Five medals, provincial records among the highlights for Piranhas swimmers at nationals

Apr 4, 2023 | 5:09 PM

The Grande Prairie Piranhas sent seven athletes to the recent Canadian Swimming Championships in Toronto and club officials say they produced some of the best performances the club has ever seen.

Mikayla Laurin, Jesse Carlson, and Dominick Kwiecien all competed at nationals for the first time.

Marissa Laurin, in her second time at this competition, had a second-place finish in the 200-metre junior backstroke final after finishing eighth in the B final for the 100 back.

Oliver Dawson won two gold medals on the junior side in the 100 and 200-metre breaststrokes, breaking provincial age group records in both events.

Photo supplied by the Piranhas.

Jordan Greber finished sixth in the A finals and was the top junior in the 50-metre and the junior gold medalist in the 100-metre backstroke. She also took third in the 200-metre individual medley for juniors and was second among juniors and fifth overall in the 200-metre backstroke. Greber also set a provincial age group record in the 100 back.

Photo supplied by the Piranhas.

Catherine Minic, who now competes for the University of Indiana, recorded two personal best times and finished seventh in the senior final for the 200-metre butterfly. That is Minic’s highest finish in this event at this level.

Those A finals included Olympic and world championship medalists.

by Curtis Galbraith