Meredith Levorson excelled at the 2017 Canadian Western Swimming Championships.
Levorson, one of four members of the Vernon Kokanee Swim Club competing, reached the podium in five different events in Calgary.
She won two gold medals in the women’s 16 and over age group, winning the 100-metre freestyle (57.78 seconds, a Personal Best) and 200m free (2:05.91, PB). Levorson added silver in the 50m free (26.85) and won bronze in the 400m free (4:31.42) and 200m backstroke (2:22.72, PB). Her largest PB improvement was in the 100m backstroke, dropping 2.42 seconds for a PB of 1:05.76. She also achieved new Canadian Senior National time standards in the 50m back (30.83) and the 200m free.
Levorson was second overall in the age group.
“One of my goals for this meet was to get into finals everyday with strong morning races and then improve the race at night with a faster time and podium finish,” said Levorson, a Grade 12 Vernon Secondary student. I also wanted to get some more national cuts so it was awesome to achieve most of what I expected going into this meet.
“I would say the results from Westerns show that the training I’ve been doing is helping me improve and getting me in the right direction for where I hope to be by the end of the season. It’s exciting to see that this year I’m placing in top of Western Canada and higher than in previous years. It’s a good step preparing for university swimming this fall.”
Levorson will swim with the UBC Thunderbirds this fall.
Kelsey Fillion was seventh in the women’s 13-14 in the 100m free (1:00.03) and 11th in the 50m free (27.74).
Charlotte Wendlandt was 14th in women’s 16 and over 200m butterfly (2:44.84).
Competing in her first Western Championships was Alexandra Shortt, who swam to 23rd place in the women’s 16 and over 200m breaststroke and gained the valuable experience of what it takes to compete at a high-level competition beyond provincial championships.
The Kokanee sent 53 athletes to a one-day skills sharpening meeting in Kamloops, where the swimmers took the opportunity to rehearse race strategies and sharpen their swimming skills with the team reaching an overall 75 per cent personal best times.
