The Jasper River Dragons finished third overall in the Hinton Junior Lifeguard Meet last weekend despite sending less than half the number of swimmers of their competition.

With 25 swimmers competing – 21 swimmers and four coaches who have never competed before – the club was outnumbered, as the Hinton and Wetaskiwin clubs had 60 swimmers each competing.

But it wasn’t just the coaches who hadn’t competed before. For some of the younger swimmers, it was a first-time experience.

“Some of the younger ones had never been to a competition before. They loved it,” Jo-Ann Sherlow of the River Dragons club. “All three of my head coaches had never competed before, and they did great. My assistant coach competed, and she’s been swimming since she was six – she’s 14 now. But the senior coaches, they learned the events, and they swam them all. They did an awesome job.”

The masters division is open for ages 40 and older, Sherlow says she competed last year. She was still teaching her coaches – all in their early 20’s – the events last week.

Thomas Broemeling finished in second place in every event, which includes an obstacle swim, a 200 metre swim carrying fins, 200 metre swim towing fins, and a line throw.

But while the competitions are open to all ages, the River Dragons senior swimmers are the clubs coaches, with her assistant coach competing in the under-14 group and the rest of the swimmers are in the under-13 division, down to six years old.

The River Dragons will be competing in Drayton Valley on February 20 and the provincial meet on March 20 at Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) in Edmonton.

Other notable scores came from Mikyla Sherlow who finished third in two of her four events, the under-nine girls relay who finished first and second, the 11 and 12 boys relay who finished third, the 12 and 13 boys relay who finished second and the senior girls relay who also finished second.

“They did amazing, they were great. You learn from every time you go to a meet, so it’s going to be great (in the future),” said Sherlow.