Lucas Punkari
A switch in dates from February to October didn’t slow the Fort Frances Aquanauts in any way whatsoever during the Boston Pizza Fall Frolic Invitational over the weekend at the Memorial Sports Centre pool.
“We did great,” enthused head coach Dawnn Taylor.
“The younger swimmers really came up to bat and made some great times, and we also had some swimmers have some phenomenal swims that saw them take a lot of time off their previous [best] times.
“We also had very few [six] disqualifications this year, which is really good when you have 21 swimmers taking part in eight events,” she added.
About two-thirds of the team set personal bests during the course of the meet, with five swimmers (Cassidy Roach, Joshua Cousineau, Regan Danylchuk, Ayiana Gagne, and Kaela Lowey) setting best times in all of their events.
“Most of our swimmers either improved on or stayed close to the times that we anticipated,” Taylor noted.
“We found a lot of spots that still need a little bit of work, though, with the technique especially, as at times they would stray from proper technique when they were racing,” she continued.
“That’s something, though, that you learn as you progress, and in the future we’ll be doing more timed swims in our practices so that our swimmers are able to hold their technique and also race at the same time.”
Donovan Taylor, 17, led the way for the Aquanauts during the weekend, nabbing first-place finishes in all eight of his events to clinch the high-point trophy in the boys’ 15-and-over age group.
“Overall I thought that the meet went pretty well for me,” he said.
“There was a couple times, though, where I was just waiting for another swimmer to push me, and that’s what happened in the 50m freestyle as I had really a good race with [Kenora’s] Conor O’Flaherty,” added Taylor, who clocked a time of 25.49 seconds in that event.
It was a weekend of mixed emotions for Taylor as he was taking part in his final home meet as an Aquanaut.
“It’s kind of emotional in a sense, especially when you are watching and cheering on those first-time swimmers,” admitted Taylor, who currently is deciding which school he’ll be swimming at next year with a visit to Eastern Michigan University scheduled for this week.
“It takes you back to when you were starting out in swimming, and the only thing that you were worried about was just making sure that you were able finish your run and just swim,” he recalled.
In the boys’ 13-14 division, Levi Rittau edged out fellow Aquanaut Adam Stromberg by two points to nab the runner-up spot in total points.
But Stromberg was still all smiles as he set a provincial qualifying time (5:38.64) during his first-place performance in the 400m I.M.
“I felt really excited to finally get that time as I didn’t want to go out and try and do that again,” he laughed.
“I’ve really been trying to improve on my backstroke and my butterfly strokes during my runs lately, and this time around I was able to get that worked out,” added Stromberg, who also finished in first in the 200m back and the 800m free events.
As for Rittau, who, in turn, was edged out for the high-point trophy by Evan Pelletier of Thunder Bay, he was able to nab first-place showings in the 100m and 200m free along with the 50m fly.
Meanwhile, Cole Trimble (boys’ 10-and-under) and Joshua Cousineau (boys’ 11-12) were runners-up for the high-point trophies in their respective age groups while Regan Danylchuk placed third in the girls’ 13-14 division.
Other first-place finishes achieved by Aquanaut swimmers included Roach (50m free), Trimble (200m breast), Cousineau (50m backstroke, 200m backstroke, and 100m I.M.), Danylchuk (50m free), and Sarah Rittau (girls’ 10-and-under 200m back, 200m breast, and 200m I.M.)
As for how the meet went in general, Dawnn Taylor felt it was a success, especially with the change in dates.
“I think things went very good with the date change,” she said.
“The attendance was up and we didn’t have to worry about finding rooms for everybody, along with not having to contend with total overload from the restaurants,” she noted.
“I think we’re going to stick with having the meet in October for next year.”
The next meet for Aquanaut swimmers is slated for Nov. 12-13 in Kenora.
