A Foothills Stingray has broken a 27-year-record previously held by a three-time Olympic medalist and he had one of his best friends pushing him all the way.
Stingray Finlay Knox set the provincial record in the 10-year-old boys’ 200m individual medley with a time of 2:42.13 at the Speedo Alberta Age Group swimming championships on March 12 at the Talisman Centre in Calgary. The previous record was 2:42.35 set in 1984 by Curtis Myden, who won three Olympic medals for Canada.
“It was really, really cool,” Knox said about beating an Olympian’s record. “I was really, really, really tired when the race was over. When I touched (the wall at the end of the swim) I didn’t know I broke the record. Then I heard them say: ‘A new provincial record’ and I was so stunned and happy.”
Knox stunned his opposition at the age-group provincials where he set three provincial records and won gold medals in all eight of the events he entered.
His other provincial records were in the 10-year-old boys’ 50m and 100m butterfly. Not bad, but just a little short of his goals.
The 10-year-old Knox had is mother print out the provincial record times for the butterfly events as well as the 50m and 100m freestyle at the start of the swimming season.
“I highlighted them and then I put them up on my board,” Knox said. “I just missed getting the record in the 100m free… Now I am trying to get it for the 400 free and the 100 back — and I am going to get there.”
Knox’s teammate Justin Lisoway finished second behind Knox in all three of his record swims.
Lisoway, who won five silver and three bronze medals at the meet, said he was happy for his teammate.
“He beat me in everything we swam against each other,” said Lisoway, a student at Edison School. “I am proud of him, but I am also jokingly mad at him… In the 200 IM I was way ahead of everybody but him.”
Knox said his friend makes him a better swimmer.
“I just try to stay ahead of him,” said Knox, a student at Dr. Morris Gibson School. “We are still good friends.”
Knox also set an Alberta record in the 50m butterfly in a time of 32.89 seconds, beating the old mark of 33.14 seconds, which was set in 2002. His final provincial record was in the 100m butterfly in a time of 1:13.84 he set on March 13. His time was approximately half a second faster than the previous record.
Knox also won gold in the 50m, 100m and 400m freestyle, the 100m IM and the 100m backstroke.
Lisoway won the silver in the 50m and 100m butterfly, 100m and 200m IM and the 100m freestyle — all behind Knox.
Stingrays coach Tom South said the club is lucky to have the two best swimmers in their age group swimming against each other.
“We keep telling Justin that if Finlay wasn’t around he would have won those races by a mile,” South said. “Swimming against each other is the best thing for those two. Justin wants to beat Finlay in the worst way and Finlay doesn’t want that to happen.
“They have a healthy, competitive relationship. Obviously, Justin wanted to win all of those races, but he is genuinely happy with Finlay’s success.”
Lisoway also won three bronze medals in the 50m, 100m, and 200m breaststroke competitions, an event his friend didn’t enter.
“He is better in the breaststroke than me,“ Knox said. “I can’t beat him in that.”
Knox now has a goal outside of the pool.
Although he isn’t injured, Knox would like to visit the Foothills Hospital one of these days. He would like to pop in on Dr. Curtis Myden.
“I would like to shake his hand and say hello,” Knox said.
Third banner
The Foothills Stingrays are still number one despite moving up in class. The Stingrays won the Medium Team championship for at the Speedo Alberta Age Group championships in Calgary March 11-13. The meet is for swimmers 14 years of age and under.
The medium category is for clubs with between 51 and 100 swimmers.
“We are one of the smaller clubs in the middle division with 72 swimmers,” Stingrays coach Todd Melton said. “This new division is good for us because we are swimming against some very fast teams.”
In previous years, there were two categories, small club with less than 75 swimmers and large club with 75 and over.
The Stingrays won the small club title the past two years.
“We’re now the 14th biggest club in the province and we finished fifth overall,” Melton said. “The teams that beat us had more than 300 swimmers so it is really hard to compete against them. But we were able to beat some teams that were twice our size.”
Knox, Lisoway and Miranda Kasko, who each won eight medals, led the Stingrays. Kasko won two gold, four silver and two bronze medals at the meet in the 10 and under girls division. The athletic Kasko also skated at StarSkate in Okotoks on March 17-20.
South said every swimmer who competed contributed to the club’s point total for the banner.
Thomias Bruch had a strong meet for the Stingrays in winning the bronze medal in the boys’ 11-12 400m IM.
Holly Johnson took home the silver medal in the 1,500m and 800m freestyle respectively for 13-14 year-old girls. Lauren Hedley won the bronze in the 11-12 year-old girls’ 50m backstroke.
