The Salmon Arm Sockeyes left their rivals, the Kelowna Ogopogos, floundering in their wake this past weekend.

The Sockeyes hosted their home swim meet at the SASCU Recreation Centre, beating Kelowna by a resounding 500 points.

The girls also came first, nearly doubling the Ogos score. The boys did not follow suit, but still had a great showing, coming in second to Kelowna.

The Sockeyes earned 14 aggregates at the meet, despite the tough coastal team competition. Aria Izik-Dzurko and Stephen Moore earned division one awards, gold for the girls and bronze for the boys respectively. Adrianna Williams earned herself silver in division two, while the Sockeye division two boys were close to yet another aggregate sweep with Matthew Nesdoly tying for bronze, Matt Cooper winning silver and Jaeden Izik-Dzurko gold.

Bree Cooper and Brayden Gilliam cleaned up in division three, each winning all of their races and earning gold medals. Eliza Jane Kitchen tied for gold in division four girls, while her brother Jake Kitchen swam to bronze in division six. Chelsea Stadnyk also earned a division six aggregate, going home with silver. Sarah Dew took home gold in division seven girls.

Eight meet records were broken by Sockeye swimmers this weekend. Bree Cooper started the meet off right, breaking the division three girls’ four-year-old 50-metre butterfly record. Brayden Gilliam broke three records this weekend in division three boys. Gilliam broke a 20-year-old record in the 100-m Individual Medley (I.M.), a 16-year-old record in 50-m butterfly, and another 20-year old record in the 100-m freestyle. Chelsea Stadnyk added to the list, breaking a 22-year old record in the girls’ division six 100-m butterfly. The boys division two Medley relay team also broke a record. The team consisted of Matt Cooper, Gaelyn Gilliam, Jaeden Izik-Dzurko and Matthew Nesdoly.

A number of Sockeye swimmers had great personal best swims this weekend. Meghan Fair was the coaches’ pick for swimmer of the meet, even taking 14 seconds off in one race. Carmen Underhill got best times in three out of her four events, with a great 100-m freestyle morning swim. Natajsha Nesdoly also had a great meet, with an especially good 200-m I.M. Reta Stevenson, Josh Stadnyk and Sydney Chesham also had a number of second swims and personal best times. There were quite a few Sockeyes who made their summer swimming meet debut this weekend, including Jena Goertzen, Julia Hart, Sunny Pickup, David Brown and Madison Smith. Many Sockeyes also made finals at a large meet for the first time ever this past weekend. These swimmers include Jon Wex, Meghan Fair, Georgia Kehl, Jacquelyn Kolotylo, Bobby Stevenson, and Emma Leigh Chapman.

The Sockeyes also had a number of local sponsors and many parent volunteers, whom they would like to thank for their support and volunteer time.