Times Colonist story
by Brian Drewry

Saanich Commonwealth Place will be busy this weekend as more than 600 swimmers hit the pool for Pacific Coast Swimming's Seventh Annual Christmas Cracker Invitational Meet.

The three-day event begins tomorrow with swimmers ranging in age from 7 to 26. Twenty-four swim clubs are expected to take part including teams from Alberta and the Yukon.

And to mark the season, the pool will be all decked out for the holidays and participants will receive Christmas crackers throughout the event.

Several UVPCS senior swimmers and coaches Ron Jacks and Peter Vizsolyi travelled to Toronto November 28-30 to compete in the Canada Cup Grand Prix event at the Etobicoke Olympium.

SNC excerpt

Toronto, ON – Open Water World Champion Greg Streppel of Cambridge was inducted into Swimming Canada’s Circle of Excellence tonight at the Canada Cup in Toronto.

“I feel very honored tonight but this recognition also goes to my coaches who have contributed so much in giving me the tools to become a world champion,” said Streppel. “Ron Jacks was a true pioneer in the Open water event for Canada. His dedication has inspired me beyond the sport of swimming.”

Coach Rod Barratt and ten swimmers crossed Georgia Strait for the LOSC Fall Invitational in Langley, November 15-16. Coach Rod Barratt and ten finalists returned... congratulations to Salin Bol, Sophia Borchers, Michael de Clare, Caileigh Filmer, Lauren McMillan, Rosie Moulton, Rachael Newman, Stefanie Schmidt, Aidan Thirkell and Brenden Ward!

As always, complete details are posted on our results page.

PCS traversed Malahat Mountain on Saturday to compete in the first event at the new Duncan pool - cool! Swimmers, coaches and parents had a great time!

Our team converged on Saanich Commonwealth Place on Wednesday November 12th for an evening of photos (a sea of blue bolt shirts and enthusiastic team members), fun relays (adults particularly loved watching the wobbly boat relay) and recognition for achievements during the 2007-2008 season.

The following swimmers won our high-point trophies - congratulations all!

Several UVPCS groups attended the Island Pacific Cup this weekend. At the close of the meet, our top-3 finalists included Hanna Carter, Ryan Clouston, David Creel, Eleanora Dalling, Emily Ding , Derek Doerksen, MacKenzie Downing, Cody Flegel, Ryan Howe, Danielle Newton, Tracey Nguyen, Jessica Petrusiak, Jeff Saganski, Annika Schmuck, Nicholas Sinclair and David Vizsolyi.

Results from the SFU Invitational are now posted on our results page. Highlights included top-3 finishes from Whitney Buczkowski, David Creel, Derek Doersken, MacKenzie Downing and Jeff Saganski.

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OTTAWA, ON – The Coaching Association of Canada today announced the names of the 50 coaches who are the 2008 recipients of the Petro-Canada Coaching Excellence Awards.

This year, these prestigious awards recognize coaches whose athletes won medals at the 2008 Olympic Games, the 2008 Paralympic Games, the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games, and at various world championships.

UVPCS swimmers and coaches were at the pool in both Nanaimo and Victoria this weekend. Our younger swimmers and their coaches travelled over the Malahat this weekend for the Nanaimo Fall Invitational, while our senior groups competed at the TAS Senior Circuit at Saanich Commonwealth Place.

UVPCS hosted the TAS Senior Circuit again this year for Swim BC. Thanks to everybody who helped, including several families with swimmers in the Nanaimo meet. Thanks to all!