Three Campbell River teenagers tested their swimming skills during Olympic Trials in Toronto from May 14 to May 19.
“CRKW (Campbell River Killer Whales) and I are incredibly proud of the local athletes and their accomplishments at [the] Olympic Trials this past weekend. It is incredibly inspiring for our young swimmers and for the rest of our club to know there is a brilliant path in front of them,” says Mercedes Hayduk, president of the club. “The credit goes to our amazing head coach who works passionately and tirelessly with our swimmers to create an environment where champions are inevitable.”
The three swimmers were Zac Millns, Sarah Haugen, and Keyana Owens.
Haugen says the trials went great.
“It was very interesting, very exciting and a good environment,” she says. “It was good to race at that level.”
She qualified for the 100-metre breaststroke but admits it wasn’t her best time. She also did a couple of races in the 100-metre freestyle and was able to qualify for an Olympic trial time.
“It was mostly a really nice visual of what my next four years (and) what I have to work up to. I didn’t place too well, which is fine, but it is more for the experience. Next year I plan on having at least five races at the trials and hopefully final in some of them (the junior finals).”
She talked about using that as a platform to advance into the ‘B’ and ‘A’ finals.
Richard Millns is the club’s head coach and is also Zac’s father.
“As a head coach, I am very proud of all three of these swimmers. I have coached them since they were very little and am proud to see them bloom into the champions I always knew they could be,” says Millns.
“As a father, I am so overjoyed to see my son compete at the Olympic Trials. He makes me a proud dad no matter what level he competes at, but it is nice to see him at the highest level.”
Millns says the three teens finished in the middle of the pack. His 15-year-old son nearly qualified for the Junior Championship Final. To qualify for the trials, the swimmers needed to break club records and perform at “historically high levels” to represent the Campbell River community.
The three teens are preparing to compete at the Far Western Championships in California (Owens and seven other CRKW members) and an international age-group competition in Spain (Millns and Haugen).
“We’re going to race in Barcelona with a close friend who was a foreign exchange student a couple of years ago,” says Haugen. “It’s a real competition, it’s like a western-level meet, so that’s faster than Provincials, a little slower than trials.”
