Six Glacier Swim Team members participated in the IM Extreme Northwest Games this past weekend at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon and swam away with a good bounty of medal wear.
“I thought our swimmers swam very well,” GSC coach John Wray said. “We knew they were going to be competitive, we just didn’t know they were going to be this competitive. I was very happily surprised.”
Over 85 swimmers representing swim clubs representing Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, Inland Empire, Pacific, Pacific Northwest, Sierra Nevada, Snake River, Wyoming and Alaska participated in the three-day event. GSC finished in 5th in the team standings. But it was in the individual results that the Juneau athletes shined.
Ciera Kelly (15) took first place in the 15-year-old girls classification, winning all 6 of her events and breaking the GSC record for the 15/16 year old girls 200-yard IM (formerly held by Kristin Jones in 2006).
“It felt good knowing that all the Juneau swimmers could go down to Oregon and do good,” Kelly said. “We could compete beyond Alaska. We all did better than we expected. It was a really big accomplishment for all of us.”
Mia Ruffin (13) took first place in the 13 year-old girls group on total points scored over 6 events.
“It didn’t feel that hard,” Ruffin said. “We are used to swimming eight events at a normal swim meet. I was really happy because I swam most of my not so good races. So I was really surprised that I got first.”
Bergen Davis (11) took first place honors in the 11-year-old boys, again on total points.
Dakota Isaak (14) took 2nd in the 14-year-old girls.
“Our team did really good,” Isaak said. “I was really happy to place second. Our next meet is next month here and I am really excited about that.”
Jorden Davis (15) 3rd in the 15-year-old boys group.
Evangelyn Pajarillo (11) 17th in the 11-year-old girls classification
The IM Extreme Games is a new concept introduced by USA Swimming 3 years ago to develop all-around athletes who can excel at all the four competitive strokes. Each swimmer competed in a long distance freestyle event, the butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and 2 individual medley events over the three days. Points are awarded for each time swum, with total points calculated to determine individual age group and team winners.
The next competitions for Glacier Swim Club will be the Winter Games Jan 27-29 in Haines, Great Alaska Open Feb. 17-19 in Anchorage and the Alaska Age-Group Championships Feb. 24-26 to be held at Juneau’s Dimond Park Aquatic Center.
Comments (5)
Add comment@parishilton
With a handle like that, one has to assume that you are into a different sort of setting for pictures that you appear in....
@parishilton
It’s a shame a person like you would have the audacity to make a comment like this. I just hope that “certain mom” and her kids don't see this comment of yours because it’s very rude. Do you realize these swimmers work extremely hard to get qualifying times to compete in a different state? Parents pay a lot of money to keep their children in sports and out of trouble, especially in a small town like Juneau. Just be happy for them and do me a favor, when you see these swimmers, you need to congratulate them because they are role models in our community. Thank you for the tip, that’s a great idea about CCW, and by the way, you should check out the Capital City Weekly last two days ago, http://capitalcityweekly.com/stories/020112/new_949472297.shtml , get a copy and put it in your scrap book.
go GSC
We are proud of you all! Thank you coach, Scott Griffith for recognizing these awesome swimmers! They could have not done it without you!
These kids and their parents
These kids and their parents work REALLY hard. Keep up the great work guys and gals and don't mind the trolls around here!