Richmond Rapids swimmers have been honored with a slew of designations so far this season.
Alex Ball, Rich Rakchtis, and Amanda McCallum were participants in this year’s Odlum Brown College’s Cup as a part of the Lower Mainland Regional All-Stars. The team, comprised of some of the best 18-and-under athletes in the region, competed in a heats-finals meet at UBC against universities from across Canada. Ball, Rakchtis, and McCallum all qualified for finals.
Moving on to the Provincial level, three Rapids were again selected from the club to the Swim BC Prospects team.
McCallum and Ethan Chan will be on the team for their second year, and Matthew Crawford has made it for the first time. These three will attend a Swim BC this weekend and another in the spring. Crawford and Chan, joined by Rapids head coach Robert Pettifer, will also spend the weekend in Chilliwack training and attending lectures. McCallum will do the same in Victoria.
The “Prospects” represent the fastest 13-and-14-year-old girls and 14-and-15-year-old boys in the province. To be selected to the team, swimmers must be in the top five nationally to be guaranteed a spot, with wildcard positions filling the remainder of the positions. This is also the age range for selection to this summer’s Canada Games team.
Several Rapids have also been named to the National ID Team, a development tracking system organized by Swimming Canada. The National ID Team designation indicates that an athlete has achieved an “On-Track” time on one of three tiers. These times are extrapolations made by SNC that indicate a swimmer is hitting certain age-based benchmarks to qualify, make finals, or medal at the Olympics or World Championships.
They will also be on a watch list for possible carding in the coming years. McCallum, Ball, Brian Yu, and Eric Tong were all named to the NDIT.
Additionally, McCallum has been invited to attend the 2017 Relay Takeoff Camp in Victoria, immediately following World Championship Trials. The camp is an initiative by Swimming Canada to improve the monitoring and overall strength of its relays on the world stage.
She was selected based on her performances in the 100 and 200 freestyle events last summer. Head Age Group Coach Drew McClure has also been invited to attend.
