Staff
The Fort Frances Aquanauts came out charging at the biggest meet of the season.
Local swimmers were involved in 72 races at the regional championships in Thunder Bay on Feb. 26-28, setting 59 personal bests along the way.
Adam Stromberg led the way for the Aquanauts with three first-place finishes.
Stromberg, 11, won the 50m freestyle (30.51), 50m breaststroke (42.71), and 50m backstroke (40.31).
He also finished second in the 200m individual (2:58.74) and earn third-place showings in the 100m backstroke (1:26.34) and 100m breaststroke (1:36.45).
Levi Rittau also had a strong weekend, coming home with a pair of first-place finishes to go with a quartet of seconds and one third in his age division.
Rittau, 13, won the 50m freestyle (29.34) and the 100m freestyle (1:05.33).
He also was runner-up in the 200m freestyle (2:26.96), 200m IM (2:48.44), 200m backstroke (2:51.95), and 100m butterfly (1:22.48), cutting nearly 14 seconds from his seed time in the latter.
Lastly, Rittau took home a third-place finish in the 200m breaststroke (3:26.88).
Anika Beaudry, meanwhile, found the podium a couple of times, notching a win in the 50m breaststroke (54.26) and second-place finishes in the 100m breaststroke (1:53.76) and the 200m breaststroke (4:02.36), cutting more than nine seconds off her previous best time in the latter.
Beaudry, 10, also earned a third-place finish in the 50m backstroke (50.11).
Krista Emond was the final Aquanaut to find the top of the podium, winning the 100m breaststroke (1:30.74) in her age group.
The 16-year-old also brought home a second-place finish in the 200m breaststroke (3:09.25).
Mitchell Riordon, 11, finished the weekend by hitting the podium twice—nabbing second place in the 50m backstroke (48.51) and third place in the 50m breaststroke (1:04.43).
Regan Danylchuk and Sarah Rittau rounded out the top-three finishes for the Aquanauts.
Danylchuk, 11, finished third in the 100m butterfly (1:39.22) while Rittau, eight, took home a third in the 50m breaststroke (56.43).
Although they didn’t qualify for the podium, many other Aquanauts made major strides at the meet.
Most noticeably, Justis Gauthier swam the 200m IM in a time of 3:43.84—an improvement of more than a minute.
