The host club made a big splash at the Richmond Rapids' annual FAST SWIM meet at Watermania.
The three-day event proved to be a huge success in and out of the pool with over 400 swimmers from across the province, ranging from eight to 25, competing for prize money and recognition.
For Rapid swimmers, it was the peak of three months of training and an opportunity to see how far their training had progressed since their last championship meet back in August. By the end of the weekend, the coaching staff was not disappointed.
Sixteen new club records were broken, five new BC AAA Provincial Qualifying times were achieved to go along and a host of personal bests and top three finishes. The Rapids also had two cash prize winners.
New club records were established by Matthew Crawford (10) in the 100 back, 200 back, 400 IM. Jeremy Fung (10) in the 100 and 200 butterfly. Cathy Ye (13) in the 100 and 200 butterfly. Celine Hong (15) in the 400 IM. Kevin Ye (12) in the 50, 100, 200 breaststroke events. Michael Jakac-Sinclair (14) in the 50 free and 50 butterfly. Hau-Li Fan (14) in the 200 butterfly and Brandon De Costa (15) in the 200 freestyle.
New BC AAA qualifiers were Jaylene Berry (13), Nicole Welsh (14), Ethan Chan (10) Adrian Hsing (11) and Fung. With this new standard, these athletes will be able to compete at this year's BC AAA Provincial Championships in Surrey.
For Rapids 12 and under coach Drew McClure, it was about having swimmers be better during their second swims.
"I wanted kids to change something when they went to finals in the evening. I thought that finals swims were much better executed and that shows me that the swimmers took something away from the preliminary swims to try and make it better," says McClure.
Rapids medalists were: Austin Berry (11) silver 50 free/200 breast, bronze 200 free/400 free. Jaylene Berry (13) bronze 100 back/400 free/400 IM. Kyle Chan (11) gold 100 fly/200 fly, bronze 400 IM. Arvin Chua (12) gold 500 free/200 free, bronze 100 free/100 fly/400 free. Brandon Crawford (13) gold 200 IM/200 free/100 fly/200 fly, silver 50 fly, bronze 200 breast/400 free. Matthew Crawford (10) silver 100 back/50 fly, bronze 100 fly. Brandon De Costa (15) gold 100 back/200 free/50 back/200 back/50 fly. Nicolaas Dekker (17) gold 200 IM/400 IM/100 fly/200 fly, silver 100 backstroke.
Hau-Li Fan (14) gold 400 IM, silver 200 breast, bronze 200 fly/1500 free. Jeremy Fung (10) silver 100 fly/200 fly. Samantha Gosel (13) silver 400 free. Angela Gu (11) bronze 200 IM/50 free/50 breaststroke. Katrina Hienonen (17) bronze 100 breast/50 fly.
Lionel Han (11) bronze 50 backstroke. Celine Hong (15) silver 200 IM, bronze 400 IM/50 back. Jack Hong (15) silver 50 fly. Leo Hong (14) bronze 200 IM. Adrian Hsing (11) bronze 100 back/50 breast/100 free. Nicholas Huen (12) gold 200 back/200 fly, silver 50 fly, bronze 400 IM. Michael Jakac-Sinclair (14) gold 50 free, silver 50 fly/100 fly, bronze 100 free/200 free. Liam Kell (15) silver 200 breaststroke.Patrick Kell (14) bronze 200 breaststroke. Jerry Liu (13) bronze 200 IM/50 free/400 IM/100 fly. Amanda McCallum (10) silver 200 free.
Ryan Murray (11) gold 200 free, silver 400 IM/400 free. Nathan Muszynski (17) silver 100 fly/200 back, bronze 200 IM. Tiffany Orr (16) silver 200 breaststroke. Melissa Quon (13) bronze 200 free. Richard Rakchtis (11) gold 400 free, silver 200 free/50 back, bronze 50 free/200 IM/200 breast/200 back. Eva Ryder (13) silver 400 IM, bronze 50 free. Maximilian Schaffler (13) silver 200 IM/200 free/400 IM/400 free/200 back, bronze 200 fly. Ni Weng (10) bronze 200 free.
Derek Wu (10) silver 50 breaststroke. Serena Xue (13) 100 breast/200 breast, silver 50 breast/200 fly, bronze 200 IM/100 fly. Cathy Ye (14) gold 200 fly, silver 50 fly, bronze 200 IM/100 fly.
Kevin Ye (12) gold 200 IM/50 breast/100 free/200 breast/400 free/100 breast, silver 100 fly, bronze 1500 free. Tony Zeng (14) bronze 200 breast. Ada Zhang (12) bronze 100 back/800 free/400 IM/50 back/50 fly/100 breast. Mike Zhang (13) gold 100 back, silver 50 free/50 back, bronze 100 free/200 free. Steven Zhou (13) bronze 100 breaststroke.
Cash prize winners for the Rapids were Michael Jakac-Sinclair, who won the 13-14 boys 50 freestyle Eliminator ($60), and Nicolaas Dekker (16) who captured the 7x50's of Fun ($200).
The Rapids will be holding a training camp over the Christmas season. For more information on the club visit www.richmondrapids.com or call 6042797946.
