Swimmers make splash in Dryden

Local swimmers headed to Dryden on the weekend to open their season at the Monster Bash Invitational meet—and scared up a collection of medals just in time for Hallowe’en.
“It went really good! Really good,” enthused Aquanauts’ coach Dawnn Taylor. “Everybody ended up with best times except for one, so that’s pretty darn good, and a whole pile of firsts and some really good swimming.”
Five Aquanauts set personal best times in all of their events, and all but one had two or more—the exception being 12-year-old Jillian Gustafson, who still garnered three gold medals and a silver.
Also making the trip to Dryden on Saturday were five swimmers with the local Cyclone team. Coach Debbie Murray said the tournament was a fun way to start the season for the five girls who competed there.
“They were a little bit nervous with the season-opener and all of that,” noted Murray, but added each of the girls “had at least 80 percent [personal] best times and technically they swam very, very well. . . .
“They cheered for each other, they stayed together, and Dryden always puts on a really good event for all of the swimmers of the region,” she continued.
In addition to all of the personal bests, Donovan Taylor of the Aquanauts recorded two provincial qualifying times on his 100m backstroke and 200m IM events.
While all the results impressed both coaches, and the meet was a great way to start the long season for the two local teams, coach Taylor admitted the meet wasn’t perfect.
“The pool is a very shallow pool, and it’s very difficult for some of our taller swimmers,” she laughed. “It can be very intimidating aside from being very tricky.”
< *c>Aquanaut results
(* denotes
personal best)
•Christopher Allan, 15—50m breast (47.37*) (1st), 100m back (1:32.12*) (2nd), 50m free (35.79) (3rd), and 50m fly (41.60*) (2nd);
•Anika Beaudry, eight—50m breast (1:15.65*) (1st), 50m free (1:06.67*) (6th), and 50m back (1:07.37*) (1st);
•Jillian Gustafson, 12—200m IM (3:08.52) (1st), 100m back (1:28.06) (2nd), 50m free (34.43) (1st), and 100m breast (1:36.63) (1st);
•Annika Kjerulf, eight—50m free (1:05.19*) (3rd), 25m breast (39.62*) (1st), and 25m back (31.63*) (1st);
•Levi Rittau, 10—50m breast (1:11.31*) (2nd), 100m back (2:01.18*) (2nd), 50m free (44.73*) (3rd), and 50m fly (1:03.17*);
•Caitlin Sande, 13—200m IM (2:59.52*) (2nd), 100m back (1:27.21) (1st), 50m free (34.03) (4th), and 50m fly (36.76*) (2nd);
•Adam Stromberg, nine—50m breast (52.92*) (1st), 50m free (36.98) (1st), 50m fly (54.01) (1st), and 100m breast (1:56.43*) (1st);
•Serena Stromberg, 13—50m breast (48.07*) (3rd), 50m free (32.68) (2nd), 50m fly (36.95*) (3rd), and 100m breast (1:46.34) (2nd);
•Katja Sutherland,12—50m breast (46.84*) (1st), 50m free (36.49*) (2nd), 50m fly (48.33) (1st), and 100m breast (1:43.25) (2nd);
•Donovan Taylor, 13—200m IM (2:29.37*) (1st), 100m back (1:10.27*) (1st), 50m free (28.81*) (1st), and 100m fly (1:11.53*) (1st);
•Cherstin Whatley, 13—50m breast (54.47*) (6th), 100m back (1:30.15*) (3rd), and 50m free (38.10*) (7th).