Richard Froese
South Peace News
A High Prairie Dolphin swimmer brought home three medals from the Alberta Summer Swimming Championships held Aug. 18-20 in Edmonton.
Finn Marko won one medal in individual competition and two on the swim club relay team.
Individually, she captured a silver medal after finishing second in the girls’ 18-and-over 100-metre butterfly with a time of 1:25.86.
The girls’ 18-and-over relay team of Mischa Deering, Elle MacIntosh, Abbie Cottingham and Marko won silver after finishing second in the 4 x 100-metre medley with a time of 2.27.33.
The girls also won bronze in the 4 x 50-metre freestyle with a time of 2:07.38.
Head coach Larkin Stokes says the Dolphins had a strong finish to the season as 23 swimmers qualified for the provincials although only 18 competed.
“It was a great year for the Dolphins,” Stokes says.
“We earned three provincial medals and were close in a couple of other finals.”
He says finishing in the top three in the province is not an easy feat and the medallists deserved their medals.
“We are very proud of our relay team winning two medals,” Stokes says.
“Midway through the season, we were not sure it was going to be possible.”
Ella Deering, one of the club’s top swimmers, unfortunately was not able to finish the season, he notes.
“Abbie, Elle, Finn and Mischa came together, though, and were able to put some good times together and get the job done,” Stokes says.
He also lauded the efforts of Marko.
“It was great to see Finn have success again after five years without competing,” Stokes says.
“Finn is a dominant swimmer but had a knee injury that required surgery, causing her to miss two seasons – then COVID hit.
“She worked hard all year and took off six seconds in the 100 m butterfly to win silver.”
