An Okotoks swimmer was in it for the long haul at the national swimming championships in Quebec in early August.
Foothills Stingray Holly Johnson finished fifth in the 14-year-old girls 5,000m open swim at the Age Group Nationals in Montreal. The race consisted of two 2,500m laps around the Olympic Rowing Oval.
“Usually in open water the cold water kind of shocks the system, but fortunately it was really warm out so it wasn’t a problem,” said Johnson who is going into Grade 10 at Foothills Composite High School in Okotoks.
She completed the 5km swim in one hour, six minutes and 34 seconds. She was just eight seconds off getting a medal.
“I didn’t know what place I was in after the first lap because all the age groups are competing at the same time, there’s a real hustle-bustle of people,” she said. “In open water, eight seconds isn’t that long.”
With all those people sometime you have to hitch along for the ride.
Drafting, which is being pushed slightly by the wake created by the swimmer directly ahead, was allowed at the open championship. Or at least not policed.
“Last year, they policed it a lot more but this year they didn’t say a thing about it,” Johnson said. “So pretty much you get into a group with the fastest group you can keep up with and you try to stick with someone’s toes to make it easier to swim.”
She’s not sure if many people drafted behind her.
“I felt someone tapping at my toes at one point, but it wasn’t for very long,” she said.
Johnson also finished 10th in the 1,500m in a personal best time.
She said her goal for 2012 is to make a senior nationals qualifying time in the 1,500m in what is an Olympic year.
“I am about 40 seconds off and hopefully I can take that off,” Johnson said. “That will be hard to do.”
The Foothills Stingrays took 12 swimmers to the age-group nationals, the most in the club’s history.
“Half our team had never attended the competition so this was a great learning experience for all the swimmers,” Stingrays coach Todd Melton said. “All of the swimmers did beyond expectations and more importantly came away with some much needed experience at the higher levels of competition within the country.”
There were more than 1,700 swimmers at the age-group nationals in Montreal.
Some of the highlights for the Stingrays were:
Carly Ede (13) – 200m backstroke, 13th; 2:34.17; 50m backstroke, 12th, 33.64.
Lauren Hedley (12) – 100m backstroke, seventh, 1:12.07; 200m backstroke, 15th, 2:39.02; 50m backstroke, ninth, 34.40; 50m freestyle, 13th, 29.9.
Kalyna Dashko (15) — 50m breaststroke, 13th, 35.89.
Holly Johnson (14) –1,500m freestyle, 10th, 18:43.29; 5,000m open water, fifth, 1:06:38.92.
Tianna Going (15) –100m freestyle, 15th, 1:01.16.
Ryan Jackson (16) –200m butterfly, 17th, 2:17.25.
Kyle Jackson (14) – 200m butterfly, 14th, 2:23.13; 5,000m open water, 16th, 1:09:50.90.
Jotham D’Ailly (13) –200m breaststroke, 19th, 2:50.12.
Keely Greenfield (18) – 5,000m open water, 17th, 1:04:56.13.
Cole Midtdal had personal best times in all five of his events.
