Aquanauts, Cyclones start fall season

It was an auspicious beginning to what two local swim clubs hope will be a season chock full of personal bests and record times.
The Fort Frances Aquanaut Swim Team and the Fort Frances Cyclone Swim Club burst out of the blocks for the fall competitive campaign this past weekend by taking part in the eight-team Thunder Bay Thunderbolts sprint meet.
Aquanauts head coach Roman Ramirez took a positive stance when it came to the overall performance of his 22-member contingent.
“We had a lot of personal best times, and for the first meet of the season, it was a good performance,” said Ramirez. “But as the coach who prepares the program for the swimmers to follow, you’re always looking forward and expecting a lot.”
The Aquanauts fielded five new competitive level swimmers in Thunder Bay, and proved their potential to Ramirez.
“I’m very happy with how they did,” he said. “They’ll be competitive at this level in time.”
Among the veterans, Rachel Dutton had the most prolific weekend, finishing first in all six events she was entered in.
“Now that it’s the third year of me being coach, the veterans are getting more comfortable in working with me,” evaluated Ramirez. “Overall, the team did much better than at the first meet last year.
“You’re going to see this group move up to the next step. They’ve got the right attitude, and now we just have to keep working on their mental training.”
Cyclone warning
The Thunder Bay pool also seemed to agree with the second-year Cyclones, who sent eight swimmers to the meet after only four last year.
The team posted 18 personal bests and came within two seconds of a personal best in six other races out of the 34 they competed in.
“There wasn’t one of our swimmers (other than Daniel Murray, who raced in only two events due to illness) who didn’t put up a personal best,” said Cyclones head coach Debbie Murray.
“We’ve progressed so far in our technical development, especially in our 10-and-under group. To have as many top three finishes as they did for a second-year team, that’s phenomenal.”
Murray took special pride in the fact that, after a slew of disqualifications absorbed by her young competitors last year, not one Cyclone suffered a disqualification in Thunder Bay.
“I’m extremely impressed we avoid any disqualifications this time,” said Murray. “Our young swimmers have proven they can swim and swim well at this level.”
Peter Jensen was the standout performer for the Cyclones, as he matched Dutton’s six-for-six record in first-place finishes during the weekend.
“Peter has just move into a new age group (11-12),” marvelled Murray. “Usually, those type of swimmers straggle at the back of the pack until they get a little older. But Peter’s showing the calibre of swimmer he’s going to turn into.”
Here are the results from this weekend’s meet (*denotes personal best):
CYCLONES
•Connor Crook, —50m breast (*50.63, 1st), 100m breast (*1:51.57, 1st), 50m free (41.94, 2nd), 50m back (47.53, 3rd), 100m free (*1:39.19, 3rd), 100m back (1:53.91, 4th)
•Erik Gustafson, —50m free (*45.97, 2nd), 50m breast (*1:06.22, 2nd), 50m back (*56.98, 3rd)
•Peter Jensen, —100m IM (*1:35.12, 1st), 50m breast (*50.27, 1st), 100m free (*1:22.01, 1st), 50m free (*34.73, 1st), 50m fly (*42.77, 1st), 100m breast (*1:48.33, 1st)
•Marina Jewell, —50m back (54.35, 3rd), 50m fly (*58.89, 3rd), 100m IM (*2:08.77, 5th), 100m back (2:00.28, 6th), 100m free (*1:41.02, 7th), 50m free (*44.97, 8th)
•Daniel Murray, —100m breast (2:08.43, 2nd)
•Karrah Ogden, —50m back (53.24, 2nd), 50m fly (1:04.33, 4th), 100m free (*1:39.79, 6th), 100 IM (1:57.83, 7th), 50m free (44.57, 7th), 100m back (2:00.47, 7th)
•Donovan Taylor, —50m fly (1;00.60, 1st), 100m IM (*1:49.14, 2nd), 50m back (46.83, 2nd), 50m free (44.10, 3rd), 100m back (1:49.68, 3rd), 100m free (1:45.48, 4th)
AQUANAUTS
•Rebecca Armit, 11—50m fly (45.53, 4th), 50m breast (*52.46, 5th), 100m IM (*1:42.88, 8th), 100m breast (2:00.30, 8th), 50m free (*38.20, 9th), 100m free (*1:32.91, 14th)
•Jamie Beadow, 17—50m free (31.73, 3rd), 50m back (38.65, 3rd), 200m free (2:47.11, 4th), 50m fly (*35.77, 5th), 100m free (1:13.03, 6th), 100m IM (DQ)
•Jessica Cousineau, 13—100m back (1:25.29, 2nd), 100m IM (*1:24.03, 4th), 200m free (2:37.47, 4th), 100m fly (1:28.96, 5th), 100m free (1:13.43, 7th)
•Heather Dutton, 16—100m fly (1:11.51, 1st), 50m fly (31.88, 1st), 200m free (2:19.41, 1st), 100m IM (1:13.91, 2nd), 100m free (1:04.69, 2nd), 200m IM (2:37.69, 7th)
•Rachel Dutton, 13—100m IM (*1:16.43, 1st), 100m fly (*1:15.44, 1st), 100m free (*1:04.46, 1st), 200m IM (2:46.70 m, 1st), 50m free (30.82, 1st), 200m free (2:23.12, 1st)
•Nicole Fontana, 12—100m IM (*1:30.00, 3rd), 50m back (*41.04, 3rd), 100m free (*1:18.99, 3rd), 50m breast (*50.57, 3rd), 50m free (35.78, 1st), 100m back (*1:26.70, 3rd)
•Jillian Gustafson, 8—50m fly (57.09, 2nd), 200m free (*3:28.77, 2nd), 50m back (55.39, 5th), 100m free (*1:39.54, 5th), 50m free (*42.83, 5th), 100m IM (1:53.03, 6th)
•Jennifer Hawley, 13—100m back (1:24.89, 1st), 100m IM (*1:22.22, 2nd), 50m free (32.77, 3rd), 100m fly (1:25.09, 4th), 100m free (1:11.74, 5th), 200m free (*2:39.59, 5th)
•Megan Hebert, 17—50m back (42.07, 5th), 200m free (2:55.80, 5th), 100m IM (1:26.30, 6th), 50m free (35.35, 6th), 50m fly (39.06, 7th), 100m free (1:18.57, 9th)
•Danielle Herbert, 13—50m fly (*48.60, 2nd), 50m back (*43.34, 4th), 100m fly (*1:44.87, 7th), 100m back (*1:37.54, 8th), 100m free (*1:26.23, 14th), 50m free (38.67, 14th)
•Jennifer Jonassen, 13—50m fly (*51.14, 3rd), 50m back (*51.76, 7th), 100m back (*2:05.15, 10th), 100m free (*1:37.83, 15th), 50m free (*41.33, 15th), 100m IM (DQ)
•Karli McKinnon, 15—100m free (1:04.43, 1st), 50m free (29.99, 1st), 50m fly (34.06, 2nd), 200m free (2:21.95, 2nd), 100m IM (*1:14.25, 3rd), 100m breast (*1:28.69, 3rd)
•Jade Morrison, 11—200m free (3:09.06, 4th), 100m IM (*1:36.81, 5th), 50m back (*45.73, 6th), 50m free (37.83, 7th), 50m fly (49.45, 7th), 100m free (*1:24.76, 8th)
•Alex Parent, 14—100m IM (*1:16.89, 1st), 50m fly (*34.23, 2nd), 200m free (2:25.25, 2nd), 100m fly (1:18.36, 3rd), 50m free (30.84, 3rd), 100m free (1:07.14, 4th)
•Kyle Perrott, 14—50m breast (*39.01, 1st), 200m breast (*2:58.36, 2nd), 100m free (*1:07.13, 3rd), 200m free (*2:25.67, 3rd), 100m breast (*1:25.93, 3rd), 50m free (*30.93, 4th)
•Laurel Perrott, 12—50m breast (*47.85, 1st), 100m IM (*1:28.69, 2nd), 100m fly (*1:37.11, 3rd), 50m fly (*42.17, 3rd), 100m free (1:19.49, 4th)
•Jamie Petrin, 12—50m breast (1:00.40, 6th), 50m back (50.66, 9th), 100m breast (2:07.81, 9th), 50m free (39.76, 13th), 100m free (1:33.96, 16th), 100m back (DQ)
•Caitlin Sande, 9—50m breast (1:11.33, 5th), 50m back (59.03, 7th), 100m IM (2:07.23, 8th), 100m back (2:00.81, 8th), 100m free (1:51.24, 9th), 50m free (*46.19, 9th)
•Bryson Skirten, 8—50m back (*55.54, 4th), 50m breast (*1:24.80, 5th), 50m free (*53.56, 5th), 100m back (2:02.73, 5th), 100m breast (3:07.34, 5th), 100m free (2:13.68, 6th)
•Robert Stevens, 10—50m breast (*1:19.48, 4th), 50m free (52.20, 4th), 50m back (*56.34, 5th), 100m free (2;05.23, 5th), 100m back (2:12.90, 6th)
•Serena Stromberg, 9—100m back (1:59.31, 5th), 50m back (56.34, 6th), 50m breast (1:18.23, 7th), 100m IM (2:10.96, 10th), 50m free (46.63, 10th), 100m free (1:58.27, 11th)
•Megan Wihnan, 13 (no placings available)—100m IM (*1:25.93), 50m back (*42.18), 100m free (*1:13.93), 200m IM (*3:08.20), 50m fly (*41.24), 200m free (*2:41.71)