The Castlegar Aquanauts were busy over the past two weekends with record-breaking competitions in Trail and Creston.
A total of 40 swimmers attended the meet in Trail for the second meet of the season, coming in first with a total of 987 points for a margin of victory of more than 200 points.
Jaylen Rushton, a division 1 swimmer, broke both the 50m backstroke and 50m butterfly records. Samuel Matthew broke the 200m IM record for division 4 boys. The division 8 boys 200m freestyle relay record was crushed by James Pilla, Niallan Collier, Noah Robertson and Nick Welychko; it was at least 15 years old.
Head Coach Nick Welychko and assistant coaches Rachel Wood and Lauren Voss were blown away by how well the swimmers performed this weekend. “All of the swimmers raced incredibly well and there were some very exciting races. It was great to see everybody’s hard work pay off,” said Voss.
At the awards ceremony, the division 2 Castlegar boys swept the podium; third was awarded to Lynden Hanvold and Bryce Anderson, second to Ethan Lawczynski and first to Carson Ogloff. An additional 13 swimmers were awarded with medals for the meet. Third place was presented to Avery Cooke, Emma Lawczynski, Ashlee Martini and James Pilla. Logan Ogloff, Claire Cartwright, Sierra Buchanan, Lauren Voss and Nick Welychko received second place, and Reid Bellamy, Samuel Matthew, Sophie Jansen and Jeffrey Ashton were awarded first place.
The third meet of the season, this time In Creston June 22-23, saw another 25 meet records broken by Castlegar swimmers.
Many swimmers swam at least one best time, with some swimmers dropping several seconds from their previous bests.
Jaylen Rushton set five new Girls Division 1 records, including the 100m individual medley, 50m freestyle, 50m butterfly, 50m breaststroke and 100m freestyle. Collectively, the Aquanauts broke every Boys Division 2 record, with Ethan Lawcznynski beating the 50m breaststroke record and Carson Ogloff breaking the 100m individual medley, 50m freestyle, 50m butterfly, 50m backstroke, and 100m freestyle records.
Emma Lawczynski set a new record in the Girls Division 4 100m freestyle. Samuel Matthew broke records in the Boys Division 4 200m individual medley, 50m freestyle, 50m butterfly, 100m backstroke, 100m breaststroke, and 100m freestyle, while Nick Welychko set new records in the Boys Division 8 100m backstroke, 100m breaststroke, and 100m freestyle.
Finally, the team broke many relay records, including the Boys Division 2 200m medley relay (Lowie Vreys, Cayden Cooke, Carson Ogloff Ayden Quintanilha) and the Boys Division 6 200m medley relay (Matthew Holitzki, Noah Larocque, Jeffrey Ashton, Troy Negreiff).
The Girls Division 1 (Avery Cooke, Kennady Cartwright, Breanne Kellendonk, Jaylen Rushton), Boys Division 2 (Lynden Hanvold, Ethan Lawczynski, Bryce Anderson, Carson Ogloff), Girls Division 6 (Ashlee Martini, Jintia Ross-Van Mierlo, Sierra Buchanan, Emma Lawczynski) and Boys Division 8 (Nick Welychko, Samuel Matthew, Troy Negreiff, Jeffrey Ashton) each broke their respective 200m freestyle relay records.
Sixteen Aquanauts placed in the top three of their division, with bronze medals awarded to Madeline Holitzki, Lynden Hanvold, Sophie Jansen, Troy Negreiff, and Ashlee Martini. Avery Cooke, Logan Ogloff, Claire Cartwright, Ethan Lawczynski, Sierra Buchanan, and Jeffrey Ashton placed second; gold was awarded to Jaylen Rushton, Carson Ogloff, Emma Lawczynski, Samuel Matthew, and Nick Welychko.
The Aquanauts have a break from competition during the holiday long weekend, which is a great chance to increase the intensity of thier training while improving both endurance and technique.