Silver Sharks compete at southern provincials

By Tyler Lowey, Times Reporter

Another half inch on Martina Sidorenko’s fingernails and she would have qualified for the Swim Alberta Provincial Championships.
“She managed to overcome a goggle malfunction and still nearly qualified for the provincial championships. It’s unfortunate to see her come so close and just miss out, but there will be more chances for her in the future,” said Strathmore Silver Sharks Swim Club Head Coach Jen Mertz.
Competing at the Southern Alberta Provincials Feb. 24 and 25 at the Repsol Sport Centre in Calgary, athletes put their best performances in the water to try to earn a medal and a trip to provincials later in March.
Sidorenko was one of the eight Sharks who qualified for the southern provincials in Calgary last weekend and came out less than one second short of qualifying for the provincial meet. Her time of 1:26.16 seconds in the women’s 14 and over 100-metre breaststroke was a fraction of a second longer than it needed to be.
“Martina is a great athlete. She also plays ringette, so this weekend she will play with her ringette team and then drive down to Lethbridge for the Pronghorn Classic with another chance to qualify,” said Mertz.
Medals and finishes don’t determine whether or not swimmers qualify for the provincial meet March 16-18 in Edmonton; they simply need to break time barriers. Those barriers can be broken at any point during the swim season. Jessica Mantik and Megan Mertz are the only Sharks to have qualified for the meet in Edmonton, although Megan will miss the race as she is still recovering from a surgery that raised her knee cap to alleviate pain in her knee.
For Sidorenko, she was still able to turn in quality races during the weekend, including an eighth-place finish in the 50m breaststroke, in a time of 38.68.
Kianna Doig, 14, was the only swimmer to medal in Calgary. She placed second in the 50m breaststroke (37.64).
The 15-year-old Katherine Drover saw her best finish come in the 50m butterfly, in 33.01.
The younger swimmers, Mia Grant, 11, placed 22nd in the 200m breaststroke and Lauryn Hansen turned in a time of 40.24 in the 50m backstroke for her best finish.
On the boys’ side, Boston Marshman, 12, barely missed the podium in the 50m backstroke, touching the wall at 37.64. Erik Meyer left with a 13th place finish in the 100m breaststroke in a time of 1:30.48, and Ty Nott, 14, saw his best race come in the 200m breaststroke, when he finished in 3:02.42.
The scene now shifts from using 25m lengths into the long course of their season, in which they will swim with 50m lengths.