraft as some of our families live in Kanata,” says Gregoire.
The Seahawks have over 120 swimmers between the ages of 9 and 17. The senior swimmers train for about 18 hours a week.
“There are not too many other sports that require this much dedication and hard training,” says Gregoire.
Click here for more info about the Seahawks.
Goulbourn Seahawks results from the Eastern Ontario Regional Championships.
Medalists: 22 Medals
- Nic Ferland – 6 Medals; 2 Gold, 2 Silver, 2 Bronze
- Aidan Gunning – 4 Medals; 1 Gold, 1 Silver, 2 Bronze
- Melissa Delfino – 2 Medals; 1 Silver, 1 Bronze
- Julien Vivas-Moncada – 2 Medals, Bronze
- Mens 15&O Relay – 1 Medal, Silver
- Kendrick Cooke – 1 Medal, Bronze
- Morgan Green – 1 Medal, Bronze
- Aaron Blais – 1 Medal, Silver
- Alex Millar – 1 Medal, Silver
- Logan Moffitt – 1 Medal, Silver
- Allen Zheng – 1 Medal, Silver
Qualifiers: 2 Festival Qualifiers
- Congratulations to Emily Parsons (50 fr) and Aidan Gunning (200 br) for qualifying for Festivals!
Club Records: 13 New Club Records
- Melissa Delfino: 13-14 100 Free, 800 free, 1500 Free
- Katie MacAskill: 17& Over 200 Breast, 800 Free, 1500 Free
- Aidan Gunning: 11-12 200 Breast
- Logan Moffitt: 13-14 800 Free
- Harrison Clooney: 15-16 400IM
- Abby Moffitt: 13-14 50 Back
- Nic Ferland: 17& Over 50, 100, 200 Breast (Perth)