By Eliza McGuire, Revelstoke Aquaducks
The Revelstoke Aquaducks had another great regionals in Kelowna this year, qualifying almost every swimmer in attendance for the upcoming BC Summer Swim Association provincial championships to be hosted in Kamloops in two weeks. Including relays, the Ducks qualified 46 athletes, with 29 of those also qualified to swim individual events. The ducks sent a total of 50 swimmers eligible to qualify for provincials.
Attending their first-ever provincials this year are Division 1 swimmers Autumn Griffith-Doyle, Monica Parkin, Madeleine Hobgood, Murdoch Tegart, Bence Berkenbosch and William Hobgood; Division 2 swimmers Sani Supinen and Elizabeth McDowell; Division 3 swimmers Sara Supinen, Paige McKenzie, Morgan Tegart and Maya McDowell; Division 4 swimmer Logan Marcolli, and Division 5 swimmer Leif Carnegie.
Three new club records were set. Jackson Litke finally broke the D4 boys 50m butterfly after a season of creeping towards it. Beth Granstrom broke the 100m freestyle record for D4 girls, and Nolan Gale broke his father’s 30-year-old D4 boys 100m freestyle record in preliminaries, though Litke would better it in finals in a close race that afternoon.
Many club records were also bettered: Devyn Gale improved her D2 girls 50m fly, Ryder Litke his D1 boys 50m fly and Brynn Hoshizaki her D4 girls 50m free. Jackson Litke bettered his 100m back to not only a new club record, but a regional record as well, while James LeBuke did the same in his boys D4 200m individual medley. Beth Granstrom’s new 100m free record was also a new regional record, as was her 200m IM and 100m back. She completed her domination of D4 girls in the Okanagan Region by winning the 50 fly, her fourth in four events.
Many Ducks won their events without breaking any records other than their own, such as Kayln Gale, Madeleine Hobgood, Tye Hoshizaki, Hunter Stewardson, Alex Jay, Gina Cinelli, Nadia Salon, Julia Gow, Cam Molder, and coaches James Pilla, Emily Pfeiffer and Eliza McGuire.
With such a spectacular outing, it is little wonder that the Revelstoke Aquaducks finished as well as they did as a team. Despite having half the swimmers as the hosts, the Kelowna Ogopogos, the Revelstoke Aquaducks won the boys category and came second in the girls for a second overall finish. For the first time in their history, the Ducks won the top team with points per swimmer, with an average of more than 60 points per swimmer, which is more than 3 points more than the second placed team. A large part of the success of the Ducks can be traced back to the domination of their relays, which finished in the top two in all but three of the 24 relays entered. This perhaps defines the Revelstoke Aquaducks’s season the best: wherever the competition, if a team of Ducks were there, they would be aiming for the top.
Congratulations to all the Ducks who have extended their season!