Fastswim was the Rapids’ first three-day meet this season, and despite a tough heats and finals schedule, the team showed how much work they’d put in so far, and how much more they’re excited to do. Here are some of the highlights.

Ada Zhang won the 200 IM, 400 IM and the 50 fly, and finished top three in the 50, 100, & 200 back, the 50, 100 & 200 breast, and the 400 free!

Kyle Bower, showing great acceleration at the 30-meter mark, came back hard to win the 15-year-old 50m butterfly by six tenths (28.42).

Claire Lin earned four individual (200 & 400 IM, 100 & 200 Back) and two relay top-three finishes. She was first in both backstroke events.

Magnus Batara, only a week out from CAN-AM Para-Swimming Championships, swam several best times and looked like a machine, inspiring many of his fellow Rapids.

Michael Jakac-Sinclair swam a blistering 400m Free (4:41.43), especially for someone who considers himself a sprinter!

The girls 12&U Freestyle and Medley Relays and 14&U Freestyle Relay both won their event.

Liam Kell’s results read like a verse from The Twelve Days of Christmas. Six personal bests, three Westerns qualifying times (all three breaststroke events), two club records (50 and 100 breaststroke), and a gold medal in the 100m breaststroke.

Kell wasn’t the only one to take down Rapids team records.

• Jeanelle Aldaba (13-14) made some big noise, and now owns the 50m fly (30.44) and 100m fly (1:07.93) and the 50m back (32.09). She also won all the backstroke events, the 100, 200 and 400 free, and the 100 and 200 fly!

• Celine Hong (13-14) took down the 400m IM (5:17.74).

• Matthew Crawford (9-10) added three to his impressive list of records: 50 back (38.20), 200 back (2:58.59), and 100 fly (1:28.65).

• Brandon de Costa (13-14) bettered his own record in the 50 back by four tenths (28.58).

• Keegan Smith (15-16) rounded out the individual records with a 28.59 in the 50 back.

• Jack Hong became the first 15-16 year old Rapid to go under two minutes in the 200 free (1:59.84). He also won both the 100m butterfly and the 400m freestyle, an impressive display of range.

Two senior boys relay records were also broken.

• 200 Free Relay (15-16): Nathan Muszynski, Nicolaas Dekker, Keegan Smith, and Jack Hong (1:41.80).

• 200 Medley Relay (15-16/Senior): Nicolaas Dekker, Liam Kell, Jack Hong, and Keegan Smith (1:52.29).

The weekend following Fastswim, the older Rapids continued to make some noise at the PCS Christmas Cracker Invitational in Victoria. This meet was only available for two age groups, 13-14 and 15 and over, and the Rapids were up against some stiff competition. 

There were lots of large out-of-province teams, and the Rapids had to swim very fast in prelims in order to make finals; no sandbagging in the morning! The 15 and overs really had their work cut out for them. Their division included members of the UVic and SFU varsity team. Even with this depth of field, the Rapids had a solid showing in finals both nights. Here's a few highlights.

Michael Jakac-Sinclair swam very well as a rookie. He was able to make finals in most of his events, and won the 13-14 50 free!

Claire Lin broke the seven year old 200 backstroke record (17+) with a time of 2:26.31!

Brandon de Costa broke two team records in the 13-14 100 and 200 backstroke with times of 1:01.10 and 2:14.27, respectively. His 100 back was good enough (by 0.07) to qualify him for the provincial team!