January Meet Review
The New Year brings a new competition structure. Nova Tech, AA, and AAA swimmers raced for the first time after the AA/AAA split. New this year, the Nova Tech and AA combine for regional meets. Meanwhile, the AAA swimmers start their Long Course season.
At Centennial Pool in Halifax on the 24th and 25th, 54 SWAT swimmers dove in for their first meet of 2026. In the AA sessions Swimmers from Junior, Novice, and Senior Provincial groups competed across the 2 days. The meet was fast and caught a few folks flat footed, but overall, the weekend was successful with 76 best times. The Novice group provided 10 Best Times and highlights include Olivia M making her AA Debut and dropping 13 seconds in the 50 Breaststroke. Liam Dropped 14 in the 50 Fly. 24 Best Times came out of the Junior Provincial group. Mylee P and Patricia B made their Novice group racing debuts. Group top performances were Mylee in the 200 Back, improving by over 24 seconds; and Kayden in the 200 IM also by 24 seconds. Junior Atlantic put up 30 best times in a training meet feeling a little sore and stiff after a tough block of training throughout January. Gabriel C raced his first official 200 Fly. Isaiah raced in his first meet as a Junior Atlantic swimmer and met his first AAA qualifying time in the 200 Free for 13 year old boys. He also put up the swim of the meet for the Atlantic boys with over 29 seconds of improvement in both the 200 Free and 200 Back. Farrah put up the biggest drop for girls with 18 seconds of improvement in the 100 Back. 4 Senior Provincial swimmers raced including Tatum making her Senior racing debut. The group added 12 Best times to the meet. Sam H had the swim of the meet for the group taking 13 seconds off his previous 100 Fly time.
In the afternoon of Saturday, January 24 the Nova Tech swimmers took over the Centennial racing tank. SWAT sent 36 swimmers from the Waves and Novice programmes. 3 Novice swimmers attributed 5 best times and a handful of new events. Henry completed his AA graduation criteria in the 200 free after a 12 second improvement. Alex E and Victoria both met their 100 IM criteria and will need to meet the 200 Free to complete their graduation. Waves swimmers had many good swims. Ever swimmer made best times or swam a race for the first time setting the bar. Myra made her deep end debut after moving into Level 1 at the end of 2025. Jackson and a couple other Tidalwaves swam their first 200 Free in competition. Chelsea, Madeleine, Peyton G, and Robin graduate to Level 2 after finishing the meet with 100 IM times under 2:00. The swims of the meet for Waves swimmers were Kyle with 26 seconds off in the 100 IM and Malia taking off over 30 seconds in the 100 IM.
The following weekend at Dalhousie University the AAA swimmers raced in their first LCM events of the season. 20 SWAT swimmers from Junior Atlantic, Senior Provincial, Senior Atlantic, and the National programmes came into the meet after some tough workouts in January and posted 42 personal bests. The lone Junior Atlantic representative this time around, Jae swam a full slate of new Long Course events after making the AAA transition during the first month of this season. Senior Provincial built up 21 best times. Addison met the 200 Free East Coast Standard for 13 year old girls. Swims of the meet were Elyse taking over 8 seconds off in the 100 Breaststroke and Marco taking over 32 seconds int eh 200 Breast. Senior Atlantic swimmers added 15 best times to the team total. Julia qualified for East Coast Champs in the 400 Free and 400 IM. Cohen also met the East Coast standard in the 50 Free. Swims of the meet for the Senior Atlantic group were Julia in the 200 Breast with 19 seconds of improvement and Jack with a 2 second improvement in the 400 Free. 6 best times came from National group swimmers. The swim of the meet was put up by Dylan with 14 second of improvement in the 200 IM LCM.
Racing continues in February with AA/NT and AAA meets on the weekends of February 14/15 and February 21/22 respectively. After that AA and AAA swimmers dive into Championship season in March with Nova Scotia Champs, Maine Winter Champs for Team NS Travel members and East Coast Champs. Champs season continues into the early part of April for Canadian Open qualifiers.