Seals Weather the Prairie Winter Storm

The St. James Seals competed in their first championship meet of the 23/24 season at Prairie Winter International (PWI) this past weekend. Hayden Grenkow, Devon Lusk, Maddie Reimer, Aden Sellors, Arsenii Varchuk, Asher Waytiuk, Ronan West, & Max Wiebe represented the Seals at Pan Am Pool from Dec 7-10. Unfortunately, Jayden Yang & Nathaniel Tamang had to scratch from the meet completely due to illness.

Grenkow came out of the gates hot on Thursday, winning gold in the 1500m Freestyle, with a personal best of over 18 seconds. He followed that up with a bronze medal in 100m Butterfly on Friday night, and captured 2 medals on Saturday night (100m Backstroke - Bronze & 400m Freestyle - Gold). Hayden was our ironman this meet completing a total of 17 (!!) races in 4 days, 15 individual and 2 relays, dropping time in 16/17 swims!  Hayden was the Seals top performer of PWI 2023, his 4 individual medals accounted for 80% of the club’s total! Hayden’s performance at PWI cemented himself as a force in the 14-15 male age category this season. 

Lusk returned to his first championship meet in almost 17 months at PWI. Devon threw down personal best’s in all 5 of his morning swims. He qualified for finals in 3 events, 2 of which were “A” finals, giving him second swims for all 3 finals evenings  in a crowded 16&O male age category. Both of Devon’s “A” finals were in 200m events (Breaststroke & Individual Medley) - a distance that he had fantastic success in during the 21/22 season. He ended his meet with a highlight swim in the 200m Individual Medley, reaching 2:22.32, a time that he had been chasing for 2 seasons.

Reimer was our lone female swimmer qualified for this year’s PWI, but that didn’t stop her from making waves of her own. Maddie started her meet off with a bang, dropping over 26 seconds in the 800m Freestyle. She swam her way into “A” finals in the 100m & 200m Breaststroke, and 400m Individual Medley. Maddie shared the pool with Canadian Olympian, Kelsey Wog, on 3 separate occasions this weekend. Wog set the Canadian Record in 100m Breaststroke on Friday evening, while Reimer set a record of her own (and second of this season) taking down the 15&O female club record with a time of 1:18.01. Maddie proved again that she is one of our provinces top breaststrokers in a fast 15&O age category.

Sellors debut into PWI was delayed after a busy week of school commitments, but that didn’t stop him from immediately making waves and qualifying for finals in the 100m Backstroke. Aden moved up 4 positions to finish 12th in the “B” final as he dropped an impressive 1.29s in the evening. Aden was also a valued member of our Boys 14-15 200m Medley Relay on Saturday night as he split a blistering 27.0 on his anchor leg. His performance helped the boys hold seed at 4th as they were held just off the podium. 

Varchuk also shared in a late debut to PWI due to a crippling flu that held him out of the water for over 10 days. Arsenii made an immediate difference, helping the boys hold seed in the 200m Medley Relay with a dominant 28.0 butterfly split. He kept his success going on Sunday morning, earning spots in the 200m Individual Medley and 100m Freestyle “A” finals for that evening. Arsenii ended his time in the 14-15 category by earning a medal of his own in the 200m IM final with an impressive personal best of 2:23.06 and was held just off the podium in the 100m Freestyle. Watch for him to move into the 16&O category in January 2024!

Waytiuk’s energy was infectious all weekend long, cheering on all of his teammates and just missing his Man/Sask cuts in multiple events. Asher swam to 100% best times in all 6 of his individual events, dropping almost 10 seconds in both the 200m Freestyle and 100 Butterfly, and an outstanding 22 seconds in 200m Backstroke to earn a position as an alternate for Sunday’s “A” final. Asher was able to compete on the boys 14-15 200m Freestyle relay on Friday night and helped the boys finish 6th during his first ever Prairie Winter at 11 years old!

West also kept the energy high as he competed with Asher in almost every event, and iPad game. The second of our two 11 year olds, Ronan also swam to 100% best times in all 6 of his individual events, dropping almost 11 seconds in 200m Freestyle. Ronan was able to race on the boys 14-15 200m Freestyle relay that finished 6th! Ronan had the Seals’ most inspiring race of the weekend as he swam his way to a goggle-less/goggles-inhand 5 second personal best in 200m Backstroke. Ronan’s top finishes were 13th and 14th in a crowded 13&U age group for the 200m Backstroke and Breaststroke, respectively. 

Wiebe continued his success in the breaststroke events over the weekend. Max qualified for finals in both the 100m and 200m Breaststroke events. He dropped an impressive total of 4.83 seconds in the 200m Breaststroke to finish 12th in the male 14-15 age category. Max was one of two swimmers, along with Hayden, to compete in both boys 14-15 relays. He swam to a personal best 30.19 lead off of the 200m Freestyle relay, only to break 30 for the first time (29.75) the next morning! Max helped the boys hold their 4th place seed in the 200m Medley relay by keeping the boys in the race with a 36s Breaststroke leg!

Finally, Prairie Winter International saw the debut of the St. James Letterman Caps. These caps don the coveted St. James Swimming Letterman logo that was previously only made available to those who qualified for a meet with qualifying standards. These Letterman caps continue to build in the excitement as they are only awarded to swimmers who qualify for an individual final and race it. These swimmers were the first ever to receive Letterman caps: Hayden Grenkow, Devon Lusk, Maddie Reimer, Aden Sellors, Arsenii Varchuk, & Max Wiebe.

Both Coaches Cam & Josh were very happy with the success and versatility of our swimmers who navigated a long championship meet and all performed very well!