Swimmers prove their mettle at regionals

It was a long and busy weekend for Fort Frances’ two swim clubs, but both the Aquanauts and Cyclones proved they have the right stuff at the Northwestern Ontario regional championships here.
The meet started Friday afternoon and ran until Sunday at the Memorial Sports Centre, with more than 120 swimmers from across the region participating.
The Cyclones’ eight-member team collected 23 medals, including 13 gold, nine silver, and one bronze. Of the 68 starts they took off the blocks, 51 of them were personal best times.
Head coach Deb Murray described her team’s performance as “awesome.”
“These swimmers worked together as a team and achieved more than anyone could ask. Look out in the future,” Murray enthused.
Cyclone Peter Jensen, who won five individual gold medals and one silver, was presented with the high-point award for 11-12-year-old males—his second regional championship high-point honour.
Team member Keegan Little was reserve high-point for that age group.
In the 10 year and under male division, Donovan Taylor, the youngest team member, swam his way to reserve high-point—only 2.5 points from the top.
It was also a great weekend for the Aquanauts, whose 33 swimmers earned 19 gold and 24 silver medals. “They did a really, really good job,” said head coach Roman Ramirez.
The team placed third overall once again, behind the Thunder Bay Thunderbolts and Kenora Sharks.
“But we were very close for second and first place. We’ve improved a lot,” Ramirez said. “The improvement in points was really big.”
He cited high spirits among the swimmers as an important factor.
“There was a good attitude at the meet. That’s the reason we were so close for second and first,” he noted.
Four Aquanauts—Alex Parent, Heather Dutton, Rachel Dutton, and Karli McKinnon—also qualified for the junior provincials, which will take place Feb. 27-29.
Jessica and Nicole Lowey will have time trials to qualify this week.
Parent already has qualified for the nationals, which take place Feb. 19-22, while Heather Dutton will have her time trials for nationals later this week.