Killarney Swim Club

KSC alumni .wolff is now head coach for the Terrace Bluebacks swim club! 👏

From the Terrace Standard:

“I coached my whole undergrad. I’ve worked three different coaching contracts, including coaching water polo even though I never played. I kind of realized that not everybody viewed coaching as a career and I really did,” she said.

Raised in Strathmore, Alberta, Wolff began began swimming at a very young age with the Strathmore Sharks before a move to Calgary connected her with the Killarney Swim Club and volunteer work as a coach.

“I started young, really young, and the coaches, my mentor coaches, told me I was good at it,” Wolff added of her desire to coach.

As a youngster, she had watched the TV coverage of Michael Phelps winning multiple swimming gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, a performance that convinced her she wanted to do the same.

After one year at the University of Calgary, Wolff moved to the University of Victoria because of its fine arts program in its own building, graduating there in 2025. But she was also a member of the university’s varsity swim team, providing her with the perfect combination of an academic pursuit and her love of swimming.

Wolff is looking forward to her new job, particularly because the Bluebacks develop young swimmers.

“I really like working with kids in the fundamentals area. I think if you build up those building blocks really strong, then they have better opportunities and a firmer foundation to continue in the sport,” Wolff explained.

“But I have coached pretty much every level except for varsity at this point. I’ve coached masters. I’ve done learn to swim with two-year-olds. I’ve done teenagers.”

Wolff said swimming is also good for social and other development of young people.

“It helps build peer-to-peer relationships. They learn how to function with other kids in a competitive atmosphere. There’s a way to be humble and kind,” she said.

“The important thing about swimming is that it is a team sport. It’s an individual team sport and you have to be a team to have shining stars. That’s how you rise as a whole by being that team.”

Killarney was proudly represented by 45 athletes at the Alberta Summer Championships. Over four exciting days of competition, the team achieved an incredible 151 personal best times, showcasing the hard work and dedication that has defined their season.

A special congratulations goes to Eren Oz, who recorded a personal best in every event he competed in.

Killarney was also a dominant force on the podium, bringing home an impressive 51 medals:

28 Gold
8 Silver
15 Bronze
Congratulations to all of our medalists: Dorothy Dean, Matea Gigovic, Brandon Hachey, Sophie Holowaychuk, Elyse Jugnauth, Eren Oz, Alan Piatek, Sean Piatek, Brooklin Rideout, Grace Rowe, Abigail Share, Maya Share, Sophia Shpak, Sky Song, Samantha Thistle, Matthew Thompson, Evelyn Washbrook, Soren Young, and Pablo Zendejas.

Several swimmers delivered remarkable performances throughout the meet:

Sophia Shpak and Samantha Thistle swept the breaststroke events in their respective age categories.
Elyse Jugnauth won every backstroke event in her age category.
Matea Gigovic captured all of the butterfly events in her age category.
Sophie Holowaychuk was unbeatable, winning every individual event she entered.
Club records fell throughout the meet, and one provincial record was also broken:

Club Record: Sophia Shpak – Girls 11–12 400 IM – 5:36.49 LC
Club Record: Senior Women’s 400 Medley Relay – 4:18.04 LC (Maya Share, Grace Rowe, Matea Gigovic, Evelyn Washbrook)
Club Record: Senior Men’s 400 Medley Relay – 3:57.66 LC (Sky Song, Brandon Hachey, Alan Piatek, Matthew Thompson)
Club & Provincial Record: Matea Gigovic – Senior Women’s 50 Fly – 26.35 LC

Continues in comments…..

Congratulations to Our Alberta Summer Games Athletes!

Killarney was proudly represented at this summer’s Alberta Summer Games by Zone 3 swimmers Dorothy Dean and Emily Piatek. Between their individual events, the girls achieved an impressive nine personal best times.

Emily earned individual medals in three of her four events, capturing silver in the 50 Fly and 50 Back, and bronze in the 100 IM. She also helped the Zone 3 relay teams earn four medals—three gold and one silver. 🥇🥈

Dorothy had an outstanding meet, earning a medal in all four of her individual events. She won gold in the 50 Fly and silver in the 50 Back, 100 Back, and 50 Free. Dorothy also helped the Zone 3 relay teams collect four medals—one gold and three silver. 🥇🥈

Killarney was also represented by Zone 3 softball player Posie Payette. Posie’s team captured the gold medal, and she received the honour of being presented with the Zone Championship Trophy. 🏆

Congratulations to Emily, Dorothy, and Posie on your outstanding accomplishments! We are incredibly proud of your hard work, dedication, and the way you represented both Zone 3 and Killarney at the Alberta Summer Games.

Killarney had seven swimmers compete at the EKI meet in Edmonton from July 3–5, 2026.

Over the course of the weekend, our swimmers achieved an impressive 31 new personal best times! 🎉 A special congratulations to Milana Hewton, who finished the meet with a 100% Best Times.

Each evening, six of our seven swimmers qualified for finals. Killarney wrapped up the meet with an outstanding 4 gold medals, 5 silver medals, and 2 bronze medals🥇🥈🥉

Congratulations to our medalists:

Dorothy Dean
Milana Hewton
Jacqueline Li
Henry Oldershaw
Eren Oz

Great job, swimmers! We are incredibly proud of your hard work, determination, and fantastic performances. Keep up the great work! 🏊

Best of luck to all the swimmers at the 2026 Bell Canadian Swimming Trials in Montreal and the Edmonton Keyano International!

Go KSC go! 🍀

Killarney was proudly represented by 33 swimmers at the Alberta Provincial Trials, where they achieved an incredible 133 new and personal best times!

A special congratulations to Amina Purev and Samantha Robson, who both finished the meet with 100% personal best times. 👏

Our swimmers also had an outstanding performance on the podium, earning 44 medals:

🥇 15 Gold
🥈 9 Silver
🥉 20 Bronze

Congratulations to our medal winners: Charlotte Barber, Elizabeth Barber, Sydney Biersteker, Joshua Brusse Sober, Ivan Guo, Luka Howell, Mikaela Kirchmayer, Bentley Langille, Mark Lawal, Kayla Malinowski, Bauman Mori, Emmet Nichols, Peyton Pelham, Lauren Rawnsley, Lilian Rawnsley, Layla Sandhawalia, Matthew Sun, and Lincoln Yee!

Provincial Trials is an exciting meet because swimmers have two opportunities to qualify for the Summer Provincial Championships—by achieving the qualifying time or by winning their event. Congratulations to our swimmers who qualified for Provincial Championships:

• Luka Howell
• Mark Lawal
• Kayla Malinowski
• Emmet Nichols
• Peyton Pelham
• Lilian Rawnsley
• Layla Sandhawalia
• Matthew Sun

Congratulations to all of our swimmers on an incredible weekend of racing. Great job, Green and Black! 💚🖤

Matea Gigovic is our final 2026 KSC Grad

Matea started swimming for KSC in 2016 when she was 8 years old. Over the last 10 years, she’s learned to be resilient, how to keep pushing through hard times, the power of hard work, as well as the benefits of recovery. These skills helped both in the pool as well as the classroom.

Matea is off to the University of Tennessee majoring in Nuclear Engineering where she’ll also be swimming with the Lady Volunteers!