Joey Payeur
What mumps are to the NHL right now, the ’flu was to those poolside at the Prairie Winter Invitational in Winnipeg over the weekend.
A fast-moving virus consumed a significant percentage of those competing at the meet, including two of the six Fort Frances Aquanauts.
“Josh Cousineau came down with the ’flu really bad and Adam Stromberg came down with a cold that had ’flu-like symptoms,” noted Aquanauts’ head coach Dawnn Taylor, who doubled as head nurse for the weekend.
“It was running throughout the swim meet,” she said.
“Josh competed on Thursday and Friday, but no way he could go on Saturday,” Taylor said. “Then on Sunday, he had a couple of personal bests but, really, it was just about him trying to function.
“Adam and Josh both made some ‘B’ finals, but we decide not to stick around because the weather was so horrible,” she added.
“It’s a good thing, too, because something happened at the meet that led to only one event being finished by 7:30 p.m. and they ended up finishing super late,” Taylor recounted.
“It was scary stuff coming back in that fog.”
Cousineau’s top finish was seventh in the male age 14-15 50m backstroke (32.00) while Stromberg topped out in eighth place in the 16-and-over mixed 50m freestyle (25.22).
Meanwhile, the Aquanauts’ two Prairie Winter Invitational rookies—Jacy Gagne and Cassidy Roach—earned high praise from their coach.
“They did exceptional, especially being newcomers to PWI,” lauded Taylor.
“They both made consolation finals, which is great in such a big field like that.”
Gagne’s best finish was 13th in the 13-and-under 200m breaststroke (3:18.51) while Roach came 14th in the 13-and-under 50m butterfly (1:25.61).
International Falls brothers Edward and William Serrano didn’t finish as high up the standings as their teammates, but still raised the bar for themselves personally.
“Ed had all personal bests [times] and Will had 50 percent, which are both really good considering they competed just a couple of weeks ago,” said Taylor.
Edward Serrano earned a 20th-place finish in the male 13-and-under 100m I.M. (1:27.81).
Younger sibling William landed his best result in the male 12-and-under group with a 27th in the 100m I.M. (1:34.42).
“The whole team held up to and beat my expectations,” noted Taylor.
“Usually, you just go to PWI to survive but they brought it.”
Sarah Rittau was the lone entrant from the local Cyclone Swim Club, recording personal bests in all seven of her events.
Rittau, who was coached for the weekend by Dave Iwanyszyn Sr. of the Northwest Narwhal Swim Club (Thunder Bay), won the consolation final in the female age 13-14 100m I.M. (1:17.49) to come in ninth overall.
“Dave said Sarah did really well, and worked extremely hard all weekend and looked sharp out there,” said Cyclone head coach Debbie Murray, who was unable to attend the meet.
Fort Frances native Megan Carlson, swimming for the Thunder Bay Thunderbolts, walked away from Winnipeg with a silver in the 15-and-over female 200m butterfly (2:21.09) and a pair of bronze in the 100m butterfly (1:05.35) and the 400m IM (5:02.99).
Next up for local swimmers is the Northwestern Ontario regional swimming championships Jan. 30-Feb. 2 in Thunder Bay.
