Lucas Punkari
It’s not often that members of the Fort Frances Aquanauts are able to take part in a provincial team championship, but they will be getting the chance to do just that this weekend in Thunder Bay.
Fifteen members will take part in the Division III meet, which will be run Friday to Sunday at the Canada Games Complex.
“Usually an event like this is held in places such as Toronto or Sudbury, so it’s pretty difficult for us to be able to travel that far due to costs,” Aquanauts’ coach Dawnn Taylor explained.
“This year, though, since the event is close to us in Thunder Bay, we’re able to have our swimmers there,” she noted.
“And it’ll be a great opportunity for some of our younger swimmers to experience something they might not have a chance at being a part of again.”
The Aquanauts initially were going to send 16 swimmers to the Lakehead, but Mitchell Riordon was forced to the sidelines this past weekend with a sprained wrist.
“As a result, that forced us to drop one of our relay teams, which also means that we’ll be unable to get the huge amount of points that you can gain from those events,” Taylor noted.
“Our main goal this weekend is to focus on individual performances and trying to have a great time with the team experience,” she stressed.
“But if we could end up playing the spoiler for some of the bigger teams from down south, that might end up being a lot of fun.”
The club’s usual top swimmers will be on hand this weekend in Thunder Bay, with Donovan Taylor and Adam Stromberg set to lead the way.
“I’m expecting big things from both Donovan and Adam as they’re both right at the top of the seedings for their events,” Dawnn Taylor said.
“Levi Rittau and Regan Danylchuk should also do very well.
“And you’re always going to see those surprise results, as well, so I’m foreseeing a lot of top eight showings this weekend for our swimmers,” she added.
Before getting ready for the team championships, both Dawnn and Donovan were in London, Ont. over the weekend, where her son was taking part in a prospects camp at the University of Western Ontario.
“There was a lot of hard work by all of the swimmers down there,” she noted.
“There was three sets of three-hour swimming sessions, along with one four-hour dryland sessions, so everyone was pretty tired at the end of it,” she said.
“But it was a great experience, not only for the learning process, but for also having everyone bond together away from competition.”
Following the Division III meet this weekend, the Aquanauts will be involved in two more events before the season wraps up.
They’ll take part in the Golden Plains Invitational in Winnipeg at the beginning of May, then head back to Thunder Bay at the end of the month for the May Invitational.
In between those competitions, Donovan Taylor will back out on the road once again, joining up with Team Ontario for a tri-meet against swimmers from Nova Scotia and Quebec in Halifax on May 21.
