By Eliza McGuire, Revelstoke Aquaducks
The Revelstoke Aquaducks travelled to Penticton over the weekend to compete in the last competition before Regionals. Having just completed their Survivor Week, the coach’s expectations of personal bests were lower than usual.
The coaches, however, should have known better.
While only 24 swimmers attended the meet, almost all of them achieved personal bests, despite the gruelling week leading into the meet.
As a result, half of the swimmers finished with aggregates for their division. Autumn Griffith-Doyle and Ryder Litke both finished with silver for Division 1, while Bence Berkenbosch received a bronze to round out the Division 1 Boys.
Kayln Gale and Sani Supinen once again finished gold and silver respectively for Division 2 Girls, blowing away the competition in the freestyle events in particular. Devyn Gale won a silver for Division 3 Girls, and brought herself within a second of the club record for the 50 metre backstroke.
In Division 4, James LeBuke and Nolan Gale took the top two awards, each breaking a club record in the process. On his way to gold, LeBuke beat Jackson Litke’s 200 metre individual medley record from the last year by three-one-hundredths of a second. Meanwhile, Gale beat his own record from last year in the 50 metre freestyle, despite slipping off the blocks on his start.
Brynn Hoshizaki won her first gold of the year in Division 5, achieving the most personal bests of all the seniors with five. Jackson Litke won silver for the Division 5 Boys, and Bryce Molder won gold in the O Category 2 Boys.
In her first meet back from her trip to Italy, Gina Cinelli won a silver aggregate for the Division 7 Girls, despite still being on European time.
Overall, the team finished an impressive second place. While the Kelowna Ogopogos nearly doubled the Revelstoke point tally, the Ogos had more than 100 swimmers in attendance.
In two weeks, the Ducks head to Kamloops for the Okanagan regionals, looking to qualify as many as possible for the BC Summer Swim Association Provincial Championships in Victoria from August 21–23.