Fourteen Prince Rupert swimmers landed medals in the Regional Swim Championships hosted at the Earl Mah Aquatic Center on May 13 and 14.
More than 92 athletes from four clubs, including Prince Rupert Amateur Swim Club (PRASC), Terrace Bluebacks, Kitimat Marlins, and Bulkley Valley Otters attended the event.
“We kicked butt! PRASC scored 1162 points which was nearly 600 points more than the rest of the region combined,” Chris Street, PRASC head coach, stated on the group’s social media page.
“We had a truckload of individual highlights. Four swimmers qualified for the ManSask Championships in Winnipeg later this summer by making their first ManSask “AA” times. Blake Ciotoli made her cut with a blistering 40.02 50 backstroke. Jorja Boot made her time with a 1:37.49 in the 100 breaststroke. Kenny Nguyen got there (by 0.13!) in the 50 breaststroke with a time of 39.19. We finally convinced Jakob Hall to swim a meet and he went out and made “AA” times in both the 50 breaststroke (32.60) and 100 breaststroke (1:12.57). Those were both also Northern and Interior Divisional cuts, so he’s also qualified for that meet happening next month in Kelowna,” the post states.
“Three other swimmers got their first Divisional times as well. Sophia McDonald did it with a 3:10.32 200 backstroke. Anna Stevens got there with a 33.50 50 freestyle. Oliver Bomben was swimming in his first meet since October [due to other sporting commitments] and came out of nowhere to get the Divisional cuts in both the 50 breaststroke (44.84) and 100 breaststroke (1:38.28).”
“Eva Sumanik and Harper Dopko both swam their first ManSask “A” times. These are the cuts that qualify them for Manitoba or Saskatchewan’s junior provincials (which we aren’t going to). Eva did it with a time of 33.95 in the 50 freestyle. Harper also got there in the 50 free with a time of 38.48 and also in the 50 backstroke with a 44.30.
“The medalists were Jorja Boot, Lucy, Ollie, Elli Pottle, Kelly, Rachel Butt, Kenny, Iso Norman, Iona Riesen, Annie DeMille, Josh Joubert, Peter Joubert, Jakob and Ethan Butt,” Street stated.
The next competition Terrace where they host the final regional meet of the season on June 2-4.