The Rapids sent a team of five to the Westerns Canadian Nationals in Saskatoon - three of which were veterans of the event.
The roster included Brandon de Costa, Brandon Crawford, Michael Jakac-Sinclair, Serena Xue, and Tony Zeng.
This is the second highest level of competition in Canada, only to this year's World Trials.
"Westerns can be intimidating, but our rookies didn't let that slow them down," said head coach Robert Pettifer. "They fought hard to make finals.
"Our returning athletes were taking chances as well, fully aware that it would take gutsy swims to win. That meant going out hard."
That racing mentality lead to some major results.
De Costa, a medalist the previous year, came out strong with a gold in the 100-metre backstroke for the 16 and under age group, which was not only a club record, but a senior national qualification time.
Two days later, he doubled with a win in the 50-metre backstroke, posting the fastest time of the entire meet.
In Victoria two weeks later, the five joined up with 35 other Rapids for AAA Provincial Championships, the highest level intra-province competition of the year.
"Provincial Champs is a real test of our swimmers' abilities," said head age group coach Dennis Silva. "It's a long, tough meet. Our kids have put in the work, week in and week out, and we're seeing the positive results of that training and effort.
"This year's AAAs had some of the strongest results I've ever seen."
The Rapids swimmers responded to the challenge on the first day as their 11-year-old boys went 1-3-4-5 in the 1,500-metre freestyle.
Ethan Chan and Jeremy Fung won gold and bronze, respectively, while Anthony Chan and Matthew Crawford occupied the fourth and fifth spots.
Ethan Chan would continue on with a bronze in both the 200 and 400 freestyle.
The night concluded with the 4x50 freestyle, with silver for the 11-and-under boys, and a win by the 14-and-under boys, who went on to win gold in all three relays.
The following day, the Rapids had 20 finals.
That lot included first-time individual medalists Adrian Hsing (silver - 200 IM) and Matthew Crawford (gold - 100 Backstroke).
Hsing would total seven silvers by the end of the meet, while Crawford would proceed to win the 200-metre discipline as well.
First-time medalist Alex Ball shocked everyone with his win in the 50-freestyle, setting a new meet record in the process.
Other medals included a win for Kevin Ye in the 200 IM, who also won gold in both breaststroke events.
Jerry Liu came through with his first provincial gold, winning the 100 backstroke.
Liu placed third in the 200, and earned himself a spot on B.C. Prospects Team, which represents the top age group athletes in the province.
The following day, Serena Xue and Nicolaas Dekker earned their first medals of the meet (200-breaststroke and 100-fly, respectively).
Xue would add a silver on Sunday in the 100-breaststroke. Rich Rakchtis captured his first-ever individual medal, with a bronze in the 200 breaststroke.
Para-swimmer Magnus Batara earned three silver medals (200 IM, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke) and one bronze (200 freestyle).
Other notables include Max Schaffler, who made his first-ever Westerns qualification, and David Ng achieved his first Age Group National standard.
Ten-year old Amanda McCallum added the 100-backstroke to her growing list of newly-minted club records.
Sunday was a knockdown, drag out for the team rankings, with the top seven teams in high contention.
The Rapids had 26 finals, and the results were strong enough to finish fifth overall, in what was one of the tightest team races in B.C. history.
Only four points separated fourth and fifth place.
"We're very proud of our swimmers," said Pettifer. "We had some incredibly successful swims - lots of kids really stepping up to the challenge and giving die-hard efforts. They were fighters, all the way to the end."
For more information on the Richmond Rapids Swim Club, visit richmondrapids.com, or email swim@ richmondrapids.com.
