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Rossland’s Beatson wins aggregate gold in Kelowna

Rossland's Samme Beatson won the Division No. 7 (16 and 17 year olds) aggregate gold medal at the Kelowna swim meet over the weekend, her third gold medal in as many meets this summer.
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Samme Beatson at the Rossland pool.

Rossland's Samme Beatson won the Division No. 7 (16 and 17 year olds) aggregate gold medal at the Kelowna swim meet over the weekend, her third gold medal in as many meets this summer.

"It's pretty awesome," she said in an interview after finishing a morning of teaching young children to swim in the Rossland pool.

Beatson is the only swimmer from her club, the Trail Stingrays, who is an employee of the Rossland pool, and also the only Stingray to compete in Kelowna, which drew 16 clubs from around the province.

"The medals are aggregates," Beatson explained, based on a point system for how swimmers place in a variety of events — in other words, her gold medals are recognition for being the best in her division at each meet.

Her two earlier meets were in Nelson and Trail in June, and this weekend she'll be in Colville looking for gold again. Looking to her future, however, Beatson has no plans to swim at top amateur or professional tiers.

"I'm going to keep summer swimming, but nothing like the Olympics," she said. "That's too much time commitment."

Beatson plans to attend the University of Calgary next year to study biology.