Rapids win Gold at Western Nationals, Place 5th Overall At Provincial Champs
The Richmond Rapids have just wrapped up their short course season with a pair of major championship events: Western Canadian Nationals in Saskatoon, and AAA Provincial Championships in Victoria.
The Rapids sent a team of five to Westerns, three of which were veterans of the event. The roster included Brandon de Costa, Brandon Crawford, Michael Jakac-Sinclair, Serena Xue, and Tony Zeng. This is the second highest level of competition in Canada, second only to this year’s World Trials.
“Westerns can be intimidating, but our rookies didn’t let that slow them down. They fought hard to make finals,” says Head Coach Robert Pettifer. “Our returning athletes were taking chances as well, fully aware that it would take gutsy swims to win. That meant going out hard.”
That racing mentality lead to some major results. De Costa, a medalist the previous year, came out strong with a gold in the 100-meter backstroke for the 16 and under age group, which was not only a club record, but a senior national qualification time. Two days later, de Costa doubled with a win in the 50-meter back, posting the fastest time of the entire meet.
In Victoria two weeks later, the five joined up with 35 other Rapids swimmers for AAA Provincial Championships, the highest level intra-province competition of the year. This AAAs had the particular distinction of being the biggest provincials ever, possibly the biggest meet BC has ever seen.
“Provincial Champs is a real test of our swimmers’ abilities. It’s a long, tough meet,” says Head Age Group Coach Dennis Silva. “Our kids have put in the work, week in and week out, and we’re seeing the positive results of that training and effort. This year’s AAAs had some of the strongest results I’ve ever seen.”
The Rapids swimmers responded to the challenge on the first day, their 11-year old boys going 1-3-4-5 in the 1500-meter freestyle. Ethan Chan and Jeremy Fung won gold and bronze, respectively, while Anthony Chan and Matthew Crawford occupied the fourth and fifth spots. Ethan Chan would continue on with a bronze in both the 200 and 400 free.
The night concluded with the 4x50 Free, with silver for the 11-and-under boys, and a win by the 14-and-under boys, who went on to win gold in all three relays.
The following day, the Rapids had twenty finals. That lot included first-time individual medalists Adrian Hsing (Silver – 200 IM) and Matthew Crawford (Gold – 100 Backstroke). Hsing would total seven silvers by the end of the meet, while Crawford would proceed to win the 200-meter discipline as well. First-time medalist Alex Ball shocked everyone with his win in the 50 freestyle, winning by only one one-hundredth of a second, and setting a new meet record in the process.
Other medals included a win for Kevin Ye in the 200 IM, who also won gold in both breaststroke events. Jerry Liu also came through with his first provincial gold, winning the 100 backstroke. Liu placed third in the 200, and earned himself a spot on BC Prospects Team, which represents the top age group athletes in the province.
Friday night was perhaps the biggest relay for the Rapids – the 16-18 year old boys 4x50 medley. The Rapids had fielded their national championship squad for the event, and ripped a crushing 1:43.86, which not only broke their own provincial record, but also went under a twenty-year old Canadian national record. The Rapids currently own the BC record, but a team from Ontario broke the national record by 0.21 seconds faster just the day prior.
The following day, Serena Xue and Nicolaas Dekker earned their first medals of the meet (200 breaststroke and 100 fly, respectively). Xue would earn silver on Sunday in the 100 breaststroke. Rich Rakchtis earned his first-ever individual medal, with a bronze in the 200 breaststroke.
Friday and Saturday also had finals for BC’s para-swimmers, where Magnus Batara earned three silver medals (200 IM, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke) and one bronze (200 freestyle).
Other notables include Max Schaffler, who made his first-ever Westerns qualification, and David Ng achieved his first Age Group National standard. 10-year old Amanda McCallum added the 100 backstroke to her growing list of newly-minted club records.
Sunday was a knockdown, drag out for the team rankings, with the top seven teams in high contention. The Rapids had twenty-six finals, and the results were strong enough to finish fifth overall, in what was one of the tightest team races in BC history. Only four points separated 4th and 5th place.
“We’re very proud of our swimmers. We has some incredibly successful swims – lots of kids really stepping up to the challenge and giving die-hard efforts,” says Head Coach Pettifer. “They were fighters, all the way to the end.”
For full results, please use the following link.
