Lucas Punkari
Given the fact they had very limited practice time this summer due to renovations at the Memorial Sports Centre, Fort Frances Aquanauts Adam Stromberg and Levi Rittau performed exceptionally well at the Ontario Summer Games over the weekend in Toronto.
“With the lack of training time that these two boys got this summer, for them to go out and do as well as they did was just spectacular,” lauded Aquanauts’ head coach Dawnn Taylor.
“They both performed really well throughout the weekend, and it really shows that what we are doing here is working,” she added.
Stromberg, 14, nabbed a silver medal in the boys’ 14-and-under 100m freestyle event while also earning a national qualifying time with his mark of 54.92 seconds.
He also had a pair of fourth-place results in the 50m freestyle and the 200m breaststroke.
“The qualifying time that Adam achieved was just crazy, and it was awesome to see,” Taylor enthused.
“He did great in his seven events that he swam in, and he pretty much rocked it all weekend long.”
Rittau, who competed in the boys’ 15-year-old age group, was unable to qualify for any individual finals
But he teamed up with Stromberg, Bryce Jones of Kenora, and Evan Pelletier of Thunder Bay to earn a bronze medal in the 4x100m freestyle relay.
“That was another race that came right down to the end, and everyone was really excited about that result,” Taylor recalled.
“Levi did good, as well, during the weekend, and he also achieved a personal best time in the 100m freestyle preliminary heats,” she added.
In related news, Taylor now is gearing up for the start of another season of swimming here, with registration for Aquanauts set for next Monday (Aug. 27) at 5 p.m. at the Memorial Sports Centre.
“One of the things that we really want to push is our Masters program,” she noted.
“There are lot of people here now that are doing triathlons and biathlons and things of that nature, so we would like to build those numbers here for those people that are interested,” she explained.
