Ye's four golds leads Rapids showing at Langley meet

It was a tough weekend of racing in Langley for Richmond Rapids swimmers but also a great learning experience for all the athletes involved.

The two day meet was great opportunity for novice and veteran competitors alike.

For the veterans, the fifth annual Langley Olympians Short Course Invitational was a chance to train through a meet, endure some fatigue and gauge their early season progress. For head coach Robert Pettifer, it was an opportunity to see just how tough his athletes were.

"It's not easy arriving at the pool at 7 a.m., swimming four events, and then eight hours later repeating them all over again. It takes mental discipline and a little bit of guts," explained Pettifer.

"Finals are only about two hours long and for them to re-swim four events in that time period is very gruelling."

For the novice swimmers, it was a chance to experience what a heats and finals meet was like, not to mention dealing with the multiple events.

Kevin Ye was tough as nails as he qualified his Canadian Age Group National time in the 200 breaststroke. This standard allows him to compete next July in Calgary. Ye also had 100 percent personal best times and collected gold medals in four events - 200 IM, 200 breaststroke, 400 IM and 100 breaststroke. He added a silver in the 200 fly, fourth in the 400 free and fifth in the 200 backstroke.

The Rapids set new meet records as well. They included Matthew Crawford (10) in the 50 backstroke, Nicolaas Dekker (16) in the 200 butterfly, Ni Weng (10) in the 100 freestyle, Hau Li Fan (14) in the 400 IM, Cathy Ye (14) in the 100 fly and Kevin Ye (12) in the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke.

Other Rapids medalists were: Amanda McCallum (9) bronze 50 backstroke. Ni Weng (10) gold 100 freestyle, bronze 50 free. Jeremy Fung (10) silvers 100 free/50 fly/50 back, bronze 200 IM/100 back. Thomas Huen (10) bronze 100 free/50 fly. Derek Wu (10) bronze 50 freestyle. Matthew Crawford (10) gold 100 free/50 fly/50 back, silver 100 back/50 free/200 IM, bronze 50 breaststroke. Arvin Chua (12) bronze 100 breaststroke. Brandon Crawford (13) bronze 200 IM. Hau-Li Fan (14) gold 400 IM, silver 200 fly, bronze 200 back. Paula Gosse (15) bronze 200 fly. Celine Hong (15) gold 100 backstroke. Leo Hong (14) bronze 200 breaststroke. Patrick Kell (14) gold 200 breaststroke. Nathan Muszynski (16) bronze 400 IM. Tiffany Orr (16) bronze 100 breaststroke. Maximilian Schaffler (13) silver 200 IM, bronze 100 back/400 IM, Serena Xu (13) silver 100 breaststroke. Cathy Ye (13) gold 100 fly, silver 200 fly. Mike Zhang (13) silver 100 backstroke.

Swimmers achieving 100 percent personal bests in both heats and finals with no disqualifications were: Nicholas Huen (12) and Jerry Tao (14).

New B.C. AAA Championship qualifier was Nicholas Huen. This allows him to compete at the B.C. Short Course championships in Surrey in March. New B.C. AA Championship qualifiers were Amanda McCallum and Ni Weng. They will be racing in Chilliwack in February.

The Rapids have now started a Masters swim program. It runs Monday through Thursday at Minoru Pool. For more information on Masters or any of the competitive programs visit www. richmondrapids.com or call 604279-7946.