Swimming for victory

Thunderbolts competitive swimmer Alexis Halvorsen says she has dreams of going to the Olympic Games.

Alexis, 12, a Grade 7 student at Bishop Gallagher Senior Catholic Elementary School, competed in the 39 annual weekend long Thunderbolt International Swim meet. The meet, which started on Friday, had swimmers from across Canada as well as some competitors from the United States race against each other at the Canada Games Complex.

Alexis took the gold medal in the 50 metre free style on Saturday with 29.94 seconds. She continued that winning streak Sunday, coming in first in the 200-metre butterfly stroke and the 100-metre free style but came in second for the 200-metre backstroke.

She said she worked hard to bring her time under 30 seconds for the 50 metre meet and was proud of the results.

"I don’t want to plateau and stop getting better," Alexis said on Sunday. "I want to keep getting better so I can go to provincials, then nationals, then internationals and then my main goal, the Olympics. My team’s support is very important and without it, I don’t know where I would be today. Everyone is so encouraging."

She said she felt nervous about the Montreal national swimming meet held at the end of July but knew that she could overcome those feelings and bring back a gold medal.

Thunderbolts head coach Stewart McLean said he was happy with how the team was performing and hoped to have his younger swimmers wrap up their year with a strong finish.

"It’s been a great year," McLean said. "We had a big influx of younger kids into our competitive stream this year and they have been awesome. They have been a real kick of energy for all of us. The great thing about eight, nine and 10 year olds are that they love everything that they do and they just love to have fun. It’s the best thing about competitions when they’re at it."

He said the next big invitational for the older swimmers is in Baltimore, Md. at Michael Phelps swimming club followed by the provincials and nationals in July.

"It’s going to be a busy summer," he said. "It’s going to be a tough level of preparation. The complex is closing down for its biannual maintenance in June. Luckily we have the pool at Lakehead University as an option. The hope is as soon as there’s water back in this pool we’ll be in and working hard."