Mitch Calvert
It was a bittersweet weekend for the Fort Frances Aquanauts at the Northwestern Ontario Open swim meet in Kenora.
Some organization issues by the hosts, as well as a viral infection to Katja Sutherland, put a damper on what otherwise was a successful event in the pool.
“It was a meet that had its issues as far as organization,” Aquanauts’ coach Dawnn Taylor admitted. “They had computer issues, and I got four different versions of the first heats, so I had to basically look at the blocks and when somebody looked familiar, hit the clocks.
“I didn’t think I was going to have any hair after this one but it did eventually mellow out,” she added.
The local club brought 16 swimmers to Kenora, with 37 personal-best times being clocked over the week. But Sutherland was forced to shut it down after her 50m freestyle race due to illness.
“Being the swimmer that Katja is, she wanted to go swim, but she had massive migraine headaches,” noted Taylor. “I give her great credit for trying to go in and do it, but it’s not worth going to swim in that kind of pain.
“I keep telling them, in the big picture it’s just a hiccup. It’s not like you are 18 and have to swim this one as your last chance to qualify for the Olympics.
“There’s always another swim meet,” she reasoned.
The swim season kicks into a higher gear from here on out, with the Golden Plains Invitational meet next on the docket April 30-May 3 in Winnipeg.
That meet will be the final tune-up for Sutherland, Jillian Gustafson, and Donovan Taylor as they gear up for a major meet they’ve previously qualified for, which is set to take place May 15-17 in Vancouver.
“You have to have B.C. qualifying times [to compete],” the Aquanauts’ coach noted.
“B.C. has lots of fast, highly-competitive swimming. It’s a great way to learn how to bring your ‘A’ game, for sure,” she added.
“You are only as fast as the people you are swimming with, and it’s going to be the first time for Jillian and Katja to head out to something of that level and it will be a great experience.”
For the rest of the club, an invitational meet slated May 22-24 in Thunder Bay will signal the final competitive event of their season.
Donovan Taylor is right on schedule for a return to peak times for the provincials coming up July 2-5 and then the nationals in Montreal in mid-July after rehabbing the back injury he suffered here at the Aquanauts’ host meet back in January.
“He’s not trained to be at 100 percent right now,” coach Taylor stressed. “With the long course season now starting, it’s a whole different type of swimming as we go from the 25-metre pool to the 50-metre pool, so less turns, which is good if you have turning issues or back problems.
“But the endurance needs to be there because you don’t get that rest on your turns anymore,” she stressed.
Donovan Taylor received a gold cap for clocking national prerequisite times while 10-year-old Adam Stromberg nabbed a white cap for achieving an Ontario ‘A’ high-level time this season.
“Next year we have the Ontario Summer Games [August, 2010], so we’d like to get working early the first part of next year because that’s a wonderful thing to be a part of,” Taylor said.
“It’s on the Olympic format, grand parade in and all the different sports, so it’s something we are all shooting for because that’s the precursor to the Canada Summer Games,” she noted.
Individual Aquanaut results from this past weekend in Kenora were as follows (* denotes personal best time):
•Sarah Rittau (eight)—50m back (1:03:09, 4th*), 100m free (1:52:10, 4th*), and 100m IM (2:32:41, 4th*);
•Mitchell Riordon (10)—200m free (4:25:80, 5th), 100m back (2:10:83, 4th*), 50m free (54:65, 6th*), 100m free (2:06:26, 6th), 50m back (56:66, 3rd*), and 50m breast (1:15:28, 5th*);
•Anika Beaudry (nine)—50m fly (1:09:74, 6th*), 200m breast (4:32:59, 6th*), 50m free (48:20, 12th), 200m free (3:52:91, 12th*), 50m back (56:55, 9th), and 100m breast (2:13:67, 12th);
•Regan Danylchuk (10)—100m fly (1:57:42, 4th*), 100m back (1:50:89, 6th*), 50m free (41:62, 5th), 50m fly (51:66, 3rd*), 100m breast (2:07:02, 8th*), and 100m free (1:39:26, 11th*);
•Cole Trimble (eight)—50m back (1:22:91, 2nd) and 50m free (1:16:77, 2nd);
•Serena Stromberg (14)—50m fly (36:15, 3rd*), 50m free (32:34, 4th), 100m breast (1:45:03, 12th), 200m IM (3:13:36, 10th), 100m free (1:14:79, 11th), and 200m free (2:49:97, 15th);
•Adam Stromberg (10)—50m fly (40.77, 1st*), 100m free (1:17:99, 1st), 50m free (34:65, 1st), 200m free (2:56:33, 1st), 100m fly (1:47:50, 1st*), 100m breast (1:44:02, 1st*), 50m breast (47:02, 1st), and 200m IM (3:15:01, 1st*);
•Christopher Allan (16)—200m IM (3:06:86, 5th*), 200m free (2:35:63, 6th*), 100m back (1:26:77, 3rd), 100m free (1:09:99, 5th*), 50m free (31:56, 5th), 200m breast (3:41:26, 3rd*), and 200m back (3:07:12, 3rd*);
•Levi Rittau (12)—50m free (33:59, 3rd*), 100m free (1:13:05, 3rd*), 100m back (1:31:17, 3rd), 200m free (2:44:05, 3rd), 100m fly (1:36:02, 2nd), 200m IM (3:11:59, 3rd), and 200m free (2:44:05, 3rd*);
•Jillian Gustafson (14)—200m IM (2:55:39, 4th), 200m free (2:33:46, 6th), 100m back (1:18:93, 6th*), 200m back (2:46:70, 3rd*), 50m free (33:18, 7th), 100m free (1:12:71, 8th), and 100m breast (1:34:99, 6th);
•Andre Emond (14)—200m back (2:53:29, 4th), 50m free (34:38, 6th), 100m back (1:23:23, 3rd), 100m fly (1:28:84, 1st), 200m IM (3:04:96, 3rd), 100m free (1:15:69, 7th), and 100m breast (1:44:34, 5th*);
•Krista Emond (15)—200m IM (2:58:32, 6th), 100m free (1:08:24, 2nd), 200m free (2:33:31, 3rd), 100m breast (1:32:97, 3rd), 200m breast (3:18:38, 2nd), 50m free (31.97, 4th), and 200m back (2:56:07, 4th*);
•Caitlin Sande (15)—50m free (32:13, 5th), 100m free (1:11:93, 4th), 200m fly (3:17:80, 4th), 100m fly (1:26:51, 5th), 100m back (1:23:30, 4th*), 200m free (2:29:52, 2nd*), 100m breast (1:42:24, 6th), and 200m IM (2:56:67, 5th);
•Donovan Taylor (14)—50m free (27:01, 1st), 100m free (58:75, 1st), and 100m back (1:04:56, 1st);
•Tayla Trimble (nine)—100m free (2:29:23, 16th*), 50m back (1:23:88, 11th*), 100m back (2:53:39, 9th*), and 100m breast (3:03:50, 14th*); and
•Katja Sutherland (13)—50m free (34:86, 12th)
