The Castlegar Aquanauts participated recently in their first competitive swim meet of the season in Nelson.
A total of 36 swimmers competed for the Aquanauts. Along with them, teams from Nelson, Trail, Grand Forks, Kimberley, Creston, Colville and Revelstoke also competed. This swim meet consisted of six individual events and two team relay events over the course of both Saturday and Sunday.
Head coach Nick Welychko and Assistant coach Michaella Yang were both very pleased and proud of their swimmers. “Every swimmer that attended and competed for the Aquanauts swam very well and there were many best times achieved over the weekend,” said Welychko. With this being the first swim meet and having only been training for four weeks, both Welychko and Yang could tell everyone was putting in a lot of hard work. “With this many best times being achieved with so little training, it is awesome to see. We can tell each swimmer is determined at practice and ready to work. This translates to fast swims at meets. We cannot wait to see where everyone will be further into the season,” said Yang.
The Aquanauts will be traveling to Grand Forks for the second meet of the season on June 7. Both Welychko and Yang are expecting many more great swims and best times to be achieved at this meet.
Nelson Meet Results:
Div 1 Girls:
3rd Kennedy Cartwright and Georgia Anderson
Div 1 Boys:
2nd Reid Quintanhila
1st Ethan Marshall
Div 2 Girls:
3rd Bella Kues
2nd Avery Cooke
1st Claire Cartwright
Div 2 Boys:
3rd Ayden Quintanhila
1st Bryce Anderson
Div 3 Boys:
3rd James Marshall
2nd Cayden Cooke
1st Ethan Marshall
Div 4 Girls
1st Emma Lawczynski
Div 5 Girls:
2nd Sierra Buchanan
Div 6 Girls:
3rd Sophie Jansen
Div 6 Boys:
3rd Torrin Wilson
1st Jeffrey Ashton
Div 7 Girls:
3rd Ashlee Martini
Div 8 boys:
2nd Nick Welychko
Overall Points:
8th Colville Sharks – 125
7th Creston Waves – 149
6th Revelstoke Aquaducks – 167
5th Kimberley Seahorses – 186
4th Nelson Neptunes – 246
3rd Trail Stingrays – 255
2nd Grand Forks Piranhas – 318
1st Castlegar Aquanauts - 636
The Castlegar Aquanauts are proud to award Corbin Anderson with Swimmer of the Meet. Corbin was a huge leader at the meet. He not only swam best times and got prepared for his own races, but he also helped others get excited for theirs. “Nick and I are very proud that he took initiative and set a great example for our swimmers,” said Yang.
In subsequent action this past weekend, a total of 20 Aquanauts competed in their second competitive swimming meet of the season, the Grand Forks Piranhas Invitational.
This event is considered a “B” TIME swim meet – swimmers who have not yet met a certain time standard are only allowed to compete.
Head coach Nick Welychko and assistant coach Michaella Yang were very pleased with everyone’s performance. “Almost all of our swimmers achieved new best times in the four events. This is a great feeling from a coach’s perspective because it means all of the swimmers’ hard work is already paying off for them,” said Welychko.
“The Grand Forks meet was a huge success for all of the swimmers. There were 54 best times from just a single day, not to mention that there were only 18 swimmers who attended. Nick and I are looking forward to the rest of the season with all of the improvements that are being seen so early on in the season,” said Yang.
The Aquanauts will compete in Trail this weekend.
GF Results:
Div 1 girls: 1st - Kennady Cartwright, Div 1 boys: 1st - Reid Quintanhila, Div 2 boys: 3rd - Ayden Quintanhila , Div 3 boys: 1st - James Marshall, Div 4 girls: 1st - Emily Ashton, Div 6 girls: 1st - Kennedy MacInnis, Div 6 boys: 1st - Dante Enwold.
This week’s Castlegar Aquanaut Swimmer of the Meet is going to Reid Quintanilha. Swimmer of the Month for the Month of May: Bella Keus.
Bella is always ready to work and giving 110 per cent at practices. She is a great leader and shows improvement at every practice. Congratulations Bella!