Aquanauts make splash in Calgary

The Aquanauts made a huge splash in the pool at a long-course meet in Calgary last weekend, placing fourth out of 18 teams.
“They were fantastic from the word go,” Aquanaut head coach Debbie Murray enthused. “They were excellent.”
Karli McKinnon broke at least one club record and may even have set two records at the long-course meet, which attracted the top swimmers from western Canada.
“Typically, our swimmers only see one long-course meet a year and they train for it while in a short-course pool,” said Murray, adding that often hampers their training.
“They’ll have trouble with pacing and timing,” she noted.
But this year’s group–12 seniors and 12 juniors–all had a tremendous meet and should be even better prepared when they tackle another long-course event in Thunder Bay on May 28-30.
Murray elected to take the club to Calgary instead of the Division III championship in Etobicoke as in past years. And she was pleased with her decision.
“Usually the meets are very wide open, with university students, but this competition was very even–it was a fair meet,” she observed.
“Obviously, many of [our swimmers] will benefit from the first-time experience at a long-course meet,” she noted. “They usually don’t see two in the same year, especially five weeks apart.
“I think they’ll probably do the best [in Thunder Bay] that they’ll ever have done,” Murray predicted.
The Aquanauts also have a meet in Warroad on May 15-16.