The Green Machine churned up the water at the 2022 BCSSA Annual Provincial Championships this past weekend in Kamloops. 33 local athletes took to the pool resulting in a massive number of best times and a total of 21 medals returning with the club to Kelowna.

Mackenzie Church was the first to hit pay dirt at the Provincial meet when she captured a bronze in a highly competitive Div 6 (15-16.5 year old) 50m freestyle event to get the ball rolling for the Ogopogos.

Elodie Sandler (Div 1, under 9 years old) followed up a successful season taking silver in her 50m backstroke event. Elodie also swam up a division, capturing a bronze medal in the Div 2 (9-10.5 years old) medley relay event with team mates Anne Jensen, McKinley Clement and Rebekah Vader.

The Div 3 (10.5-12 year old) girls relay team, consisting of Sadie Smith, Avlyn Smirl, Isla Hingston and Remy Stevens, showed that they were the class of the Div 3 girls field when they struck gold in the medley relay, and subsequently followed up with a second relay gold in the freestyle event.

Isla swam to a silver in the tightly contested 50m butterfly event.

The girls Div 3 Okanagan regional relay team (which includes the top swimmers in each of the four strokes from all of the Okanagan clubs) won bronze in another close race. Avlyn represented the Okanagan with breaststroke, Isla in butterfly and Remy anchored the team in freestyle.

Jaxson Ritchie performed well in all of his events, notably capturing a bronze medal in the Div 3 50m backstroke and a silver medal representing the Okanagan in freestyle on the regional relay team.

Coach Paul Neupert looked strong securing a gold medal in the ‘O’ Cat Div 8 50m butterfly event.

Also of note was the swimming of Lachlan Bibby-Fox who trains with the Ogopogo club most of the year. Lachlan swam for the Nelson club at the Provincials and captured silver in the 200m individual medley, bronze in the 100m back stroke and gold in the 100m breaststroke.
Whether making it onto the podium or not, all of the Ogopogo swimmers represented Kelowna well, achieving many best times while displaying positivity and respect throughout and making the best of their Provincial Championship experience. Ogopogo families and coaches could not have been prouder of the performances, fair play, integrity and spirit on display. Also representing Kelowna at the Championships were Jessea Robertson, Bryce Smirl, Zoe & Alexa Craine, Emma Hingston, Sam & Ellie Bridge, Andre Van der Lely, Atticus & Mika Verstraete, Ella Babbings, Flossie Tuohey, Levi & Alex Boessenkool, Andre Kardan Sani, Julia Valdez, Rowan Church, Max Elias, Liam Choi and coaches Anya Raymond, Randi Thompson and Katie Mervyn. A complete listing of the Ogopogo races and results from the Provincial Championships can be found on the Ogopogo website at http://www.ogopogoswimclub.com/.

We look forward to welcoming new swimmers to the club with registration opening on September 15th for the 2022/23 Fall and Winter Season. If you have any questions or would like more information about the club, please contact our registrar Adrian at [email protected].