The Inconnu Swim Club had a great first swim meet of the season when they travelled to Grande Prairie over the weekend to take part in the Fast Track into Fall meet hosted by the Grande Prairie Piranhas Swim Club.

Inconnu finished first in team ranking with 1456 points, ahead of Grande Prairie, the Grande Cache Otters Swim Club, the Chetwynd Electric Eels and Hay River Lions Swim Club.

“We did well,” said coach Steve Sadownik. “We broke 10 club records and was more successful than I had planned. The kids were actually a lot closer to their best times than I thought we’d get, and some actually got best times that were swimming at age-group nationals last summer, so that’s really encouraging.”

Inconnu sent 51 swimmers to Grande Prairie, despite dangerous driving conditions with freezing rain, but it was more of a team-building meet than a competitive one, Sadownik said, with swimmers racing their old times and supporting each other in the pool.

“It was really good, the kids socialized together, their cheering was good for one another and they were supporting their teammates, so it was nice for us to go down to Grande Prairie,” he said.

“No one swimmer really stood out. It wasn’t that kind of meet for us. It was a team meet and the competition wasn’t so fierce that someone rose to a higher level. They were basically just competing against themselves most of the time.”

Inconnu’s swimmers used the swim meet to work on some important technicalities, which coach Jason Brockman has been working on since he started with the team in the summer. Sadownik said he saw big improvement with the swimmers in terms of streamlining and stroke length.

“Just overall they took a lot fewer strokes per length and looked a lot more relaxed racing,” Sadownik said. “They looked a lot like the kids you see on TV.”

“I’m very encouraged.”

Inconnu’s next swim meet will be in Edmonton, Nov. 29 to Dec. 2.