Athlete of the day March 29, 2013: Jarret Plante

Jarret Plante

Jarret Plante has made a big splash in the world of swimming.  This 11 year old is in grade 6 at Canyon School and is breaking Provincial swim records.

At the Junior Lifeguard Club Provincials in Edmonton held on March 16, he gained two silver medals.  One was in the Tow with Fins, and one in the 50 metre with Fins.  The big news is that he also earned a gold medal in the Obstacle Swim, and broke another Provincial record in that category.


"I'm more than proud of him, I'm just blown away." said Myranda Goss who has been coaching for 2 years, coaching Plante both years.

"This is my second lifeguard meet, and my first Provincials, I enjoyed it very much," said Plante.

"When I first heard of the second record I broke, I felt really proud, because I didn't think I could do it.  That time was really fast.  When we looked on the result sheets, there it was!" said an excited young Plante.

Plante said he had a time of 1:25 seconds, the standing record was 1:26 seconds.  

During one the events that he gained a silver medal, he had one of his fins fall off just as he took to the water.  He completed the 50 metres with one fin, and he still took second place.  When asked if he would have gotten a better score with both fins, he just said, "Yeah, but I lost one, but that's the way it goes," he said taking the incident with good grace.

In addition to swimming Plante enjoys skiing, basketball, football, bike, and skateboard. Jarret had hurt his knee enough so that he couldn't compete in the Nancy Greene Terrain Skiing competition earlier on this month. "I still pulled it together and went to Provincials, though."

This is his second Provincial record that he has broken in the last three months.  On February 9, 2013 Plante established a new Provincial record in Swim with fins, 50 metres,  with a time of 30:15.  This is the first year that Plante has entered into competition.