The Richmond Rapids closed out the short course swimming season in style, placing sixth among 45 teams at the recent Provincial "AAA" Championships in Surrey.
"It's exciting to see such an exciting conclusion to a meet. There were three teams from around the Lower Mainland that were fighting for the third, fourth and fifth place positions," says Rob Pettifer, the Head Coach of the Richmond Rapids. "The swimmers did a great job of staying tough right until the end.
"I can't believe the number of club records broken at every age group in the club. The fact that we had 17 records broken in one weekend is amazing!"
The club had a slew of finalists who achieved top eight placings as well as numerous medalists.
Top eight finishers for the Rapids were:
Nicolaas Dekker (16): gold 200 IM/100 back/100 fly, silver 200 back/200 fly, 5th 400 IM.
Kevin Ye (12): gold 200 IM/200 breast/100 breast, bronze 100 fly, 4th 50 free/100 free/200 fly.
Brandon De Costa (15): gold 100 back, silver 100 free, bronze 200 back, 4th 100 fly, 5th 400 free. Maximilian Schaffler (13): silver 200 back/400 IM, bronze 100 back, 4th 1500 free, 5th 400 free/200 free 8th 100 fly. Hau-Li Fan (14): silver 1500 free/400 free/400 IM, bronze 200 IM, 6th 200 breast/200 fly. Michael Jakac-Sinclair (15): gold 50 free, 6th 100 free. Arvin Chua (12): bronze 50 free, 4th 100 breaststroke, 5th 100 free/200 free. Cathy Ye (14): bronze 100 fly, 8th 200 fly. Austin Berry (12): 6th 400 IM, 7th 200 free, 8th 400 free. Jaylene Berry (13): 6th 200 fly. Sam Bhandal (11): 8th 200 fly. Brandon Crawford (14): 7th 200 fly. Matthew Crawford (10): 6th 100 back, 7th 50 free/100 fly. Jeremy Fung (10): 7th 200 fly. Paula Gosse (15): 7th 100 breaststroke. Leo Hong (14): 7th 200 IM/200 breaststroke, 8th 400 IM. Adrian Hsing (11): 7th 400 free, 8th 200 back. Liam Kell (16): 4th 100 breaststroke, 5th 200 breaststroke. Patrick Kell (14): 5th 200 breaststroke, 7th 100 breaststroke. Jerry Liu (13): 5th 100 fly, 6th 200 fly, 7th 200 IM, 8th 50 free/100 back.
Ryan Murray (12): 6th 200 free/200 back, 8th 400 IM/100 free. Richard Rakchtis (11): 5th 200 breast/400 free/200 back, 6th 200 free/400 IM, 8th 200 IM. Eva Ryder (13): 6th 200 breaststroke. Serena Xue (14): 6th 200 breast/100 breaststroke. Tony Zeng (14): 4th 200 breaststroke.
Mike Zhang (14): 6th 100 back, 8th 200 back: Kevin Zheng (16): 7th 100 breast, 8th 100 fly. Steven Zhou (12): 4th 200 breast, 8th 100 breaststroke.
After an amazing championship season, the Richmond Rapids head into March break for some well-deserved rest. Nicolaas Dekker will be away at Olympic Trials the last weekend of March in Montreal. The club had over 80 athletes compete at championship meets during the month of February.
For more information on the Richmond Rapids Swim Club visit www.richmondrapids.com or call 604-275-7946.
The club has on-going registration throughout the year for competitive swimmers or for their learn to swim program at Minoru Pool. The club is also offering a Master's program that runs four days per week.
