By Sheldon Spackman

Catalina Swim Club hosts Freeze or Fry swim meet

Jun 9, 2018 | 3:25 PM

Hundreds of competitive young swimmers have converged on Red Deer this weekend for the 66th Annual Freeze or Fry swim meet hosted by the Red Deer Catalina Swim Club at the Recreation Centre.

Head Coach Scott Wilson says there are 22 clubs and over 360 swimmers from across the province competing on June 9 amd 10, including one from Newfoundland as well.

“It’s also serving as a trials for the Alberta Summer Games for the central Alberta region,” explains Wilson. “So we have a bunch of summer swimmers who are also competing to try and represent the central region for the Summer Games.”

He says most of the swimmers range in age from 8 – 14 but adds there are a few 15 and 16-year-olds competing for a spot in the Alberta Summer Games.

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“It’s very significant in terms of Alberta swimming,” states Wilson. “It’s the only outdoor meet in the province for the year-round competitive teams and for some of the young guys, it’s their last meet of the year, so it becomes a bit more of an event for those guys.”

Looking back on the past season which began in mid-September, Wilson says there have been a lot of highlights.

“We’ve been pretty successful at all levels,” says Wilson. “We won the Medium Team Award for the province, so we were the best team with what they consider a medium-sized club. Then as recently as April, we put one swimmer on the Junior Pan Pac Team, so she’ll be representing Canada in Fiji in August so it’s pretty impressive.”

Ultimately however, Wilson hopes each swimmer takes away an even greater love for the sport and a sense of fun at the event.

“The outdoor meet makes it a lot different than a lot of the indoor meets where you’re kind of enclosed,” says Wilson. “Usually in the sun it’s a lot more fun, it’s a different type of atmosphere than they’re used to and it’s a little more unique.”

“It’s a great kind of gateway into the sport for the younger guys because it’s a unique experience,” adds Wilson. “It’s a lot of fun, the kids enjoy the racing and I’d like to think that we put on a pretty good meet that everyone has fun with so they want to continue on being part of the sport going forward as they get older.”