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Local swimmer returns from provincial meet

Rhys Marlatt has returned from provincial AAA championships in Kamloops with an impressive medal haul after competing in eight events.
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Rhys Marlatt

Local swimmer Rhys Marlatt has returned from provincial AAA championships in Kamloops with an impressive medal haul after competing in eight separate events.

Marlatt earned silver medals in 50m Freestyle (25.59 seconds) 100m Freestyle (56.76 seconds) and 100m Butterfly (1:02.21). In addition to his silvers, Marlatt also took a pair of bronze medals in 100m Backstroke (1:03.31) and 200m Backstroke (2:18.66).

Marlatt placed fifth in 200m Freestyle (2:08.62) and had personal best times in seven of his eight events, which featured the top 12-13 year old swimmers in the province.

"I love the competition and to make it even better, the guy who beat me every time I got second place, he's first in the country in almost everything and holds a Canadian record for 12-year-olds," said Marlatt, who is a member of the Cranbrook Triton Swim Club and coached by Dave Chisholm.

"I love how I can compete against him, because he's really, really fast and I probably won't be beating him for a long time, but I hope to."

That would be Tai Long Singh, who swims out of the Winskill Dolphins Swim Club in Tsawwassen, who set a national record in the 100m Backstroke in 2012 with a time of 1:02.86.

"It's good to have friendly competition too," Marlatt added. "I'm really good friends with lots of people I compete against."

Despite getting beat out by Singh in most of the races, Marlatt content with his results. His second place finish in the 50m Freestyle bumped him up to third place in Swimming Canada's rankings.

The provincial AAA championships went through some changes since last year, where athletes had to post good enough results in multiple races, rather than just one competition to qualify for this year's edition.



Trevor Crawley

About the Author: Trevor Crawley

Trevor Crawley has been a reporter with the Cranbrook Townsman and Black Press in various roles since 2011.
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