Two more meets and 19 more medals collected for the Humboldt Hammerheads Swim Team.

On Saturday, a team of 11 visited the Biggar Barracudas meet and even though they had a small number of swimmers attend, it was a successful meet.

"The 11 swimmers who participated in Biggar did very well," said coach Leisl Lefebvre. "Everyone placed at one point throughout the day and we came home with seven medals overall."

Medal winners from Biggar included:

  • Justin Berscheid - Gold - 15-17 Boys
  • Maya Berscheid - Gold - 15-17 Girls
  • Jay Eichorst - Gold - 13-14 Boys
  • Kelly Romaniuk - Bronze - 13-14 Girls
  • Darren Romaniuk - Silver - 11-12 Boys
  • Cuyler Brooks - Silver - 9-10 Boys
  • Aidra Angelstad - Gold - 7-8 Girls

The following day, a larger contingent of Hammerheads went to Watrous for a meet. For some, it was the beginning of their competitive experience, says Lefebvre.

"They had some great times. There was some swimmers who, this was their very first meet ever, so we gave them a tour of where you go and what you do and away they went, they got in the pool and swam very well."

Watrous was more favourable for a higher medal count with 12 collected:

  • Justin Berscheid - Gold, Ryan Hinz - Silver - 15-17 Boys
  • Maya Berscheid - Gold - 15-17 Girls
  • Jay Eichorst - Silver - 13-14 Boys
  • Lauryn MacLean - Silver, Kelly Romaniuk - Bronze - 13-14 Girls
  • Darren Romaniuk - Silver - 11-12 Boys
  • Sabrina MacLean - Gold, Ashley Hinz - Silver - 9-10 Girls
  • Tessa Cannon - Gold, Aidra Angelstad - Silver, Shae Fraser - Bronze - 7-8 Girls

The Watrous meet was the conclusion of the regular season, and attention now shifts towards provincial qualifying, which the Hammerheads will host.

"All of the northern teams in summer swimming will come to Humboldt on the weekend," explained Lefebvre. "Every swimmer has a chance to qualify themselves in five individual races. If they place in the top six in any event they swim, they will go on in two weeks to swim in provincials in Regina."

It is the first meet hosted by the Hammerheads this season, and will be held at the Humboldt Aquatic Centre on Saturday beginning at 9:00am.

Following the northern semi-finals, there will be a hitch in the road to provincials, as competition in the Saskatchewan Summer Games takes place in the final weekend of July.

For those who do qualify to attend the provincial finals in Regina the first weekend of August, Lefebvre says that time in the pool will increase.

"They're going to practice atleast once a day. Their practice time will be longer though. Our senior swimmers, they practice for one hour and ten minutes an afternoon," she noted. "Once semi provincials are done and they have qualified for provincials, we increase their practice time to two hours an afternoon."

While swimmers want to be in tip-top shape for the end of the season, Lefebvre says there is a line to keep yourself from being rundown.

"You want to be as fast and efficient as possible come provincials," she said. "Do you want to be doing a whole lot of endurance work two days before your biggest meet of the year? No, but we can do things like fine tune details."

Lefebvre is the coach for Team Prairie Central at the Estevan Games July 28-30, with nine Humboldt swimmers competing.

Provincials are August 6-7.

You can hear more from Lefebvre below.