The Cochrane Piranhas, Cochrane’s premier summer swim club team, capped off the 2025 summer swim season with a couple of record-setting showings at both the Regional and Provincial swim meets, ending one of the more impressive club seasons in recent memory.
Over 50 swimmers represented the Piranhas at the Alberta Summer Swim Association Provincial Swim Meet over the August Long Weekend in Edmonton. The team, which has youth swimmers of all ages on its roster, preceded provincials with a dominant collective performance at its regional swim meet the week prior.
Over the course of a single weekend the Piranhas captured 132 medals–56 golds, 40 silvers, and 36 bronzes–at the Region E Regional Swim Meet. The Piranhas swam against competition from Calgary, Okotoks, High River, and Didsbury, and set numerous individual and club records while doing so.
Luoying Shi, Eileen Zhang, Evan Thibodeau, and Michael Peterson set a new club record for the 14 and Under Mixed Free Relay with a race time of 1:59.24, topping the previous record of 1:57.75. Oli Johnson, broke a record he previously set in the 50m free with a time of 24.66, and broke the 100m free record, previously held since 2015, with a time of 54.13.
Eason Zhang broke the 15-17 800m free record, Cienna Van Bruegel broke the 11-12 girls 100m backstroke record with a time of 1:18.06, previously held since 2012, and Isaac Thibodeau broke his own club record in the 15-17, 200m.
Results from the Provincial Swim Meet are not yet finalized, as of print publication, but Piranhas coach Max Kruger said the meet went extremely well for the team.
“We had some great and exciting races…it went really well.”
Last year the Piranhas took home the provincial banner in the “Medium” club category. This year, the Piranhas swam in the “Large” category, pitting them against teams from Calgary and Edmonton.
“I knew we were going to do well, but I didn’t think we’d do that well,” Kruger said, remarking on the team’s performance at provincials. “This season we had a lot of change with swimmers and coaches and a whole bunch of new faces, so it was really nice to see us have such a high performance team, even though a lot of the swimmers were brand new this year.”
In the four years that Kruger has been with the Piranhas coaching staff, he’s seen growth from the team as a whole year after year.
“We’ve been growing and growing and getting better and better,” he said. “We got a higher point total at regionals and provincials than we have in the past–which was incredible and only makes me more excited for the years to come.”
With the calendar turning over into August, and with the wrap up of provincials, the summer swim season has now come to an end for the Piranhas. Records have been set and performances compared to previous years have been outdone. The team–coaches and athletes alike–are already looking forward to next year.
