Mitch Calvert
The Memorial Sports Centre pool was bustling with activity over the weekend as the Fort Frances Aquanauts hosted their annual Winter Chill Invitational swim meet.
Despite a slew of personal best times and solid finishes, not all the news was positive for the Aquanauts as Donovan Taylor went down with a back injury—forcing him out of the meet early.
“He’s in a lot of pain, looking at either a ruptured or slipped disc [in his back], but we’ll see after the CAT Scan results,” said FFAST coach Dawnn Taylor, who also is Donovan’s mom.
“It looked like it happened off of his 400 IM on the backstroke turn,” she noted. “He might have crossed his legs on the turn and pushing off the wall might have snapped something.
“He finished the race, rolled out of the pool, and couldn’t feel his legs at all,” she recalled. “We got him up, and he refused to not go do his 100 fly. He’s got the determination, or maybe stubbornness, of a true athlete.
“He refused to back down, wanted to be part of the relay, and didn’t want to ruin it for the rest of his team, so he did his leg and then we rushed him to the chiropractor, who sent him to the ER.”
The injury is especially tough for him considering his allergy to pain-killers and anti-inflammatories makes relying on Tylenol the only option. But to put a positive spin on the injury, Taylor said the rest might not too bad of a thing in the long run for the 14-year-old swimmer.
“I have no doubt that he can be down for a couple of weeks and still go do provincials at the end of February, and be back up to where he is now,” she remarked. “And because he swam all through the Christmas holidays, a little bit of a break is not going to be too bad.”
Meanwhile, Taylor said the rest of the team performed well all weekend, with 46 personal best times being clocked.
“The whole team this weekend was really supportive of one another, lots of cheering for their teammates and really working together as a team,” she lauded. “Even though it is such an individual sport, if you don’t have a team behind you, it’s not going to be the same.”
One of those Aquanauts who clocked multiple personal bests, Katja Sutherland, knocked nine seconds off her previous best time in the 200m breaststroke, finishing at 3:16:01 (from 3:24:99).
Why the big drop? A little friendly competition, she said.
“I was swimming against my friend, Jillian [Gustafson], and it was kind of a race between us for part of it, and I saw her ahead of me, so I wanted to beat her,” Sutherland smiled.
Sutherland, 13, said the hard work in practice is paying off for her at competitive meets.
“We’ve been doing lots of hard work in practice and that’s helping a lot for swim meets,” she explained. “We’re getting really technical because I’ve got the speed right now, according to my coach, and so we’re just working on the little things so we can make it that much faster.”
Sutherland and her 200m medley relay teammates Gustafson, Caitlin Sande, and Serena Stromberg came a close second to the Kenora Sharks in their final, but clocked a group-best time of 2:26:90 in the process.
“Relays are really fun,” Sutherland enthused. “We all swam our best stroke, so it was really good for all of us. They are really outgoing and we all know each other pretty well, so it’s a good team.”
Full results for Aquanaut swimmers were as follows (* denotes a personal-best time):
•Christopher Allan (16)—200 IM (3:08:46), 50m free (31:97, 3rd), 100m breast (1:43:95*, 3rd), 200m back (3:08:18*, 2nd), 200m free (2:42:70*), 100m free (1:13:15*, 4th), and 100m back (1:28:08, 3rd);
•Anika Beaudry (nine)—50m free (51.38*, 15th), 100m breast (2:18:02*, 12th), 100m IM (2:09:47*, 12th), 50m breast (1:05:35*, 9th), 100m free (1:57:46*, 16th), and 50m back (57:45*, 7th);
•Regan Danylchuk (10)—50m free (45.35, 8th), 50m fly (56:46, 9th), 100m IM (2:07:20, 11th), 50m breast (1:06:37, 11th), and 50m back (57.27, 6th);
•Andre Emond (14)—200m IM (3:06:05), 50m free (33.76*, 4th), 200m back (1:30:06*, 3rd), 200m back (2:55:08, 2nd), 200m free (2:40:49), 100m free (1:13:45*, 5th), and 100m back (1:23:37, 2nd);
•Krista Emond (15)—200m IM (3:00:09), 50m free (32:56, 2nd), 100m breast (1:32:98, 3rd), 200m breast (3:18:23, 3rd), 200m free (2:32:09*), 100m free (1:10:77, 4th), and 100m back (1:27:61, 4th);
•Justis Gauthier (11)—50m free (56:48*, 8th), 50m fly (1:13:86, 7th), 100m IM (2:26:19, 5th), 50m breast (1:11:68, 7th), 100m free (2:16:13, 8th), and 50m back (1:07:05*, 7th);
•Whitney Gouin (seven)—50m free (1:16:57, 17th);
•Jillian Gustafson (13)—200 IM (2:55:86), 50m free (33.39, 7th), 400m free (5:25:38*, 6th), 200m back (2:49:56*, 7th), 200m breast (3:19:36*, 7th), 200m free (2:35:73), 100m free (1:12:54, 9th), and 100m back (1:20:24, 6th);
•Kassidy Ledrew (10)—50m free (50.96, 14th), 100m IM (2:17:59, 14th), 50m breast (1:07:53*, 12th), 100m free (1:49:86, 12th), and 100m back (2:09:41, 23rd);
•Dylan Ossachuk (10)—50m free (38:01*, 2nd), 50m fly (47.60, 2nd), 200m back (3:39:08, 2nd), 100m IM (1:43:26, 3rd), 50m breast (51:78, 3rd), 100m free (1:28:61, 3rd), and 50m back (44.54, 1st);
•Mitchell Riordon (10)—50m free (56.75, 16th), 50m breast (1:26:90, 5th), 100m free (2:13:24, 7th), and 50m back (1:10:91, 4th);
•Levi Rittau (11)—200m IM (3:26:40), 50m free (37.11, 1st), 50m fly (42.43*, 1st), 100m IM (1:34:38*, 1st), 200m breast (3:57:36, 2nd), 50m breast (55.02, 1st), 100m free (1:14:42*, 3rd), and 50m back (41.57*, 1st);
•Sarah Rittau (seven)—50m free (1:12:52, 16th) and 100m free (2:30:89, 18th);
•Caitlin Sande (14)—200m IM (2:50:95*), 50m free (31.26*, 3rd), 400m free (5:23:03*, 3rd), 400m IM (6:12:83*, 6th), 100m fly (1:22:58, 5th), 200m free (2:31:59), 200m fly (3:06:70*, 2nd), and 100m free (1:08:85, 7th);
•Adam Stromberg (10)—50m free (33:51, 1st), 100m breast (1:45:82*, 1st), 50m fly (44.48*, 1st), 100m IM (1:32:06*, 1st), 200m breast (3:42:65, 1st), 50m breast (47.83, 1st), 100m free (1:19:15, 1st), and 50m back (44.62, 2nd);
•Serena Stromberg (14)—50m free (31.65*, 5th), 100m breast (1:49:85, 13th), 200m free (2:50:35), 100m free (1:14:83, 16th), and 100m back (1:28:50*, 13th);
•Katja Sutherland (13)—200m IM (3:10:47*), 100m breast (1:31:48*, 3rd), 100m fly (1:43:91, 14th), 200m breast (3:16:01*, 5th), 200m free (2:44:34*), 100m free (1:13:74*, 11th), 100m back (1:25:81*, 10th), and 800m free (12:00:53*, 5th);
•Donovan Taylor (14)–200m IM (2:24:56), 50m free (27.33, 1st), 100m breast (1:20:90, 1st), 400m IM (5:12:67, 1st), and 100m fly (1:12:49, 1st);
•Cole Trimble (seven)—50m free (1:17:46*, 8th) and 50m back (1:24:85*, 5th); and
•Tayla Trimble (nine)—50m free (1:28:99*, 18th) and 100m free (3:00:91, 19th).
Aquanuat relay team results:
•10 & under girls’ 200m free (Sarah Rittau, Whitney Gouin, Anika Beaudry, and Regan Danylchuk)–4:20:21 (2nd);
•10 & under boys’ 200m free (Cole Trimble, Mitchell Riordon, Dylan Ossachuk, and Adam Stromberg)—3:35:31 (1st);
•13-14 girls’ 200m free (Serena Stromberg, Katja Sutherland, Jillian Gustafson, and Caitlin Sande)—2:10:26 (2nd);
•13-14 boys’ 200m free (Justis Gauthier, Andre Emond, Levi Rittau, and Donovan Taylor)—2:38:10 (1st);
•10 & under girls’ 200m medley (Whitney Gouin, Anika Beaudry, Regan Danylchuk, and Sarah Rittau)—4:49:86 (3rd);
•10 & under boys’ 200m medley (Mitchell Riordon, Dylan Ossachuk, Adam Stromberg, and Cole Trimble)—3:54:42 (1st); and
•13-14 girls’ 200m medley (Jillian Gustafson, Katja Sutherland, Caitlin Sande, and Serena Stromberg)—2:26:90* (2nd).
