It’s been a long time since the KISU swim club won its fall Iron Sprint meet.

Just how long has it been? It’s the first time since Tina Hoeben took over coaching the senior group 12 years ago and still surpasses her time.

Several clubs from throughout the province, including strong teams from Richmond and Prince George aimed to take the title back with them. There were 240 swimmers, including 80 from KISU, pushing for victory.

“It was great,” she said with a big smile. “Teams have sent strong swim clubs to this meet. It was great to have a lot of the province participate and not just in the region.”

Among the swimmers who impressed Hoeben were Sam Lasinski in the 10 and under group. He won the 800-metre freestyle and broke a three-year-old team record in the process. Lasinski then broke a 17-year-old record in the 100-m fly. Also performing well were Brian MacPhail who completed the 100-m free style in under a minute and Travis Doroshuk who performed well in the 50-m free style. Results from the meet were not available at press time.

Lasinski had reason to be happy with his performance, but was surprised at the same time.

“I mainly wanted to get best times and win the meet,” he said. “It’s the first time I broke any records.”

Now he wants to improve for provincial competition and shatter more records.

Paul Lytle, KISU coach for the intermediate/age group, said his swimmers did phenomenal having only trained for a month when other clubs have for two. He was happy to see several athletes beat their best times. Now, he’s looking forward to next month in Vernon for a meet Nov. 6-8. The next goal for KISU then will be to qualify for provincials in Kamloops in December. Kamloops is also hosting the high school regionals next weekend.

The junior/super junior group coached by Jane Bentley performed “fabulous” in the eyes of their coach. What impressed Bentley was their technique. MaKenna Thompson swam well and Daniel Everton completed the 200-IM in under four minutes. Andrew Cooke, a paraswimmer, has put himself within 20 seconds of qualifying for provincials. Nicholas Everton completed his first 800-m freestyle. Bentley said they will switch their attention to winning a meet as visitors which they haven’t done.

On Feb. 5-7, Penticton will host the provincial AA meet.

Brian MacPhail of the KISU swim club charges to the finish line at the community centre pool on the final day of competition in the KISU Iron Sprint Swim Meet.