One Week, Double the Fun!

Our KES Highlanders were in action twice this week – competing at Centennial Pool in Halifax in the AA Age Group Development (AGD) meet, and at home in our Spafford Pool for the annual Maritime Independent League (MIL) swim meet. With 15 individual swims across three swimmers, we achieved an incredible 13 personal best times!

Julien Gingras ‘27 led the way with a silver medal in the 50m freestyle, a bronze in the 100m breaststroke, and a strong fourth-place finish in the 50m breaststroke. He also recorded personal bests in the 100m freestyle and 200m freestyle.

Laura Napier-Whale ‘30 had a fantastic meet, swimming personal bests in all five of her races. Her top finish came in the 200m freestyle, where she claimed bronze for all 12-and-under girls. She also placed fourth in the 200m individual medley and finished in the top 10 in all her events.

Fellow junior Ewan Shaw ‘30 took on the grueling 400m freestyle for the first time, powering through the six-minute-long race to earn a bronze medal. He then switched gears for the fast-paced 50m freestyle, where he sprinted to a personal best and a fourth-place finish.

Around 100 swimmers from other independent schools descended on our campus as we hosted our annual MIL swim meet, an event open to KES students in Grades 5-9. Three Highlanders took to the starting blocks and delivered remarkable performances at this relaxed yet competitive meet.

Juniors Laura Napier-Whale and Ewan Shaw each swam the 50m backstroke, 50m freestyle, and 50m butterfly, achieving personal bests in all their races. Over the past week, Ewan has dropped more than three seconds in his 50m freestyle – an incredible improvement!

Emery Endres ‘28 competed in the same three events as her Highlander teammates but stole the show with three gold medals, including a huge personal best in the 50m freestyle. She is now just a heartbeat away from breaking the 30-second barrier for two laps of the pool – an exciting milestone on the horizon!

A special thank you to our many student volunteers and to faculty members Ms. Karen Brierly and Ms. Misty Atwater for their invaluable assistance with number crunching and results. We also extend our gratitude to Mr. Brandon Jodrey and his patient maintenance crew for their last-minute support, and to Ms. Kim Shanks for keeping everything running smoothly outside of Spafford Pool.

Our AAA-level swimmers will be back in action next weekend at Dalplex on February 22.