At 27 years old and beyond his college years, Ian Williams is still making a splash in the pool.
The Prince George Pisces member was in Kamloops this past weekend for the 2019 B.C. Summer Swimming provincial championships along with other local athletes, but was the only one to reach the podium in two of his four events.
He captured gold in the 100-metre breaststroke for the fourth year in a row with a time of 1:05.41, roughly half-a-second ahead of second, and a bronze medal with Team Cariboo in the 200-metre medley.
The University of Victoria (UVic) alumni made it to the 50-metre freestyle final, but settled for a seventh-place finish in a time of 24.46, less than one-and-a-half seconds behind first.
Not only is Williams a Division Eight competitor for Prince George, but he’s also been in the coach's seat with the club since 2017.
“Ian was away at UVic swimming for the Vikes and coaching for the Vancouver Island team when we reached out to see if he would like to come back home,” said Pisces President Rory Boyle to PrinceGeorgeMatters. “He taught a clinic over Christmas break for our team and didn’t look back. He signed on for the summer and loved being back home coaching the Pisces.”
According to Boyle, Williams has been swimming with the Pisces as far back as he can remember as his mother used to be president of the organization and his older brothers had coached before.
The good news, he’s also decided to come back to teach more kids.
“He has agreed to stay on for another year as our head coach through the end of the 2020 season,” said Boyle. “This is something the Pisces executive has made a priority over the last few years. Consistent high-calibre coaching for our swimmers is crucial to our success and Ian certainly brings that.”
Williams has also served as the Cariboo regional head coach at the last two years since he’s taken over the leading role in Prince George.
The Prince George Pisces’ season runs from May to October each year.
