Minneapolis, Minnesota - PCS swimmer John Stamhuis won his first international gold medal at the 2002 US Open. John led the race from the start to pick up the gold medal in a time of 2:18.12. Stamhuis led a Canadian sweep of the event as his Pan Pacific Games teammates Mike Brown and Chad Thomsen joined him on the podium. Way to go John!!!

In other events on the final day of competition Christin Petelski was 6th in the women's 200 breaststroke in a time of 2:34.75 and Jesse Jacks was 4th in the 200 butterfly in 2:04.26.

Minneapolis, Minnesota - PCS swimmer and Canadian National Team Veteran Christin Petelski placed 6th in the women's 100 breaststroke on the first day of competition at the 2002 U.S. Open Championships. Petelski posted a time of 1:12.28 and was the top Canadian in the event. Competition continues through Saturday.

For full results please visit U.S. Swim

The Pacific Coast Swimming Parents and Swimming Association is pleased to host the following officials clinics. (Click on the link below to download the information in PDF format)

Timers Clinic - Thursday December 12th
Clerk of Course Clinic - Friday December 13th

Edmonton - The best and brightest of Canada's swimming world were honored during the final day of competition at the 2002 Canadian Open Swimming Championships and PCS was front and center. The 2001 - 2002 Canadian Long Distance Swimmer and Coach of the Year awards were all awarded to swimmers from Victoria's Pacific Coast Swimming. Winning the female Long Distance Swimmer of the Year was Karley Stutzel while her PCS teammate Dave Creel won the men's award. PCS Head Coach, Ron Jacks, was named Canada's Long Distance Coach of the Year.

Edmonton - Three PCS Swimmers won medals at the 2002 Canadian Open Swimming Championships in Edmonton, Alberta this past weekend. David Creel led the way winning a silver medal on day one in the 800 freestyle and then claiming the bronze in the 1500 freestyle on the final day of the competition. Jesse Jacks won a bronze medal for the 100 butterfly while Philip Weiss won a bronze in the 200 butterfly. Jacks used a great last 25 meters to claim the bronze medal over a number of the countries best butterfly swimmers.

Edmonton - Pacific Coast Swimming's David Creel won the silver medal in the men's 800 freestyle on the first day of the 2002 Canadian Open Swimming Championships. This was the first medal won by a PCS swimmer at a National Championships, but will certainly not be the last. In a tight race for the silver medal Creel held off challenges from two swimmers over the final two hundred meters to post a personal best time of 8:07.20. Creel will be looking for more medals in the 400 and 1500 freestyle races later in the weekend.

by Rich Cole
Full article appeared in the UVic Student Newspaper The Martlet

What did you do for reading break? A little traveling? Maybe you even managed to study a little bit between naps? While most were sleeping it off, the Vikes Varsity swim team defended their hometown pride.

After some early season meets, the team returned home to school the 17 other clubs that participated in the Pacific Cup at Commonwealth Place. Joining their Victoria affiliate Pacific Coast Swimming, the Vikes guarded their home waters and took first place.

Ten PCS swimmers made the trip up to Campbell River for their All-level meet. The group swam really well with most swimmers going best times in the majority of their events.

Standouts for the weekend were:

The full force of Pacific Coast Swimming was felt over the weekend at the Pacific Cup meet at Saanich Commonwealth Pool. PCS Swimmers at all levels had an excellent meet resulting in PCS winning the overall team title by more than 700 points.

The University of Victoria swim team joined with other PCS teammates to compete at the Colleges Cup in Vancouver and had some excellent performances. With the smallest team entered in the competition the team pulled together to finish in 3^rd place over all on the men's side and in fifth on the women's. For this competition the Vikes teamed up with Pacific Coast Swimming athletes John Stamhuis, Karley Stutzel and Christin Petelski to form the Victoria team entry.