They swam just over 10 km, but had to travel more than 1,500 to get there.
Still, the Fort Frances Aquanauts and coach Roman Ramirez didn’t consider their lengthy trip to Calgary earlier this month for the Chinook Invitational a waste of time, energy, or gas money.
“We had to compete four hours after we got there,” Ramirez said about arriving there April 11 after a 17-hour trip to attend the first long-course swim meet of the season.
“So the first day, the swimmers were pretty tired.
“But the most important part of the weekend was that they kept a good attitude through it all and improved on many of their times,” he added.
While many of the Aquanauts’ mainstays this season came through with strong performances once again, Ramirez highlighted two of his up-and-coming swimmers for their effort out of his 11 competitors at the meet.
“Rebecca Armit was in her first-ever long-course meet and Jennifer Jonassen was in her first meet ever,” he noted. “Rebecca did real well, considering she wasn’t used to the bigger pool, and Jennifer could see herself improve as the weekend progressed.
“We’re talking about somebody who travels two hours round-trip from Rainy River just to come to practice all the time.”
Since then, the Aquanauts have been training for the Division II championships in Thunder Bay on April 24-26 before hosting an invitational meet here May 11.
Here are the Aquanauts’ results from the Calgary meet (* denotes personal best time):
< *c>Girls
< *c>10 and under
•Jessica Lowey, 9—400m free (6:22.58, 1st), 100m breast (*1:45.39, 3rd), 200m free (*2:59.61, 3rd), 50m free (*36.97, 4th), 100m free (*1:23.37, 4th), 12-and-under 200m IM (*3:20.82, 30th)
•Rebecca Armit, 10—50m back (51.76, 22nd), 100m free (1:45.44, 28th), 100m back (1:59.37, 31st), 100m breast (2:17.35, 33rd), 50m free (1:00.47, 56th)
< *c>11-12
•Jade Morrison, 11—50m free (38.34, 8th), 100m free (1:26.41, 8th), 50m back (48.87, 11th), 100m back (1:43.96, 13th), 50m fly (53.18, 13th), 100m breast (1:58.55, 15th)
•Jessica Cousineau, 12—400m free (5:42.78, 7th), 100m fly (*1:32.96, 11th), 100m back (*1:27.13, 13th), 100m free (*1:17.46, 18th), 50m fly (*42.04, 24th), 50m free (36.80, 38th)
•Rachel Dutton, 12—100m fly (*1:16.02, 1st), 800m free (*10:54.59, 2nd), 50m free (*30.60, 2nd), 400m free (*5:14.87, 2nd), 200m free (*2:28.38, 2nd), 100m free (*1:06.63, 3rd), 50m fly (*34.90, 4th)
•Nicole Fontana, 12—200m back (3:14.65, 13th), 50m back (*42.43, 18th), 100m back (*1:32.75, 24th), 50m fly (45.01, 34th), (*1:22.57, 38th), 12-and-under 200m IM (3:25.90, 39th), 50m free (*36.94, 40th)
•Danielle Herbert, 12—200m free (3:10.73, 32nd), 100m back (1:43.31, 41st), 100m free (1:23.80, 42nd), 100m breast (1:54.66, 48th), 50m free (38.02, 50th), 50m back (48.59, 50th)
•Nicole Lowey, 12—100m breast (*1:38.03, 12th), 12-and-under 200m IM (*3:12.08, 18th), 50m free (*34.95, 19th), 200m free (*2:56.44, 21st), 100m free (1:19.80, 29th), 50m back (*45.40, 32nd)
< *c>13-14
•Jennifer Jonassen, 13—100m back (2:04.95, 55th), 50m back (53.30, 65th), 50m fly (53.62, 66th), 100m free (1:41.50, 72nd), 100m breast (DQ)
•Karli McKinnon, 14—200m back (*2:44.58, 2nd), 100m back (*1:16.15, 3rd), 100m free (1:05.27, 3rd), 200m free (2:26.08, 4th), 50m back (35.46, 4th), 50m fly (33.89, 6th), 13-and-over 200m IM (*2:44.45, 9th)
< *c>15 and over
•Heather Dutton, 16—50m fly (*32.27, 2nd), 200m free (*2:21.33, 4th), 100m fly (1:13.43, 4th), 200m fly (*2:46.67, 5th), 100m free (*1:04.77, 6th), 800m free (11:09.60, 9th), 13-and-over 200m IM (2:44.50, 10th)
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
