Northern Lights 2022

This past weekend saw the Grande Prairie Piranhas play host for the 2022 Northern Lights Swim Meet, among the teams competing were the Fort St. John Inconnu. A total of 10 teams competed, most coming from the Edmonton area or other parts of Northern Alberta. Twenty-eight swimmers represented Fort St. John at the meet where just under 300 total swimmers competed. 

 

Despite not being the biggest team at the meet, the Inconnu swimmers made sure to make their presence felt. Racing began with a short 3 event session on Friday afternoon and Inconnu swimmers were quick to pick up podium finishes. Three swimmers, David Brand, Ryder Modde, and Mason Stirling all picked up hardware in the 50 Breast along with Ethan Scoullar adding a silver in 100 Free.  

 

Saturday featured plenty of racing as two sessions took place over the course of the day, one in the morning and one following in the afternoon. The morning started off fast with Ethan picking up where he left off as he swam his way to gold in the 50 Free. Quickly following this Inconnu showed their strength in the 200 Individual Medley as they won 4 out of 6 medals in the boys older age categories as Ryder, Kieran Rogers, Julien Kemp, and Nate Rogers all swam to long course personal bests. Julien finished off his morning adding a 200 Back bronze and 800 Free gold to his haul. Nate joined Julien on the podium of the 800 Free as the pair went 1-2 in the 14&O category. David and Mason were able to continue their breaststroke prowess as they picked up bronze medals in the 100m edition. Joining the two boys with medals in the 100 Breast were Elias Stirling, who picked up his first medal of the meet, and Kieran who added to his total.

 

The penultimate session was kicked off with Julien further adding to his already impressive haul with another gold, this time in the 400 Free. Inconnu kept the standards high as both Ryder and Mason followed up Julien’s gold performance with those of their own, this time each winning their age categories in the 200 Breast. This means Mason Stirling was able to walk away from the meet as one of only three boys to medal in all 3 breaststroke races.

 

In the final session on Sunday morning the Inconnu swimmers made sure to leave their mark on the meet and give their best in the pool. Julien and Nate had a repeat 1-2 finish in the 400 Individual Medley until Nate was unfortunately disqualified for going too far underwater off the start. Ryder added a silver in the 100 Back and Julien ended off his stellar weekend with a bronze in the longest event on the schedule, the 1500 Free.

 

Sixteen different swimmers garnered a total of seventy Top 10 Finishes, more than half of which were top 5 placings. 

 

Results aside it was a great experience and opportunity for many swimmers. For many across the team, they were competing in long course events they may have never done before. With the addition of multiple teams from Edmonton it gave the swimmers a new experience as their competitors were more varied than usual. For some this was the first time racing teams from outside of Grande Prairie and ourselves. 

 

Inconnu will next take to action when they will be inviting teams from the region to compete at the Spring Sprint Cup this upcoming May 21-22 at the North Peace Leisure Pool. Following our home meet, Inconnu will be sending part of the team to Edmonton to attend the Silver Rays Invitational with another part of the team attending the Cascade Swimming International in Calgary.

 

 

 

 

 

Podiums

 

David Brand - Silver 50 Breast - Bronze 100 Breast - 9&U

Ryder Modde - Silver 50 Breast - Silver 200 IM  - Gold 200 Breast - Silver 100 Back - 12-13

Mason Stirling - Bronze 50 Breast - Bronze 100 Breast - Gold 200 Breast - 14&O

Ethan Scoullar - Silver 100 Free - Gold 50 Free - 14&O 

Kieran Rogers - Bronze 200 IM - Silver 100 Breast - - 12-13

Julien Kemp - Silver 200 IM - Gold 800 Free - Bronze 200 Back  - Gold 400 Fr - Gold 400 IM - Bronze 1500 Free - 14&O

Nate Rogers - Bronze 200 IM Silver - 800 Free - 14&O

 

 

Top 10 Finishes

 

Brice Bellamy - 50 Free

David Brand - 50/100 Free, 50/100 Breast, 50/100 Back, 50 Fly

Emma Brand - 200 Breast

Evelyn Greenwood - 50 Fly

Julien Kemp - 100/400/800/1500 Free, 200 Back, 50 Breast, 200/400 IM

Viggo Pedersen - 200/400/800 Free, 50/100 Breast, 50 Fly, 200 IM

Rylan Pomeroy - 50 Free, 50/100 Back, 200 Breast, 50 Fly, 200 IM

Marshall Powers - 100 Back

Kieran Rogers - 100/400 Free, 50/100 Back, 50/100 Breast, 200 IM

Nate Rogers - 100/400/800 Free, 50 Breast, 100 Fly, 200 IM

Ethan Scoullar - 50/100/200 Free, 50/100 Back, 50 Breast, 100 Fly, 200 IM

Elias Stirling - 200 Free, 50 Back, 50/100/200 Breast

Mason Stirling - 100/200/400 Free, 100 Back, 50/100/200 Breast, 200 IM

Mya Waberski - 50 Free

Willow Waberski - 50 Back