Lucas Punkari
The Fort Frances Aquanauts put the wraps on another swimming season at the 39th-annual May International Invitational in Thunder Bay over the weekend, and by all accounts it was the perfect way to end the campaign.
“All of the swimmers really brought it for the last meet of the year,” enthused Aquanauts’ head coach Dawnn Taylor.
“They were in it to win it, for sure, and overall it was a very good meet,” she added.
Leading the charge for the Aquanauts was Sarah Rittau, who finished with three firsts (200m breast, 100m back, and100m breast), two seconds (50m breast and 50m back), and two thirds (50m free and 100m free) in the girls’ 10-and-under division.
“She was our phenomenal little star of the entire weekend,” Taylor lauded.
“Sarah was like someone I hardly knew throughout the entire meet because of just how focused she was, and she was able to pick up the high-point award for her age group as a result.”
Meanwhile, just a week after a stellar performance in Halifax, Donovan Taylor continued right where he left off on Saturday in the boys’ 15-and-over division by nabbing three first-place medals in the 100m fly, 200m breast, and the 100m back events.
However, that proved to be the end of Taylor’s success at the meet. He withdrew from the 200m IM, 100m breast, 200m fly, and 100m free finals on Sunday after suffering a freak injury during the medal presentations Saturday evening.
“He was hopping on the podium to get his gold medal on Saturday night, and since it was really slick, his left foot slid across the top and he ended up shooting right across the podium and cranking his ankle,” Dawnn Taylor explained.
“After he did the preliminary events in the morning, he went with one of the physiotherapists from the [Thunder Bay] Thunderbolts down to the hospital, where they did some ultrasound and acupuncture.
“We had his ankle taped up before he went back into the pool for the finals, but when he was doing his warm-ups, we found out that he couldn’t push off of the walls.
“And we didn’t want to risk damaging anything before the Baltimore meet [June 11-13].”
Regan Danylchuk also turned in a strong showing for the Aquanauts in the girls’ 11-12 division, capturing second place in the 50m free to go along with third-place finishes in the 200m free, 100m free, and 200m back.
Other local medalists from the weekend were Levi Rittau (second in the boys’ 13-14 200m back and third in the 100m back and 100m free) and Katja Sutherland (third in the girls’ 15-and-over 200m back).
While the season is now over for the Aquanauts, a number of swimmers will be training during the summer months to get ready for next season, which also will see the club’s annual meet being moved from February to October.
“I think next year is going to be a really pivotal year for a lot of my athletes,” Taylor stressed.
“This year saw a lot of the swimmers mature not just in the pool, but also have a lot of growth mentally and physically, and I expect to see the same thing when we get back into the pool in the first week of September,” she remarked.
