The Estevan Mermaids made a splash in Regina on April 1-2. They are planning to showcase their talents at the 2017 Watershow which will be held on April 8 at 6:30 at the Estevan Leisure Centre. 

Story Sumitted by Bridget Bittman:

Estevan Mermaids sent 39 athletes to the 2017 Sadie Caulder Knight Provincial Stream Provincials in the Regina Lawson Aquatic Centre on April 1 & 2.  Our athletes ranged from younger than 8 to adults competing in the Masters Program.  For some of our LTD (Limited Stream Competitive) athletes, this is their one competition per year as our pre-competitive athletes and our recreational athletes only compete at provincials.  Nineteen of our athletes compete in Provincial Stream (PS) at all competitions.  Out of the PS athletes, we also have those who have qualified for HP performance which is another level of excellence some of the Estevan Mermaids have achieved, which make them some of the top Synchronized Athletes in the Province in their age category.

At the Provincials, besides the Figures, Solo, Duets and Team competitions, we also had LTAD testing which stands for Long Term Athlete Development for our competitive athletes. Synchro Canada (our governing body) wants our athletes to be well rounded athletes so they require them to do extra testing throughout the year comprised of land, water and figure testing. The watering testing was done in our own pool and we sent the results to Synchro Sask and included individual medley, propeller and front flutter. Figure testing are the figures that the athletes perform for the competition. The land testing is done in front of judges and it is a series of exercises that the athletes perform in certain order.   Our athletes have done exceptionally well in the LTAD testing thanks to the added emphasis our club has on Land Training which focuses on core strength, stretching and general fitness.
The four figures focused on for each athlete at the Provincials were the Ariana, the Barracuda Spinning 360 degrees, the Ibis & the Porpoise with a 1/2 twist.  Each figure is performed individually in front of a panel of 4 judges.  The average is taken for each figure and then is averaged between the four figures.  Therefore, you must do well in every figure or it takes your average down.
Eight and under Competitive did well with Ellie Meyers taking 1st with 44.66 for Gold and Alyssa Halkyard placing 5th with 41.75 out of 6 competitors.  
Ten and under LTD athletes saw 1 Estevan Mermaids place 8th of 25 competitors - Rachel Duncan with a 47.66.  We didn’t have any athletes place in the top ten in this age category for Provincial Stream.
11-12 LTD athletes, Camryn Westling took 2nd place with 46.83 for Silver and Isabella Michael 10th with 44.75 out of 22 competitors.  The 11-12 PS Novice were exceptional in figures out of 14 competitors with Katie Waldegger taking 3rd for Bronze with an averaged score of 48.56 and Annalise Weinrauch 4th with 48.39 and Lindsay Mack close behind in 5th with 47.64.  
Our 13-15 PS Athletes dominated Figures among 41 competitors.  Gemma Bittman placed 1st with 59.16 for Gold, Haley Copeland 2nd with 58.08 for Silver, Hannah Mantei 4th with 57.66 and Nyla Dyck 7th with 56.50.
Marlie Weinrauch took 8th with 54.66 with an injured shoulder and Maya Doust with close behind with 53.33 in the 16 - 18 PS Figures.  Brenna Lawrence scored 48.99 as a 

For the routines, there is three panels of five judges with the final mark calculated by a computer.  Competitors are judged on:

1. Execution for the level of excellence in performing highly specialized skills and moving in unison both above and below the surface.

2 Artistic Impression for Choreography, Music Interpretation, and Manner of Presentation. 

3 Difficulty or the quality of being hard to achieve and includes the difficulty of all movements and synchronization.

 
Solo Routine:
In AWAD-C, Level 1 LTD - Cynthia Goudy swam well with a routine score of 38.23.
Brenna Lawrence swam in 16-18 with a routine score of 49.70.
13 -15 had two strong solos with Hannah Mantei taking 1st for Gold with 57.6 and Haley Copeland taking fourth with 54.5.
For 10 & Under, Rebecca Duncan scored 45.46.
Duets:
11-12 PS team Jersey Hirkala & Serial Potoma and 
Amber Mantei & Shannon Wanner had fun performing a duet in the Masters Program with a routine mark of 47.26.
 
Team Routines:
10 & Under PS - Estevan Mermaids took Bronze in their routine with a score of 41.13
Jordyn Tarnes, Alianna Young, Lindsay Mack, Sasha Mantei, Alandra Young & Gracie Dzuba
Coached by Shannon Wanner & Kelsey Potoma
10 & Under LTD - took Silver with the exact same score of 41.13.
Sarah Greening, Alyssa Halkyard, Elle Meyers, Claire Mowchenko, Eva Schmidt, Rowyn Shier, Navaeh Wakely & Charlotte Waldegger
Coached by Susan Swirski & Kelsey Potoma
11 - 12 PS took 4th with a Routine mark of 52.73, Figures 50.29 for a Championship mark of 103.03.
Kyra Driedger, Jersey Hirkala, Gabrielle Jocelyn, Seriah Potoma, Laura Swirski, Emily Tarnes & Annalise Weinrauch
Coached by Brenda Lyons
13-15 PS took Gold in both Routine with a mark of 54.73, Figures of 55.73 for a Championship mark of 110.47.
Gemma Bittman, Haley Copeland, Rebecca Duncan, Nyla Dyck, Caitlin Graham, Hannah Mantei, Maya Daoust & Marlie Weinrauch
Coached by Brenda Lyons & Desiree Franke