For the second year in a row, the Richmond Rapids are runners-up in the overall team standings at BC AAA Long Course Provincials. The men’s team was again first, a trend that has lasted for several consecutive seasons.

 

The journey started two weeks prior with BC AAs in Victoria, where eight Rapids athletes competed. This was the first championship event for 10-year-olds Sarah Crawfod and Vivian Liang, who had the opportunity to learn how to race over three full days. Liang walked away with a bronze in the 100 back, and two AAA-qualifying swims.

 

Other medals included Catherine Liao’s bronze in the 100 fly, and another bronze for the girls 12 & under 4x50 medley relay.

 

For AAA Provincial Championships, the Rapids brought 44 fully qualified athletes, one of the largest Rapids provincial teams ever. Over the four days of competition, those 44 athletes produced 18 gold medals, seven silver, and eight bronze medals.

 

Six of those gold, plus one silver, belonged to Amanda McCallum, who was dominant throughout the weekend in a wide range of events. McCallum also set club records in the 100- and 200-meter freestyle, 100 backstroke, and 400 IM, while simultaneously raising her number of Age Group National standards to nine.

 

John Chiam also set a club record in his opening leg of the boys 12 & under 4x50 free relay, leading the entire team (Jeremy Fung, Matthew Crawford, Dimitri Volchkov) on to a gold medal and club relay record.

 

Chiam, after getting an individual bronze in the 50 free, would also be a part of two other gold medal and team record-setting relays in the 200- and 400-meter medley. Crawford, Volchkov, and Tiger Chen were also on the top of the podium in the 200, while Crawford, Chen, and Josh Quon were the winners of the 400, completing the Rapids sweep of the Boys 12 & under relays.

 

Also in the relays, the Boys 13-14 teams produced four medals out of three events, with the Boys A team winning the 4x50 Free and both teams together earning silver and bronze in the 4x100 Medley.

 

Rounding out the relay club records was the girls Open 4x100 Medley, consisting of Jaylene Berry, Serena Xue, Cathy Ye, and Morgan Mark, coming in 4 ^th overall.

 

Serena Xue walked away with a pair of club records herself in both breaststroke distances, the 100 being enough for the 16-year-old to break the Open-class record as well. This was only the cherry, though, as Xue won the 200 and bronzed the 100.

 

Also in the breaststroke, Kevin Ye dominated both the 100 and 200 breaststroke events again, setting another club record in the 200. Jerry Liu finished the meet with a pair of club records in the 200-and 400-meter freestyle. Liu also won gold for his performance in the 200 IM.

 

AAAs was also the site of Emily De Boer’s provincial debut. In her first time competing as a para-athlete at a championship event, De Boer placed forth in the 100 backstroke and breaststroke. De Boer will be a part of Canada’s paraswimming team at Para Can-Ams later this year.

 

Nicolaas Dekker, on his way to Junior Pan Pacific Championships, swam what was likely to be his last provincial championships as a Rapid before leaving for university. As usual, Dekker was strong in both butterfly events, but also had surprisingly strong performances in the breaststroke events, claiming the gold in the 100- and 200-meter races. Rounding out his golds with a win in the 200 IM, Dekker again showed his ability as a multi-disciplined athlete.

 

Over the weekend, the Rapids produced several more Age Group National qualifiers. Dini McIver, Adrian Hsing, Rich Rakchtis, Ethan Chan, Austin Berry, Max Schaffler, and Michael Ge all qualified for Age Group Nationals, with McIver, Hsing, Rakchtis, Berry, Ge, and Chan all for the first time.

 

A huge amount of this success is due to the unyielding support of the Rapids volunteer chaperones, lead by Wendy Berry. Though regularly treated with less-than-ideal circumstances, the team of chaperones provided full, health-conscious, high-quality catering all day long for the entire Rapids team and staff. The results would surely have been diminished had it not been for their exceptional effort.

 

Registration for the Richmond Rapids will be open to the public starting on August 24 ^th at Watermania. More information will be made available at richmondrapids.com.

 

A full list of medalists is provided below.

 

Individual Events

Amanda McCallum (11&Under) - Gold, 50 Free; Gold, 100 Free; Gold, 200 Free; Gold,

100 Back; Gold, 200 Back; Gold, 400 IM; Silver, 100 Fly

Serena Xue (16&Over) - Gold, 200 Breast; Bronze, 100 Breast

Kevin Ye (14-15) - Gold, 100 Breast; Gold, 200 Breast

Jerry Liu (14-15) - Gold, 200 IM; Bronze, 100 Fly

Nicolaas Dekker (16&Over) - Gold, 100 Breast; Gold, 200 Breast; Gold, 100 Fly; Gold

200 IM; Silver, 200 Fly

Samuel Pei (11&Under) - Silver, 200 Free; Silver, 800 Free; Bronze, 100 Fly; Bronze,

200 IM; Bronze, 400 IM

Alex Ball (14-15) - Silver, 50 Free

John Chiam (12-13) - Bronze, 50 Free

Max Schaffler (14-15) - Bronze, 200 Back

 

Relay Events

Boys 12&U 400 Medley (Crawford, Chen, Quon, Chiam) - Gold

Boys 12&U 200 FR (Chiam, Fung, Crawford, Volchkov) - Gold

Boys 12&U 200 Medley (Crawford, Chen, Chiam, Volchkov) - Gold

Boys 14&U 200 FR (Hsing, Zhuo, Berry, Han) - Gold

Boys 14&U 200 Medley (Hsing, Berry, Zhuo, Han) - Silver

Boys 14&U 400 Medley (Hsing, Rakchtis, Dekker, Han) - Silver

Boys 14&U 400 Medley (Zou, Berry