Joey Payeur
The Fort Frances Aquanauts had much more company than usual over the weekend.
A recent Swim Canada rule change limiting the window for athletes to qualify for national championship events meant more than 500 swimmers congregated in Winnipeg for the Prairie Winter Invitational.
“Because Swim Canada now says you only have from February to April to qualify for national meets, and it has to be done at a long-course meet, we had over half the field come from the Toronto area,” noted Aquanauts’ head coach Dawnn Taylor.
“The big boys came to play.”
Three of the seven Aquanauts who made the trek to Winnipeg shook off the mountainous prospects of such talented competition and scrapped their way into ‘A’ finals.
Ayiana Gagne swam to fourth place in the female age 12-and-under 50m breaststroke in 40.05 seconds while also grabbing a pair of eighths in the 100m freestyle (1:09.30) and 400m free (5:08.90).
“[Gagne] comes by her nickname, ‘The Pocket Rocket,’ for a reason,” lauded Taylor.
“She brought it and really put in a good fight, even though she got so very sick we had to scratch her on the last day.”
Gagne’s efforts earned her a spot in the Man./Sask. provincial championships in Winnipeg in July in the 13-14 age group even though she’s only 12.
Meanwhile, Will Serrano of International Falls finished fourth in the male age 13-and-under 50m butterfly (31.95) and seventh in the 100m free (1:04.58).
“[Serrano] was in a really tough category and was still taking between five and 19 seconds off his personal bests in all his events,” noted Taylor.
“He swam beyond my expectations.”
Cassidy Roach came away with 15th place in the 100m backstroke (1:15.00) in the female age 13-14 division while adding a 16th in the 100m fly (1:15.81).
“[Roach] swam very hard in the biggest and hardest division,” said Taylor.
“She didn’t make as many finals as she had hoped, but she had all best times and some great swims.”
Serrano’s brother, Ed, topped out at 24th place in the male age 14-15 group in the 50m breaststroke (34.93).
“With limited training, Ed was inspirational in that he fought really hard and did a great job,” noted Taylor.
Jesse Begin was 27th in the male age 13-14 100m fly (1:14.56) while Callum Galusha matched that result in the male age 14-15 100m back (1:17.90).
“Jesse had a really good meet and we’re looking for a big future from him as a flyer,” said Taylor.
“Callum took off anywhere between three and 14 seconds from his personal bests, and was faster than any idea that I had that he could be,” she added.
“He was committed and followed through, and was a big boost to the team’s character building.”
Jacy Gagne rounded out the Aquanauts’ results with a best finish of 31st in the female age 15-and-over 50m breast (40.55).
“Being only 15, Jacy was going up against everyone else older than her up to even 23-year-olds,” Taylor said in her swimmer’s defence.
The group, as a whole, had Taylor in a positive mood.
“These seven all held up to finish in the upper-third in all their categories with a third of the training of these other athletes and still shone,” she stressed.
“It speaks to their natural abilities to come from a small pool and still have success in such a largely-populated sport.”
Next up for the Aquanauts is the 2017 Northwest Narwhal Allstate Long Course Spring Classic on April 1-2 in Thunder Bay.
