Three gold in provincials pool for Coquitlam swimmer Laon Kim

Laon Kim stood on top of the B.C. high school championships podium three times last weekend.

Twice he stood next to his Gleneagle Secondary teammates and once on his own following what was the most successful weekend by an individual athlete from the Tri-Cities at provincials in Richmond.

The Coquitlam swimmer left Watermania with three gold medals around his neck in adding to an impressive season that includes a national record in his age group in 800m men's freestyle a few months ago.

At 14 years old, ahead of starting Grade Nine, Kim claimed six medals with Team B.C. at the 2022 Canada Summer Games and nine at the Canadian Junior and Senior Championships, including four gold.

His individual provincial gold came in the men's 200m individual medley with a time of 2:04.90, which was his third medal on the day.

The Hyack Swim Club member (New Westminster) was the third to jump in the pool during his two team events, which helped ascend the Talons to first place in the open division for 400m men's freestyle and 200m men's medley.

Among the Gleneagle teammates included Ian Baird, Justin Jung, Lucas Kim and Mark Vetoshkin.

Meanwhile, a trio of other Tri-Cities swimmers also captured three medals for their respective schools at provincials.

Peter Huang earned a gold, silver and bronze for Dr. Charles Best Secondary, Michelle Li of Port Moody Secondary rallied to three silvers and a bronze, and Riverside's Sara Hughes claimed three silvers.

Riverside Secondary won the most medals of any other Tri-Cities institution with six.

This included a bronze from the women's overall team event, finishing with 260 points from all competitions and only 12 points back of South Delta for silver.

Broken down by school in alphabetical order, the results from local schools at the 2022 B.C. high school aquatics championships are as follows:

Dr. Charles Best Secondary (Coquitlam)

• Gold
  • Peter Huang
    • 100m men's freestyle
• Silver
  • Peter Huang
    • 100m men's butterfly
• Bronze
  • Macey Larson
    • 100m women's breaststroke
  • Ryan Chang, Peter Huang, Ean Vellescig and Evan Vellescig
    • 200m men's medley open division

Gleneagle Secondary (Coquitlam)

• Gold
  • Laon Kim
    • 200m men's individual medley open division
  • Ian Baird, Justin Jung, Laon Kim and Lucas Kim
    • 200m men's medley open division
  • Justin Jung, Laon Kim, Lucas Kim and Mark Vetoshkin
• Silver
  • Ian Baird, Yeonwoo Choi, Martina Durante and Lucas Kim
    • 200m mixed freestyle open division

Heritage Woods Secondary (Port Moody)

• Gold
  • Matthew Wu
    • 50m men's breaststroke
• Silver
  • Tiffany Tancon
    • 100m women's butterfly

Riverside Secondary (Port Coquitlam)

• Silver
  • Sara Hughes
    • 50m women's freestyle
  • Haley Clarke, Sara Hughes, Haillie Karaboitis and Dalia Politeo
    • 200m women's freestyle relay
  • Sara Hughes, Haillie Karaboitis, Cara MacGregor and Dalia Politeo
    • 400m women's freestyle relay
• Bronze
  • Riverside Rapids
    • Women's overall team event
  • Kaitlyn Connelly, Nicole Hughes, Olivia Neuman and Yeva Pustovit
    • 200m women's freestyle relay
  • Dylan Betts, Eric He, Evan MacGregor and Owen MacGregor
    • 400m men's freestyle relay

Port Moody Secondary

• Gold
  • Cho Kyuhyun
    • 100m men's breaststroke Cho Kyuhyun
• Silver
  • Michelle Li
    • 50m women's butterfly
    • 100m women's freestyle
    • 100m individual medley
• Bronze
  • Michelle Li
    • 50m women's freestyle