Langley swimmer Bailey Herbert is going places.
The junior Pan Pacific championships in Fiji, to be precise.
In April, Herbert earned her ticket to the international competition in Fiji by taking silver in the 400 individual medley at the Canadian swimming championships in Montreal.
Herbert recorded a personal best of 4:52.24, and placed fourth in both the 200m IM and 100m breaststroke to win a spot on the Canadian junior Pan Pacific team.
Canada will go up against the United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and China at the competition, which runs Aug. 23 to 27.
“She kind of made a breakthrough this year” said Brian Metcalfe, head coach of the Langley Olympians Swim Club.
“She went times that are starting to be competitive in the world of swimming, not just in (her) age group, but as a senior swimmer.”
The 15-year-old Herbert has been swimming competitively since she was almost eight.
“I’m still learning things all the time,” Herbert said.
“I just want to keep trying to improve, keep getting better and just improve my strokes and see where that takes me.
READ MORE: Golden girl Bailey Herbert leads Olympians at Western Canadian championship meet
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Herbert was one of nine Langley Olympians Swim Club swimmers who went to the three-day Mel Zajac Jr. International Swim Meet at the UBC Aquatic Centre on June 1.
The international meet drew almost 600 swimmers including Olympic swimmers Penny Oleksiak, Caeleb Dressel and Ryan Lochte.
Herbert placed in three events and broke four club records at the event.
She placed second and broke the club record in the Women’s 100m breaststroke with a best time of 1:09.19.
She placed second and broke the club record in the Women’s 200m butterfly with a best time of 2:14.93 and placed second in the Women’s 200m breaststroke with a best time of 2:29.95.
Herbert placed fourth and broke the club record in the Women’s 200m IM, with a best time of 2:16.66 and also placed fourth and broke the club record in the Women’s 400m IM with a best of 4:50.97.
Fellow LOSC swimmer Hillary Metcalfe (20) placed fourth in the Women’s 50m breaststroke at the Zajac event with a time of 32.35, fifth in the Women’s 200m IM with a best time of 2:17.90, seventh in the Women’s 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:11.42 as well as seventh in the Women’s 200m breaststroke with a time of 2:35.89.
Josie Field (16) placed fifth in the Women’s 200m butterfly with a time of 2:16.96. She also broke the club record in the 100m butterfly with a time of 1:02.67.
Joshua Kim (16) broke the club record in the Men’s 50m breaststroke with a best time of 29.98.
Later that same month, Herbert led the Olympians swim club to an impressive showing at the 2018 Speedo Western Canadian Championships that ran from April 12 to 15 at Saanich Commonwealth Place in Victoria.
Herbert dominated, placing in eight of her final events while collecting a meet-high six gold medals.
The Olympians took seven swimmers to B.C.’s capital, and placed fifth overall out of 71 teams and 542 swimmers from across the west.
dan.ferguson@langleytimes.com
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