ThunderBolts swimmers excel across the province

NEWS RELEASE
THUNDERBOLT SWIM CLUB
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The weekend of March 3 to 6 saw the ThunderBolt Swim Club  compete in two separate swim meets across the province. 
 
Luke Foulds, Sam Chisholm and Kaitlyn Luu travelled to Toronto to swim in the 2022 Trials Selection Preparation Invitational at the Toronto Pan Am pool.  The top athletes in the province including many 2021 Olympians raced at this swim meet. All three ThunderBolt swimmers excelled, with many best times and making finals in the majority of events. 
 
Luke Foulds finished the meet with the top result for the club, a silver medal in the 200-meter backstroke.  “It was great getting a chance to travel to Toronto and to compete at this level.  I haven’t raced like this in a long time.  I am really pleased on how I did in all my races,” stated Luke Foulds. 
 
“March 3rd to 6th saw a lot of action for the ThunderBolts swim team.  Three of our swimmers were off to Toronto to compete against some of the best swimmers in country,” stated Interim Head Coach Andy Ritchie.  “Also, over 50 of our swimmers were in action at the LU pool in our first long course meet in over two years,” added Ritchie. 
 
Over 50 ThunderBolt swimmers competed head to head at LU pool against the Northwest Narwhal Swim Club. 
 
“There are almost too many highlights to mention. Throughout the past two years these kids have taken every challenge or roadblock thrown at them as an opportunity to learn and grow.  This weekend, our swimmers demonstrated that hard work pays off,’ stated assistant coach Brooke Hulina.  “We had many swimmers smashing their best times and qualifying for the up-coming ManSask swim meet in Winnipeg,” she added. 
 
Highlights from the Narwhal Meet included Rudy Balabuck who had 100 % best times and Ben Sunila who had the highest point count in the 13-14 age category.  On the girls side, Sierra Bougeois qualified in 2 events at Man-Sask and Tori Nyttinen-Drefeild qualified for the first time for Man-Sask  as well. 
 
Assistant coach, Phil Brown, stated, ”It was great to see our kids swim the first long course meet in two years.  Our swimmers had many best times plus the kids had a lot of fun.” 
 
The next Swim Meet for the Bolts is the ManSask Invitation in Winnipeg March 18 to 20.  “These last two swim meets set our athletes up well for success in the future,” added Coach Ritchie.  In April swimmers will also be competing in the Spring Forward Invitational in Toronto and Eastern Championships in Montreal.