The message was pretty clear from the get-go of the 2015 Prince Rupert Spring Invitational: this was PRASC’s house and they weren’t about to give it up so easily.
The PRASC (Prince Rupert Amateur Swim Club) Rapids dove into their only hometown regional meet, taking on the Terrace Bluebacks, Bulkley Valley Otters and Kitimat Marlins, the latter of whom were supposed to host the May 1 – 3 meet.But due to the Kitimat municipal strike, they were unable to accommodate the meet and will lose their chance next month as well, said PRASC head coach Chris Street on the weekend.
“This was a last-minute change – we took it from them and now they’re going to lose it to Terrace here in June,” he mentioned.
Kitimat Marlins members performed admirably at the Earl Mah Aquatic Centre despite their own facility’s troubles and even placed second out of the four competing clubs.
But no one could touch the Rupert Rapids, who dominated the invitational with 1,306 points, good for first overall by a wide margin thanks to the numerous club members who took advantage of the hometown meet.
The Marlins were runners-up with 476 points, the Terrace Bluebacks finished third with 328 points and the Bulkley Valley Otters took fourth with 241.
And among their first-place showing, the Rapids claimed a staggering 11 aggregate medals for its athletes.
“I think [the invitational] went very well,” said Street.
“There’s a lot of kids here, so it’s a bit hard to tell sometimes because it’s so hectic, but overall we did very well.”
Five gold aggregates were won by Prince Rupert swimmers Emma Movold, Isaac Mastroianni, Amy Leighton, Zach Dolan and Avery Movold.
Emma, 11, had a terrific outing, winning girls aged 11-12 200, 400 and 800 freestyle and 100 and 200 butterfly and second in 100 and 200 backstroke. Avery, 15, took her golden meet with wins in women’s 15-19 50 and 800 freestyle, 50 and 200 butterfly and 50, 100 and 200 backstroke. Leighton, 14, captured gold with victories in girls’ 13-14 200 breaststroke, 50, 100 and 200 butterfly, 200 IM and 200 and 400 freestyle.
For the boys’ golden swims, Mastroianni, 11, won boys’ 11-12 50, 200, 400 and 1500 freestyle, 50 breast, 400 IM and 100 butterfly. Dolan, 13, captured wins in boys’ 13-14 200, 400 and 1500 freestyle, 50 breast and 50 and 200 backstroke and second in 100 freestyle.
Silver aggregate medal winners included Jakob Hall, Isaac Dolan, Mackenzie Tweedhope and Brandan Hagen.
Hall, 9, swam to victories in boys’ 10-and-under 50 and 200 breaststroke and 200 free and placed second in 100 breast and 200 IM and third in 50 freestyle. Isaac, 11, went on to win boys’ 11-12 200 breaststroke, 100 freestyle, 200 IM and 200 back and placed second in 200 and 400 free. Tweedhope, 13, won girls’ 13-14 100 and 800 free, 400 IM and 100 breast and came in second in 50 and 200 free and 200 IM. Hagen, 17, took victories in men’s 15-19 100 IM, 50 free and 50 backstroke and placed second in 50 and 100 breast, 50 butterfly and 100 free.
Kate Morse and Jarred McMeekin claimed bronze aggregates for the Rapids.
Morse, 13, swam to first-place in girls’ 13-14 100 IM and 50 free, second in 100 and 200 back and 100 and 400 free and third in 50 butterfly. McMeekin, 13, won boys’ 13-14 400 IM, 50 free and 100 butterfly, took second-place in 400 and 1500 free and 100 back and third in 100 free.
A number of other PRASC members had fine outings, including Jake Morse, Robert Warren, Hannah Toye, Araya Bartlett and Josh Leighton.
Jake, 11, took first in boys’ 11-12 50 back, second in 100 back and third in 100 IM, 50 and 100 free, 200 back and 50 butterfly. Warren, 15, captured first in men’s 15-19 200 free, second in 400 and 1500 free and 200 butterfly and third in 50 and 100 free. Toye, 13, swam to first in girls’ 13-14 100 and 200 back, second in 800 free and 50 and 100 butterfly and third in 50 and 100 free. Bartlett, 13, won first in girls’ 13-14 50 back, second in 100 and 200 breast and third in 200 free. Josh, 10, took first in boys’ 10-and-under 200 back, second in 50 and 100 back and third in 100 and 200 breast.
Kobi and Landen Franes, Marlee McDonald, Malcolm Dolan and Natalie DeMille also had terrific meets.
Kobi, 13, won first in boys’ 13-14 200 breast, second in 200 free and 50 and 100 breast and third in 50 free and 200 back. Landen, 11, took second in boys’ 11-12 100 and 200 IM, 50 butterfly and 200 back and third in 100 back and 400 free. McDonald, 12, won first in girls’ 11-12 100 breast and third in 50 butterfly and 100 back. Malcolm, 9, took third in boys’ 10—and-under 100 IM and 50 breast while DeMille, 10, swam to second in girls’ 10-and-under 50 and 100 back and third in 50 and 100 free and 100 breast.
Hyla McQuaid, Chloe Chemko, Liam Pikola, Kobe Ikari and Bailey Ward swam some awesome races as McQuaid, 10, took third in girls’ 10-and-under 100 IM and 50 back, Chemko, 13, won first in girls’ 13-14 50 back, second in 100 IM and 50 breast and third in 100 back. Pikola, 11, grabbed second in 50 and 100 breast and 50 back and third in 200 breast. Ward, 13, swam to second in boys’ 13-14 200 breast and 50 back and third in 200 free.
Rounding out the excellent showing for the Rapids were Kai McDonald, 11, who won first in boys’ 11-12 100 breast and second in 200 breast and third in 200 IM, Kanani Coons, 9, who scored second in girls’ 10-and-under 100 free and third in 100 back, Aspen Clouthier, 10, who won second in boys’ 10-and-under 50 breast, Fleur Lagace, 9, captured second in girls’ 100 free and Noriko Ikari, 10, took third in the same race.
Wyatt McDonald, 8, Nathan Cunningham, 10, and Kobe Ikari, 8 claimed first, second and third respectively in the boys’ 10-and-under 99 free event, Maxwell Deutschlander, 11 won first in boys’ 11-12 100 free and Ronin Lomba, 11, took third in the same race, while Samuel Kafka, 11, took third in boys’ 11-12 100 breast. Lucas Mayer, 8, claimed third in 100 back.
Street and a few of the PRASC members will now head to Santa Clarita, California for the Canyons Aquatic Swim Meet from May 22 - 24 before the club takes to Terrace’s Summer Invitational from June 5 - 7.
“We’ll have kids going to AA provincials, junior provincials; we’ll have kids at senior provincials and we’ll have kids at Age Group Nationals,” said the head coach.
“We’ll have the whole club going [strong] - you get to see big improvements over a short period of time.”