Northern Novas Synchro Club has amazing meet in B.C.

Competing in their first meet of the season, the Whitehorse Northern Novas synchronized swim team proved they were up to the task.

Competing in their first meet of the season, the Whitehorse Northern Novas synchronized swim team proved they were up to the task.
The Northern Novas put on a dominate performance and finished with more than just medals at the B.C. meet.
The group won a combined five medals at the event, which exceeded expectations and was a pleasant surprise to even their coach.

The Northern Novas finished with two gold medals, two silver medals and one bronze medal at the B.C. meet.
“The girls did fantastic,“ said Aura-Lea Harper, the team’s coach.

“I am very, very proud of them. It shows all their commitment and the stuff that they are putting in is actually going somewhere.“
The Northern Novas are the only synchronized swim club in the Yukon.

Their season begins in September and the girls normally do intense training sessions, covering the basics in the sport up until February when they start working on their routines.

Routines in the sport include team, duet and figures, which is a solo event.
However, this season the group began working on their team, solo and duet routines in December, in preparation for a Calgary meet that was held earlier in February.
Unfortunately cold weather ended up delaying their flight into Calgary, which resulted in the team not being able to take part in the competition.
The Northern Novas have a total of four competitive members on the team.

The group practises twice during the week for 2.5 hours.

They also meet again on Sunday for a three-hour practice session.
This is the second year the group has been together and right from the start of the season they began to show signs of progress, which included the girls wanting to branch out and attempt new event routines.
Last season the team had only one duet, but currently the Northern Novas have two duets and four soloists, in addition to their team event.
The Northern Novas finalized both their figures and two duet routines, but it took the group longer to perfect their overall team performance, which wasn’t completed until a day before they attended the meet in B.C.
At competitions, the judging criteria in the sport ranges from a score of 1-10 and swimmers are evaluated in two main areas.

The first is technical, which involves a mark based on the execution of the overall routine.

The second evaluation is artistic, which is based on things such as appearance and facial expression.
The meet for the Northern Novas was highlighted by two gold medals in both figures and duet.

The team also won two silver medals in both the team and duet events and medalled once again in figures, winning a bronze.
The B.C. meet was also special because it showed Harper that the group was talented enough to move up one tier, which will result in them competing against a higher level of swimmers at their next meet.

For the past three years members on the Northern Novas have remained in Tier 2, but will now register as a Tier 3 team in the remaining two meets of the season.

Both of their final meets will take place at the end of May.
Harper said she was glad about them moving up to Tier 3 before the conclusion of the season, which officially ends in June.

She hopes to advance at least one tier every year, which will be needed if the team is able to compete at Canada Games.

In order for the Northern Novas to compete at Canada Games they have to be swimming in the Tier 7 category.
She said moving up a tier is a big step for the girls and it was the best part that came out of the recent meet.
“This meet we last attended; that was the gateway if we were moving up or not,“ Harper said.

“I want them to go to Canada Games, so they have to move up.

This will be good for them to see how well they actually can do.“
Harper is confident about the team competing in the Tier 3 category for their next meet.
“I think they will do well,“ she said.

“They might not place, but I think they will swim really well.

I am just happy that they are able to compete in Tier 3. They are ready for it.“
She said the silver medal in the team event meant the most to her.
“I knew the duets would do really well, but the team I really didn’t,“ Harper said.

“We had some minor problems and we had to change stuff around.

They pulled through and brought home a second.“
Harper said the team has really improved this season and the results were reflective of that.
“It was the most combined effort,“ she said. “They were really a team actually at this meet.

They did a secret handshake and everything before they went on, so that really brought them together. You have to have your team there behind you.“
Taylor Hanna has been competitive in synchronized swimming for three years.

At the B.C. meet, she showed off her skills for the Northern Novas, placing an impressive first in both figures and duet.

In total 59 swimmers competed in figures.

The meet was open to any synchronized swim club in B.C.
Hanna, 14, also helped the team finish second overall at the meet.
She said the first place finish in the duet meant the most to her.
“We have been swimming together for a long time,“ Hanna said. “It was really good.

We expected top three, but not first. It’s the best mark we’ve gotten yet.“
Hanna said the gold medal in duet is best thing she has won so far in the sport and added the team in general has never done better at an outside meet.
“We got a really good mark,“ she said. “We never usually get that high. We all did really well in everything we did.“
Simone Kitchen has been partners with Hanna in the duet for four years.

She said winning the gold medal in duet was also the highlight of the meet.
Kitchen also had success in the figures event, finishing third overall.

She said the team has continued to improve and credits all the work they have done in practice for their success.
Kitchen, 13, said the meet in B.C. was particularly special because of how well the team did in general.
Katie Link won a silver medal with duet teammate Olivia Duncan. She also placed within the top 10 in figures, finishing eighth in the standings.

This was an improvement for Link, who finished in 12th at the same meet last year.
The meet was also special for her because it marked the first time she competed with Duncan as a duet.
“This is my first duet and I think that it was good that we got second for our first time performing as a duet,“  she said.

“I didn’t know how big the competition was going to be, but we turned out to be a little better than I thought.“
This season marked the second time Duncan has competed at the meet.

This year was an improvement for Duncan, who placed 17th in figures and took part in the duet event for the first time.

She said finishing second in the duet was the best part because it exceed her expectations.
“It was just our first time, so I didn’t expect to do that good,“ she said.
Duncan, 13, said after doing so well in B.C. she is more confident about competing in her next meet, which will be M.A.S.Y. at the end of May.

M.A.S.Y. is open to synchronized swimmers in Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Yukon.