Great Conclusion to Rapids’ Short Course Season

March 7, 2012

                Short course swimming is racing in a 25m pool, long course changes the pool configuration into 50m lengths.  Long course swimming is the way most major championships as well as the Olympics are swam.

                In British Columbia the conclusion of the short course swimming is the BC AAA Championships.  It is held in a different city each year and over 600 athletes from around the province take part.  Swimmers 18 years and under get together to race the four racing strokes: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle, as well as relays. 

                For the Richmond Rapids, this year’s AAA championships placed them 6^th out of 45 teams in the province.  The final top 6 placings were deadlocked right up until the final event.

                “It’s exciting to see such an exciting conclusion to a meet.  There were 3 teams from around the Lower Mainland that were fighting for the third, fourth and fifth place positions,” says Rob Pettifer, the Head Coach of the Richmond Rapids.  “The swimmers did a great job of staying tough right until the end.”

                The club had a slew of finalists who achieved top 8 placings as well as numerous medalists and some new club records.

                Top 8 finishers for the Rapids were:
Nicolaas Dekker (16) gold 200 IM/100 back/100 fly, silver 200 back/200 fly, 5^th 400 IM
Kevin Ye (12) gold 200 IM/200 breast/100 breast, bronze 100 fly, 4^th 50 free/100 free/200 fly
Brandon De Costa (15) gold 100 back, silver 100 free, bronze 200 back, 4^th 100 fly, 5^th 400 free
Maximilian Schaffler (13) silver 200 back/400 IM, bronze 100 back, 4^th 1500 free, 5^th 400 free/200 free 8^th 100 fly
Hau-Li Fan (14) silver 1500 free/400 free/400 IM, bronze 200 IM, 6^th 200 breast/200 fly
Michael Jakac-Sinclair (15) gold 50 free, 6^th 100 free
Arvin Chua (12) bronze 50 free, 4^th 100 breaststroke, 5^th 100 free/200 free
Cathy Ye (14) bronze 100 fly, 8^th 200 fly
Austin Berry (12) 6^th 400 IM, 7^th 200 free, 8^th 400 free
Jaylene Berry (13) 6^th 200 fly
Sam Bhandal (11) 8^th 200 fly
Brandon Crawford (14) 7^th 200 fly
Matthew Crawford (10) 6^th 100 back, 7^th 50 free/100 fly
Jeremy Fung (10) 7^th 200 fly
Paula Gosse (15) 7^th 100 breaststroke
Leo Hong (14) 7^th 200 IM/200 breaststroke, 8^th 400 IM
Adrian Hsing (11) 7^th 400 free, 8^th 200 back
Liam Kell (16) 4^th 100 breaststroke, 5^th 200 breaststroke
Patrick Kell (14) 5^th 200 breaststroke, 7^th 100 breaststroke
Jerry Liu (13) 5^th 100 fly, 6^th 200 fly, 7^th 200 IM, 8^th 50 free/100 back
Ryan Murray (12) 6^th 200 free/200 back, 8^th 400 IM/100 free
Richard Rakchtis (11) 5^th 200 breast/400 free/200 back, 6^th 200 free/400 IM, 8^th 200 IM
Eva Ryder (13) 6^th 200 breaststroke
Serena Xue (14) 6^th 200 breast/100 breaststroke
Tony Zeng (14) 4^th 200 breaststroke
Mike Zhang (14) 6^th 100 back, 8^th 200 back
Kevin Zheng (16) 7^th 100 breast, 8^th 100 fly
Steven Zhou (12) 4^th 200 breast, 8^th 100 breaststroke

                Club records were broken by Cathy Ye in the 13-14 year old girls 100 and 200 butterfly.  Matthew Crawford broke the boys 10 & under 50 free, 50 back and 100 fly records.  Kevin Ye broke the 11-12 boys 100 and 200 breaststroke and 200 IM records.  Hau-Li Fan broke the 13-14 boys 400 IM, 400 free and 1500 free club records.  Brandon De Costa broke the 15-16 year old boys 100 free record while Nicolaas Dekker broke the boys 15-16 year old 200 back, 200 fly and 200 IM.  Liam Kell broke the 15-16 year old boys 100 and 200 breaststroke.

                “I can’t believe the number of club records broken at every age group in the club,” says Pettifer.  “The club records signify the fastest times ever achieved by swimmers in the Rapids swim club.   The fact that we had 17 records broken in one weekend is amazing!”

                The club had three new Age Group National qualifiers.  This standard allows swimmers to attend the Age group national championships in Calgary this July.  The meet brings together the fastest swimmers in all of Canada.  New Age Group National qualifiers were Eva Ryder, Tony Zeng, and Leo Hong.  The club also had a new Western Canadian Championships qualifier.  Kevin Ye (12) qualified his Western time in the 100 breaststroke this weekend.

                After an amazing championship season the Richmond Rapids head into March break for some well-deserved rest.  Nicolaas Dekker will be away at Olympic Trials the last weekend of March in Montreal.  The club had over 80 athletes compete at championship meets during the month of February. 

                For more information on the Richmond Rapids Swim Club click on www.richmondrapids.com or call 604-275-7946.  The club has on-going registration throughout the year for competitive swimmers or for their learn to swim program at Minoru Pool.  The club is also offering a Master’s program that runs 4 days per week.