PCS had a strong showing at the Provincial AAA meet on July 7-10, 2011 finishing eighth overall in the team results. Congratulations to all the swimmers and their coaches. As always, full results can be found on the results page. Here is a day by day break down of the results.
Day One: UVPCS had a very strong first day with seven medals and a 4th place standing in the team scores. Medalists on the day included: MacKenzie Downing 16&o girls Gold 100FL Alex Kierstead 15yo girls 200BR winning Silver and setting a new club record! Ian Mattock 16&o Silver 100FL Lauren McMillan 14yo girls winning Gold in the 200BR and Silver in the 100FL setting a new club record Rosie Moulton 15yo girls 200FR winning Gold with a personal best Nick Sinclair 16&o Gold 100FL
Finalists on the day included: Emma Carter 11yo 4th - 200BR Hanna Carter 15yo 4th - 200BR Ryan Howe 15yo 5th - 200FR and 4th - 100FL Alexandra Kierstead 15yo 7th - 200FR Rosie Moulton 15yo 6th - 100FL Kristopher Neilsen 11yo 5th - 200BR Rachael Newman 16&o 6th - 100FL Heidi Ullrich 13yo 8th - 200FR Nick Sinclair 16&o 4th - 200FR
In the 4x50 Freestyle Relays: 12&u PCS A Team finished 8th for the Girls and the Boys 13-14yo Girls placed 6th 15&o Girls finished 6th and the Boys placed 5th
Day Two: The day started very strong with 200BK. 11 year old Lauren Crisp achieved her first Age Group National qualifying time in the 12 and U category. Heidi Ullrich also moved into the Age Group National scene qualifying in 800 FR. And Stefanie Schmidt crushed her personal best in 200 BK for a silver medal. UVPCS ended the day in 8th spot in the team standings.
Congratulations to all five of the UVPCS swimmers who traveled down to the Fran Crippen Memorial Swim Meet of Champions in Mission Viejo, California.
Nick Sinclair was there as well representing Canada on the Junior National Relay Initiative Team. Rachael Newman, Stefanie Schmidt, Alex Kierstead, Ryan Howe and Ian Mattock represented UVPCS.
The experience was a good learning opportunity for everyone.
Stefanie Schmidt won the B final in the 200 back, finishing 8th overall with a new a best time. She also set a new best time, new Club Record and made a Nat standard in the 15–17 year old 1500 free. In her other events, Stefanie was: 31st in 100 back, 59th 400 free and 87th 200 free.
Nick Sinclair made the B final in the 200 back, placing 14th overall. Nick was also 24th in the 400 free C final and 23rd in the 200 free C final.
Ian Mattock won C final in the 200 IM for 17th place overall. Ian was also 30th in the 400 IM, 38th in the 200 fly (with a best time) and 54th in the 100 fly.
Rachael Newman was 32nd in the 100 fly, 37th in the 200 fly, 74th in the 200 free, 76th in the 50 free, and 78th in the 100 free.
Alex Kierstead had best time in 400 free for 71st place, 31st in the 100 breastroke, and 46th in the 200 breastroke.
Ryan Howe placed 67th in the 400 IM setting a best time. Ryan was also 45th in the 100 back, 64th in the 200 back, and 126th in the 100 free.
Are you looking to swim with a group of adults a couple of times a week and get some coaching? Then the Masters Stroke and Fitness may be for you. This session will take place 11:00am-12:00pm on Mondays and Thursdays at the UVic McKinnon Pool throughout the summer.
If you are interested, please contact coach Meghan.
Well the 2011 Provincial AA's are over and PCS made a fine showing. A small team of 11 swimmers (and their families) accompanied coach Mark to Kelowna for the meet as well as some cake, sunshine, and hangin' by the pool.
Day 1 of competition saw 3 PCS swimmers find the podium with Bronze medal finishes by: Patricia Horwood (12) - Girls 12yo 50m LC Meter Freestyle; Riley Tesch (13) - Girls 13yo 200m LC Meter Butterfly; and, Rachel Sawchuk (12) - Girls 12yo 100m LC Meter Backstroke.
As well, a PCS relay team made the podium with a Silver medal performance by Rachel Sawchuk (12), Patricia Horwood (11), Allison Ballantyne (11) and Sophie Tarrant (11) in the Girls 12&U 200m LC Meter Freestyle Relay.
Top 8 finishes on Day 1 were achieved by: Kennedy Aragon-Scriven (13), Allison Ballantyne (11), Nicholas Nolt (10), Sophie Tarrant (11), and the relay team of Rachel Sawchuk (12), Kennedy Aragon-Scriven (13), Patricia Horwood (12) and Riley Tesch (13).
At the end of Day 1 we also enjoyed a small party on the pool deck, complete with cake... Happy Aging-Up Sophie!
The podium eluded our swimmers on Day 2 but top 8 finishes were recorded by: Kennedy Aragon-Scriven (13), Allison Ballantyne (11), Patricia Horwood (12), Heather McMillan (12), Nicholas Nolt (10), Rachel Sawchuk (12), Sophie Tarrant (11), Riley Tesch (13), and the relay team of Rachel Sawchuk (12), Riley Tesch (13), Kennedy Aragon-Scriven (13) and Patricia Horwood (12)
The hardware count improved on Day 3 with 2 more medal swims: Patricia Horwood (12) took Silver in the Girls 12 Year Olds 200 LC Meter Backstroke, and Heather McMillan (12) took bronze in Girls 12 Year Olds 400 LC Meter IM
Final top 8 finishes on the day were tallied by: Allison Ballantyne (11), Ana MacLeod (15), Nicholas Nolt (10), Rachel Sawchuk (12), and Riley Tesch (13).
Congratulations to all the swimmers and their coaches! Full results can be found on the PCS results page.
The 2011 Vancouver Island Region Long Course Championships took place this past weekend at Saanich Commonwealth Place. UVPCS sent 71 swimmers to the meet! Congratulations to everybody on records, best times, second swims, medals and new qualifying swims. Particular congratulations to the following swimmers and their coaches:
Gold medalists>: Ryan Howe (200 Backstroke, 100 Fly, 400IM), Kea Koerner (100/400 Freestyle), Evan Letkeman (200 Butterfly), Ian Mattock (50/1500 Freestyle), Lauren McMillan (400 Freestyle, 200 Breaststroke, 200 Butterfly, 400 IM), Victoria Mock (1500 Freestyle), Kristopher Neilson (200 Breaststroke), Nicholas Nolt (50/100/200 Freestyle, 50 Backstroke, 100 Butterfly, 200IM), Michael Schmidt (50/100 Breaststroke), Stefanie Schmidt (400 IM), and Sophie Tarrant (400 Freestyle).
Silver and Bronze medalists: Ewan Barker, Finn Barker, Leah Biberdorf, Ciaran Breen, Hanna Carter, Chloe Chapman, Lauren Crisp, Shaun Gill, Rory Hills, Alexandra Kierstead, Lia Lancaster, Anna Letkeman, Jessica Luo, Annie MacIntosh, Jon McKay, Fionnuala McKenna, Shannon McMillan, Rosie Moulton, Stephen Olmos, Jackson Sinclair, Allison Wood and Tabitha Zammit.
Top-8 finalists: Nival Bissoon, Sophia Borchers, Achintya Chaudhari, Eric Christiansen, Michael de Clare, Emily Ding, Evan Guildford, David Hiebert, Justin Howe, Nathan Howe, Katherine Krause, Edward Liang, Rachel Newman, Riley Tesch, Christian Turpin, and Heidi Ullrich.
Congratulations as well to those who achieved new time standards: Lia Lancaster – BC AAA David Hiebert – BC AAA Annie MacIntosh – Age Group National and Western Victoria Mock - Age Group National and Western
And congratulations as well to those swimmers who achieved new records including:
UVPCS Club LC records: Nicholas Nolt (10 & Under) 50 & 100 Freestyle Stefanie Schmidt (15-17) 400 IM Fionnuala McKenna, Leah Biberdorf, Shannon McMillan, Jessica Luo (10 & Under) 200 Freestyle Relay
VIR Meet records: Kea Koerner (15 & Over) 100 Freestyle Nicholas Sinclair (15 & Over) 200 Freestyle
Finally, thanks to the families and friends from UVPCS and other clubs (IS, RAC, NRST) who helped to make this meet a rewarding and enjoyable experience for their swimmers by volunteering their time and talents.
As always, complete results for all our swimmers' meets are posted on our results page.
Richard Weinberger won back to back races yesterday during the 10th annual Open Water Festival in Fort Meyers
FORT-MYERS - Victoria’s Richard Weinberger won back to back races yesterday during the 10th annual Open Water Festival in Fort Myers, Florida, wining his ticket to Shanghai for the FINA word championships.
The weather condition, sunny, 84 degrees with mirror like water holding a steady temperature of 81 degrees.
The day began with Swimming Canada’s 10km Open Water World Championships trials where Weinberger collected the gold a mere 2 seconds off second place finisher Aimeson King (2:04.14), also of Victoria.
Xavier Desharnais of Lasalle QC, was third in 20:04.17.
In the women’s 10k event, defending national champion Zsofia Balazs of Toronto breezed thru the finish line 2 minutes ahead of the pact finishing with a 2:11.22.
At 8500m, Beatrice Pineau of Quebec, QC led Nadine Williams by 1min20 sec. With 500m to go, Williams closed in on Pineau out touching her at the finish.
Swimmers who finish top 2 in both men and women’s race have earned their ticket to represent Canada at the FINA worlds this summer in Shanghai.
In memory of Fran Crippen
The Crippen Mile capped off a day full of races and clinics at the 10th annual Open Water Festival.
A total of 83 swimmers from throughout North America gathered on the sugar-sand shores of Fort Myers Beach for the inaugural Crippen Mile on Saturday evening.
“He was such a great swimmer,” said Weinberg to local reporters. “I remember telling my coach, ‘I wish I had his speed. I wish I had his stroke.’ Just his attitude, everything – he was such a great swimmer.”
Men’s second-place finisher Xavier Desharnais, also of Swimming Canada, remembered Crippen’s generosity and willingness to help better other athletes.
“He was like a role model for me,” Desharnais said.
“Sometimes you see the older swimmers and they won’t always speak to the young guys, but that wasn’t Fran. I would see him every meet and he would speak with me and help me. He was always there for you.”
Results for the Canadian 10km Open Water World Championships Trials
MEN
1. Richard Weinberger 2:04.12 7. Zachary Parkes 2:08.36
8 PCS swimmers attended the HYACK AAA Festival May 20-22. We had some great swims from the B Provincial group members.
On the girls side, Annie Macintosh (14) made it to the final heat of the 50 free sprint eliminator, placed 8th in the 50 free, 3rd in the 100 free, 15th in the 800 free, 16th in the 100 back, & 15th in the 200 back. Chloe Chapman (14) placed 3rd in the 50 free, and made a B final in the 200 free. Emily Ding (15) placed 14th in the 50 free, 11th in the 100 fly, & 11th in the 200 fly. Heidi Ulrich (13) placed 15th in the 50 free, 14th in the 800 free, 14th in the 200 fly. Vicky Mock (14) made the top 16 in the 400 free, 12th in the 800 free, 16th in the 200 back, and 12th in the 200 fly
On the boys side, Jon McKay (15) placed 15th in the 100 backstroke, 12th in the 200 backstroke, 8th in the 200 fly, 13th in the 200IM. Rory Hills (15) placed 14th in the 1500 free & Jackson Sinclair (14) swam to 14th in the 200 breast.
Annie Macintosh made her first western time in the 50 free at the PCS Wavemaker three weeks ago. Congratulations to Annie and her coaches!
At the Mel Zajac Jr. International meet on the weekend PCS had its strongest showing in years. In spite of a faster than usual field, the team of 15 finished top 10 teams overall due to many top 24 finishes from a range of swimmers.
MacKenzie Downing won the 200FL and was 4th in 100FL and 9th in the 50FL.
Nick Sinclair scored in the top 8 in 100BK (5th) and 200BK (2nd) and 400FR (5th), as well as 9th in 200FR.
Stefanie Schmidt moved into the top 8 finishing in her highest ranking at 7th in 200BK.
Julia Schmidt made the C final in the 200FL, finishing 23rd overall.
Rachael Newman continued to perform well in 200FL fighting her way into the top 16 in the prelims and finishing 13th at night.
Evan Letkeman came out of the blue in the heats of the 200FL stripping 3 seconds of his PB advancing into the C final where he waded into the field from 23rd to 20th slicing another 2 seconds off his best from the morning.
Ryan Howe swam to PB's in the heats and again in finals to reach 12th over all in 100BK.
Kea Koerner recorded a top 16 swim in 100FR making for her best outing of the year with a 9th place finish. Kea had a PB in 50FR enroute to 18th overall. As well she finished 23rd in 200FR.
Alex Kierstead swam to 14th in 50BR (new club record for 15-17 girls,) 19th in the 100BR and 23rd in 200BR.
The women's team battled to top 16 in the relays climbing to 11th in the 400F.R., 5th in the 800F.R. and 7th in 400M.R. Their time in the 400M.R. established a new Vancouver Island Regional record crushing the previous record held by ISA in a time of 4:28 taking 8 seconds off the record.
The men were 14th in 400F.R. and did not compete the other relays.
Congratulations to all the swimmers and their coaches.
Swimming Canada (SNC) has announced a 42-swimmer team for the 2011 World University Games, this August in Shenzhen, China. Nine of those team members as from BC.
Female (5): Hilary Caldwell (PSW), MacKenzie Downing (PCS), Heather MacLean (UBCD), Cassie Morrice (IS) and Hanna Pierse (UBCD)
Male (4): Kelly Aspinall (UBCD), Craig Dagnall (IS), David Hibberd (SFU) and Nicholas Sinclair (PCS).
Are you adventurous? Are you ready for zip-lining, tubing, kayaking, go-karts and much more? Then you are ready for the Pacific Coast Swimming Adventure Day Camp! Includes one hour of coached swimming every day!
Cost is $250 per child. To register contact Stefanie Miska at 250-413-7833 or email at smiska@pacificcoastswimming.com. For more information please check this brochure
Dates for the PCS Adventure Camps are: July 18-22 July 25-29 Aug 8-12 Aug 15-19
Vikes Summer Camps are also available for May through to August. Click here for the link for registration and more information.
In its eighth year, the 2011 Annual PCS Wavemaker Meet was the largest yet with 279 swimmers from across Vancouver Island, Vancouver, Whistler and the Kootenays competing for a chance to win those coveted ‘horse’ ribbons that are unique to this meet. Congratulations to all our swimmers for their many fine swims at this meet and to the coaches who worked so hard to help them achieve their goals. Last but not least, thanks to everybody who volunteered to make this the best Wavemaker yet! The results of everyone’s efforts include:
Multiple event winners were: Leah Biberdorf, Nival Bissoon, Hanna Carter, Lauren Crisp, Patricia Horwood, Ryan Howe, Kea Koerner, Jon McKay, Kristopher Neilson, Sophie Tarrant, and Aidan Thirkell – wow!
Our single event winners included: Ewan Barker, Sophia Borchers, Ciaran Breen, Chloe Chapman, Raymond Chou, Justin Howe, Alexandra Kierstead, Lia Lancaster, Jasmine Lee, Anna Letkeman, Jessica Luo, Lauren McMillan, Shannon McMillan, Stephen Olmos, Michael Schmidt and Katelyn Woo.
Further top-3 competitors were: Kennedy Aragon-Scriven, Finn Barker, Emma Carter, Achintya Chaudhari, David Hiebert, Nathan Howe, Han Huang, Katherine Krause, Ki-Sang Lee, Isabella Leong, Evan Letkeman, Annie MacIntosh, Fionnuala McKenna, Heather McMillan, Victoria Mock, Nicholas Nolt, Rachel Sawchuk, Jackson Sinclair, Riley Tesch, Christian Turpin and Heidi Ullrich.
Our top-8 finalists included: Ayaka Behro, Ricky Chiu, Daniel Damian, Michael De Clare, Gabrielle Fitaire, Casey Garrison, Armann Gill, Shaun Gill, Linden Girardeaux, Evan Guildford, Orieanna Hartley, Erin Jennings, Erica Kelm, Tanner Lawless, Cindy Li, Edward Liang, Zi Yi Liu, Grace MacDonald, Ana MacLeod, Emma Reinsch, Jenna Stacey, Anna Stebeck, Ava Tarrant, Rebecca Thomson, Remei van Raamsdonk, Victoria von Sacken Nash, Maia Watson and Tabitha Zammit.
New PCS Long Course Club Records: Kristopher Neilson (10 & U Boys) – 100/400 Freestyle; 100/200 Breaststroke; 50 Backstroke; and 100/200 Butterfly Alexandra Kierstead (15-17 Girls) - 50/100/200 Breaststroke Kea Koerner (15-17 Girls) - 100 Freestyle; 50 Butterfly Kristopher Neilson, Michael Schmidt, Nicholas Nolt and Ciaran Breen (10 & U Boys) – 200 Freestyle Relay Kristopher Neilson, Michael Schmidt, Nicholas Nolt and Ciaran Breen (10 & U Boys) – 200 Medley Relay
New National Time Standard Qualifiers: Chloe Chapman (14) – Western Canadian Jon McKay (15) – Age Group National
New Provincial (BC) Time Standard Qualifiers: Nicholas Nolt (10) and Sophie Tarrant (10) – BC AAA Allison Ballantyne (11) and Emma Reinsch (11) – BC AA Shaun Gill (11) and Edward Liang (11) – BC A
New Vancouver Island Regional (VIR) 10 & Under Time Standard Qualifiers: Fionnuala McKenna (10) – VIR AAA Evan Guildford (10), Grace MacDonald (8), Ava Tarrant (9), and Olivia Waller (10) – VIR AA Casey Garrison (9), Linden Girardeaux (8), Erin Jennings (10), Ki-Sang Lee (10), Eve Taylor (10), Christian Turpin (8), Remei van Raamsdonk (8), and Maia Watson (10) – VIR A
Complete details for the meet are available, as always, on our Results page.
Congratulations to Lauren McMillan who won the 200BR and 50BR at the Prospects West Tri Meet in Alberta over the weekend. She was also the Breaststroker on the winning 4x50 MR team.
A small group of coaches, swimmers and parents headed to Port Alberni last Sunday to complete in the Tsunami's annual Rubber Ducky swim meet. PCS did well bringing home a total of 22 rubber duckies.
Congratulations to PCS swimmers Stefanie Schmidt and Kea Koerner on their selection to the BC Western Canada Games Team. The team will compete in Kamloops Aug 7-14.
Swimmers were selected based on their performance at the recent World Trials. Well done!
Four-year-old Maya Stevens gets swimming instructions from Olivia King during lessons at the Gordon Head Recreation Centre. Follow this link to the original Saanich News article.
VICTORIA – Pan Pacific Championships bronze medallist in the 10km open water event, Richard Weinberger and sixteen year old Sherry Liu of New Westminster, B.C won the 5km pool championships today at the Saanich Commonwealth Pool in Victoria, BC.
According to Swimming Canada National Coach, Pierre Lafontaine, the 5km pool event was a great opportunity for Canadian distance swimmers to have a chance to gauge their preparation for the Open Water event selection trials for the 2011 World Championships Team in Fort Meyers on June 11th.
At the World Trials, swimmers will have the opportunity for selection in the 10km and 25km open water.
Today’s top 5 finishers will receive a bursary to help fund travels to Fort Meyers for the Shanghai Worlds open water event selection trials.
Final Results of 5km
Women 5000 LC Meter Freestyle 1, Sherry Liu, 16, Hyack Swim Club, 58:21.36 2, Karyn Jewell,17, C.N. Phénix de Gatineau, 59:22.26 3, Nadine Williams, 17, Silver Tide Swim Club, 1:00:45.93 4, Victoria Munro, 17, Hamilton Aquatic Club, 1:01:00.64 5, Claudia Mathieu, 16, Scarborough Swim Club, 1:02:06.83 6, Rheaume, Justine, 14 Club Aquatique Montréal, 1:02:12.41 7, Gauthier Boiteau, Delphine 17 Club de Natation PPO, 1:05:32.22 8, Amy Andrew, 16, Red Deer Catalina Swim Club, 1:08:03.36
Men 5000 LC Meter Freestyle 1, Richard Weinberger, 20, Uvic-Pacific Coast Swimming, 55:15.69 2, Phillipe Guertin, 20, Club Aquatique Montréal, 55:37.12 3, Zac Parkes, 17, Uvic-Pacific Coast Swimming, 55:55.55 4, Aimeson King, 20, Island Swimming, 56:58.22 5, Xavier Desharnais, 21, Club Aquatique Calac Richelieu, 57:08.50 6, Chris Reith, 21, Halifax Trojan Aquatic Club, 58:31.10 --- Brothers, Will 16 Island Swimming 1DQ
VICTORIA - National Open Water Teamer David Creel was honored in front of his peers last night during the 2011 World Championships Trials in Victoria, BC.
David Creel of Dalhousie NB competed around the globe in Open Water event for over 10 years.
David boasts a long list of achievements. He first represented the Open Water National Team in 2002 at the World Open Water Championships in Sharm el Sheik, Egypt where he placed 13th in the 10k.
He also represented Canada at the 2003 World Aquatic Championships in Barcelona as well as the 2004 World Open Water Championships in Dubai, U.A.E, the 2006 World Open Water Championships in Naples, Italy, the 2007 World Aquatic Championships in Melbourne Australia and the 2009 FINA World Championships in Rome, Italy.
In 2006, David competed in the 10km open water event at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships where he placed 8th overall. David had the unique opportunity to swim in front of all his Pacific Coast Swimming teammates in Victoria.
At the 2007 FINA Marathon Swimming World Cup in Roberval, QC, David placed 5th in the 10k.
Creel is also a very competitive pool swimmer. In 2005, he competed at the Pacific Coast Swim Meet and came away with 4 gold medal finishes.
At the 2002 World Cup, he swam the 10k open water event and finished in 8th place. David came in 5th place at the World Cup in 2004 and won the bronze medal at the U.S. Nationals in 2006.
David’s talent was discovered at a young age while partaking in swimming lessons.
Coached by Ron Jacks and Peter Vizsolyi at the University of Victoria, Creel was always motivated to swim at the highest of his abilities. Creel says that Ron Jacks is the most influential person in his life because he pushed him to be the best he can be.
PCS swimmer Lauren McMillan is one of eight 14-year-old girls from across the province to have been selected to represent the province at this year’s Prospects West training camp and Tri-meet. Lauren will be one of thirty-two 13 and 14 year-old Team BC swimmers joining with teams from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. PCS swimmer Ryan Howe was also selected as a 14yr old for the team, but has turned the trip down to focus on his studies after a busy and successful short course season.
This year the camp will run from April 14-17, 2011 at the University of Lethbridge and will be led by Calgary’s Cascade Swim Club Head Coach Dave Johnson. The camp will focus on stroke reliability. There will be sports science support and information provided in the areas of bio-mechanics, psychology, physiology and dryland.
Congratulations Lauren, Ryan and Coach Rod Barratt!
VICTORIA, B.C. - The Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame (GVSHOF) and The University of Victoria Department of Athletics and Recreation are pleased to announce the establishment of a new athletic financial award, The Bate Family Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame Award, given in its first year to Vikes rookie swimmer Julia Schmidt.
David Bate, whose family has created the generous award, said he remembered leaving Victoria to attend McGill on a full scholarship and left with a belief that he needed to leave town to get a great student and educational experience.
"A year later I was back and spent the next eight years at the University of Victoria getting a world-class education, while living in one of the best communities in the world," Bate said from South Africa where he is currently working as an investment banker. "The University of Victoria is an important part of our community. Athletics is an important part of our community. Kids graduating from Victoria-area high schools shouldn’t have to move away from home to obtain an education and advance their athletic ambitions."
Bate said he believes it is important to support his alma mater.
"Other universities have more money. The University of Victoria needs the financial firepower and community platform to attract local athletes to its teams," Bate said. "Hopefully this award marks the beginning of a greater opportunity for local kids to get a world-class education while playing on varsity teams at UVic. And, hopefully, their contributions help these teams perform well and enhance Victoria’s long legacy of athletic achievements that continues to make Victoria one of the best communities to live in, in the world."
"The GVSHOF is grateful to David Bate and the University of Victoria for establishing the award, which is to be presented annually to a highly achieving student from Victoria who has been accepted into the Vikes athletics program," said Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame president Nick Tuele. "The award is a significant undertaking for the GVSHOF in its efforts to raise its profile in the community and to encourage young athletes to aspire to the highest levels of accomplishment in their chosen sport. The GVSHOF honours the most outstanding athletes at the end of their careers (by inducting them) into the Hall of Fame, but we also encourage the next generation of individuals who may one day be honoured for bringing distinction to themselves, their sport, their community and their country."
"Julia is an 'A' student and an accomplished athlete, and we are confident that her academic and athletic commitment will continue to be rewarded with great success," Tuele said. "The GVSHOF is pleased to be able to assist Julia on her career path."
Schmidt, a graduate of Lambrick Park Secondary, was recently selected from a number of candidates to become the first athlete to receive the award. The Vikes swimmer and sciences student recently competed at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport championships with the Vikes in Calgary.
"I am very appreciative to the Bates family for this award, it greatly assists me towards pursuing my goals academically and athletically while remaining close to home with the support of my family and friends," Schmidt said. "While training varsity six days a week sometimes two times a day and keeping up with my studies, it is difficult to find time to work so this award is greatly appreciated."
PCS coach Rod Barratt (B Group) was awarded the 2010 BC Swim Coaches Association, Coach of the Year Award for the 13-14 Year Age Group. The presentation was made at the BC SC Championships held March 3-6, 2011 at Saanich Commonwealth Place. Congratulations Rod!
PCS swimmers, coaches and parents spent this past weekend at Saanich Commonwealth Place, competing against some of the best age group swimmers in the province and hosting one of the biggest and most exciting meets held in the province each year. This year, the 2011 Team Aquatic Supplies Provincial Age-Group Championships featured over 600 swimmers representing 40 teams from across the province and the Yukon. The meet was a resounding success with much excitement, numerous records and many many great performances! As a team, PCS finished the meet in 7th place overall. Congratulations to all!
PCS individual medalists included: Kristopher Neilson (10) – Silver in 100 & 200 Breaststroke Lauren Crisp (11) – Silver in 100 & 200 Backstroke Hanna Carter (14) – Silver in 100 Breaststroke Ryan Howe (14) – Gold in 100 & 200 Backstroke & 100 Butterfly; Silver in 400IM; Bronze in 200 & 400 Freestyle Lauren McMillan (14) – Gold in 100 & 200 Breaststroke; Bronze in 200 IM Sophia Borchers (15) – Gold in 400IM, Silver in 200 Breaststroke Alexandra Kierstead (15) – Bronze in 200 Breaststroke & 800 Freestyle Rosie Moulton (15) – Silver in 200IM & 200 Freestyle; Bronze in 100 Freestyle & 100 Breaststroke Stefanie Schmidt (15) – Gold in 200 Backstroke; Silver in 100 Backstroke & 400 Freestyle Rachael Newman (16) – Gold in 200 Butterfly; Silver in 100 Freestyle; Bronze in 800 Freestyle Zac Parkes (17) – Silver in 400 & 1500 Freestyle
Our relay medalists were: Stefanie Schmidt, Alexandra Kierstead, Rachael Newman, Rosie Moulton - Bronze in 18 & under Girls 200 Medley Relay; and Rachael Newman, Stefanie Schmidt, Katelyn Hayward, Rosie Moulton - Bronze in 18 & under Girls 200 Freestyle Relay
Top-8 finalists included: Emily Ding, Patricia Horwood, Annie MacIntosh, Victoria Mock, Savannah Moneo, and Aidan Thirkell.
Congratulations as well for new UVPCS records set by Rachael Newman (15-17 100 Freestyle), Stefanie Schmidt (15-17 100 Backstroke), Rosie Moulton (15-17 100 Breaststroke), Kristopher Neilson (10 & U 100 & 200 Breaststroke), and Ryan Howe (13-14 50 Freestyle, 50, 100 & 200 Backstroke, 100 Butterfly & 400 IM). And relay records set by Ryan Howe, Jackson Sinclair, Nival Bissoon and Stephen Olmos (13-14 Boys 200 Medley Relay); Stefanie Schmidt, Alexandra Kierstead, Sophia Borchers and Rachael Newman (15-17 Girls 800 Freestyle Relay); Stefanie Schmidt, Alexandra Kierstead, Rachael Newman, and Rosie Moulton (Girls 15-17 and Girls Open 200 Medley Relay).
Thanks to our dedicated coaches - Mark Lancaster, Ryan Slater, Rod Barratt and Ron Jacks – for helping our swimmers to reach their goals! Also, a HUGE thanks to those wonderful PCS and Vikes volunteers as well as to parents and friends from Victoria high schools and other teams (including Island Swimming, the Langley Olympians, Prince George Barracudas, West Vancouver Otters, Comox Valley Aquatic Club, Surrey Knights and Duncan Swim Team) who lent a much-needed (and much-appreciated) hand and thereby contributed to making this meet the success it was.
As always, full details are available on our results page.
Congratulations to PCS swimmers Ryan Howe and Lauren McMillan for being selected to the BC Age Group team based on their performances over the weekend at the Provincial Championships. Ryan was selected for his performance in the 400IM and Lauren for her's in the 200BR.
The pair will be part of the BC team which will compete against Alberta and the combined forces of Manitoba-Saskatchewan in April in Lethbridge, AB.
CALGARY - Redemption can create a lasting memory, and for University of Victoria Vikes women's backstroke specialist Kim Bryan, she's likely had an unforgettable experience at the 2011 CIS Swimming national championships at the University of Calgary Aquatic Centre.
The Williams Lake, B.C., native was not even sure if she would be swimming a year ago. A month ago, she did not even know if she would achieve CIS standard times.
On Friday night, she was smiling with a look of joy and relief,and proudly wearing a bronze medal around her neck after UVic's women won bronze in the women's 4x200-metre freestyle relay, helping the Vikes to stay in fourth place in the team standings.
Call it Perseverance 101, perhaps Bryan's most valuable lesson during her student-athlete experience.
Joined by teammates Stephanie Horner, Siobhan Newell and Hilary Caldwell, Bryan swam a great anchor leg to help the Vikes to register a time of 8:16.49 and finish third.
"We had some wicked swimmers come in like Steph and Hilary and Ryan (Cochrane) who have won some medals and our core group, they've stepped up as well," Bryan said. "We're all proud of each other, everyone cheers their faces off, screaming. It's been such a great experience here."
Three years ago, Bryan was not sure if she was going to stick with competitive swimming. She took two years off before this season.
"I thought about never being able to swim again and it upset me to think about that, about not competing again," Bryan said following Day 2 Friday night. "Because it upset me so much, I decided to come back and I have kept that in mind. This was my last shot to make all my goals. I'm pretty happy."
Bryan, a fourth-year recreation and health education student at UVic, said she has given her all in this final meet of her university career.
A month ago, Bryan entered the Canada West championships in Vancouver without registering a CIS-qualifying time. She needed to make the time at the meet.
A stronger 200-metre backstroke swimmer, Bryan actually set the CIS qualifying time in the women's 50-metre backstroke.
"When I did get the first time, at first I wasn't sure I even got it," Bryan said. "I had one guy on our team come up to me and say 'congratulations' and I thought he was joking with me. I didn't even know what the qualifying time was before I started. But as I walked around the pool deck, more of my teammates came up to me and said things like 'way to go' and were really happy for me. That's when I realized I had made time."
"I was so excited that I was shaking."
The swimmer of 14 years said she is very thankful for her decision to come back and experience one of the top moments of her life.
"I would not have believed my career would have ended off with this," Bryan said, smiling and clutching her CIS bronze medal. "It's wicked. Especially only qualifying for the CIS meet a month ago, it's the first time in my university career I've been here."
Bryan and her teammates were in fourth spot, trailing the Montreal Caribins in the relay when she dug in in the final 200 metres, putting everything on the line for her and her teammates.
"I was not focussing on anything but on the lane, not paying attention to any of the other girls," she said. "It's a great feeling."
Vikes swimming head coach Peter Vizsolyi is especially proud of Bryan's success on the weekend.
"Usually you swim your relays fastest to slowest and here's a grad who swims the final leg, someone who has never made CIS championships and who is coming back after two years off," Vizsolyi said. "She came back and changed her approach to meets and just qualified for the CIS championships in the January (Canada West) time trials and has achieved life-time best times here on the biggest stage."
"She's made it on her own luck, she's done very well here this weeked," Vizsolyi said. "We're very happy for her."
Bryan also swam two personal best in the women's 100-metre backstroke (27th overall, 1:05.61) and the women's 50-metre freestyle (24th overall, 27.41) on Friday. She recorded another personal best in the women's 50-metre backstroke (36th overall, 31.26) on Thursday. On the final day Saturday, Bryan finished in 26th spot in the women's 200-metre backstroke in a time of 2:21.53.
"I'd like to thank UVic for the chance to come here and to Peter and the whole team," Bryan said. "I'm so happy I decided to come back and to get to experience this. It's great."
Original Story by Andy Wilson, UVic CALGARY - Ryan Cochrane was named the CIS male swimmer of the year and CIS rookie of the year on Saturday following competition on the final day of the 2011 CIS swimming championships at the University of Calgary Aquatic Centre.
Cochrane, a 2008 Beijing Olympic medallist and native of Victoria, B.C., won golds in the men's 1500-metre freestyle, 400-metre freestyle and 200-metre freestyle races. Cochrane also won bronze in the men's 400-metre IM. He guided the UVic men to a fifth-place finish with 244.5 points. The Vikes women were in fourth spot with 227.5 points.
"It's a completely different environment, you've got an awesome level of support here between all teammates. The camaraderie here between all of us was good. And it's great for the sport to have the place packed with a loud crowd," Cochrane said. "It was a really good environment to swim in, especially when you're standing on the box for relays."
"I'm pleased with my performances here. And I'm pretty tired, too," Cochrane said with a laugh, noting the higher altitude presents challenges with fatigue. "It's a tough three days. When I'm tired when I go back to training next week, it will be a good reminder to me of why it (the training) is so important."
Other Day 3 medallists were Hilary Caldwell who won the gold in the women's 200-metre backstroke (2:08.22), Stephanie Horner who earned silver in the women's 800-metre freestyle (8:44.72) and bronze in the women's 200-metre IM (2:16.13) and Nick Sinclair who won bronze in the men's 200-metre backstroke (1:59.47). All four Vikes medallists are national-calibre swimmers.
"The most important thing for all the kids at that (elite) level is trying to win without really getting out of your preparation cycle for the international calendar," said Vikes swimming head coach Peter Vizsolyi. "I think when you can do that that's your goal to come and be able to compete without disruption to your overall training schedule."
"We haven't been in the top five for a while and I think historically we've had a lot of top-five finishes on both sides. So I think it's good to get back to that level," Vizsolyi said. "You are never going to get in the top five unless your bottom end is scoring and getting into the consolation finals and scoring points. And that turned out to be especially important in the fact the women's relay got disqualified and we ended up with the fourth spot by three-and-a-half points."
Cochrane said he was happy for the entire Vikes team with their overall performance and looks forward to a great future for the UVic program.
"It's great as long as we're continuing to move up and hopefully can get up to the Top 3 in the future with some good recruits," Cochrane said.
FINAL RESULTS: http://www.godinos.com/custompages/Statistics/Live/SWIM/hytek/ CHAMPIONSHIP WEB SITE: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/swim/index
Horner's 800-metre silver-medal performance was impressive on the first night of the race. Shwas just a body length behind gold-medallist and national record holder Savannah King of UBC, the CIS rookie of the meet, but the Thunderbirds swimmer found another gear three-quarters of the way through the race to pull away, eventually winning by just over nine seconds.
Vikes backstroke specialist Nick Sinclair heads to the nationals in Calgary looking for a return to form. Photograph by: Bruce Stotesbury, Times Colonist,
By Ron Rauch, Times Colonist
UVic star back from health troubles and ready to make run at Olympics
When Nick Sinclair splashes into the University of Calgary Aquatic Centre at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport swimming championships, he will be wondering what he could have done had it been a normal year.
For the 19-year-old from the University of Victoria, it has been anything but normal for him.
Last summer, Sinclair developed thoracic outlets syndrome which caused his left arm to swell up.
"The thoracic outlets syndrome caused some problems for me in the water,'' said Sinclair, an Oak Bay grad who came to UVic on an academic scholarship. "It was a gradual thing and it took a lot of testing to figure out what it was. In September, I had a rib removed so the vein in my arm wasn't pinched.''
After six weeks of recovery time, he got back into the pool but two weeks later he developed mononucleosis.
"I got back to full-time training in January,'' said Sinclair, who is taking sciences. "I'm in good shape and feeling good but I did miss a lot of training. I feel ready for some fast swims but I just don't know how good they could have been had I had a normal year.''
Sinclair, who was the Canada West rookie of the year in 2010, will swim in four events -100 and 200 backstroke, 200 and 400 freestyle.
"My goal is to make the 2012 Canadian Olympic team,'' said Sinclair. "The only good thing about the setbacks happening now is that it is not an Olympic year.''
Some of the other Vikes from the team of 26 expected to have solid swims at the nationals are 2008 Olympian Ryan Cochrane (400 and 1,500 freestyle), Richard Weinberger (200, 400 and 1,500 freestyle and 200 backstroke), Aimeson King (200, 400 and 1,500 freestyle), Craig Dagnall (200, 400 and 1,500 freestyle), Hilary Caldwell (backstroke, butterfly and individual medley), Stephanie Horner (freestyle, individual medley and butterfly) and Ella Darling (backstroke). Horner, who is from Beaconsfield, Que., also competed at the 2008 Olympic Games. The other Olympians in the field are Erica Morningstar from Calgary, UBC's Savannah King and Luke Hall from the University of Toronto.
"We have a very strong team and it will be awesome to watch this event,'' said Sinclair.
At the three-day meet, the University of Calgary Dinos will be trying to defend both the men's and women's titles. Swimmers from UBC have dominated this event, winning 14 women's titles and 10 consecutive men's crowns from 1998 to 2007.
The CIS championships will serve as a selection event for the World University Games. All individual gold medallists will automatically earn an invitation to represent Canada in August at the 2011 Summer Universiade in China.
Here are the final highlights and new club records from the last day of Westerns. Congratulations to all the swimmers, coaches and families.
Day Four Sunday Finals Finishes Rosie Moulton (14) - 7th Place A-Final Girls 15&U 200IM (2:24.81) Rachael Newman (16) - 3th Place B-Final (11th overall) Girls 16&O 100FL (1:04.10) Ryan Howe (14) - 7th Place A-Final Boys 16&U 100FL (59.32) and new club record for Boys 13-14 100FL Stefanie Schmidt (15) - 2nd Place A-Final Girls 15&U 800FR (8:58.89)
UVic-PCS has swum to gold on the third day of the 2011 Speedo Western Canadian Championships with Stefanie Schmidt taking 1st place in the Girls 15&U 200BK. "Stefanie swam a very good race taking over the lead with 45m to go and accelerating to the gold" says coach Rod.
Below are the highlights from finals including new club records.
Day Three Saturday Finals Finishes Rosie Moulton (14) - 8th Place A-Final Girls 15&U 100FR (58.54) and new club record for Girls 13-14 100FR Sage Sturgeon (19) - 4th Place A-Final Boys 17&O 100FR (51.51) Cody Flegel (26) - 4th Place B-Final (12th overall) Boys 17&O 100FR (52.49) Rachael Newman (16) - 8th Place A-Final Girls 16&O 200FL (2:21.64) Stefanie Schmidt (15) - 1st Place A-Final Girls 15&U 200BK (2:12.80) and new club record for Girls 15-17 200BK Alexandra Kierstead (14) - 6st Place A-Final Girls 15&U 50BR (34.35) and new club record for Girls 13-14 50BR Rachael Newman (16) - 8th Place B-Final (16th overall) Girls 16&O 400FR (4:33.30)
Congratulations to all the swimmers!
Results from each race can be found from the Live Results link.
Here are the highlights from the first 2 days of competition at the 2011 Speedo Western Canadian Championships in Kamloops from coach Rod.
Day One Thursday Prelims - New Club Records: Lauren McMillan (14) - Girls 13-14 50FL (30.53) Ryan Howe (14) - Boys 13-14 50FL (26.86) and Boys 13-14 50BK (28.54) also new VIR Records Alexandra Kierstead (14) - Girls 13-14 50BR (34.47)
Day Two Friday Prelims - New Club Records: Ryan Howe (14) - Boys 13-14 100BK (59.62) also new VIR record Lauren McMillan (14) - 13-14 200BR (2:39.48)
Friday Finals Top 8 Finishes: Ryan Howe (14) - 8th Place Boys 16&U 50FL (27.18) Lauren McMillan (14) - 5th Place Girls 15&U 200BR (2:37.97) and new club record for Girls 13-14 200BR Alexandra Kierstead (14) - 7th Place Girls 15&U 200BR (2:41.40) Sage Sturgeon (19) - 2nd Place Boys 17&O 50FR (23.56) and new club record for Boys 17&O 50FR Cody Flegel (26) - tied for 3rd Place Boys 17&O 50FR (23.79)
Rachel Newman (16), Stefanie Schmidt (15), Hanna Carter (14), Rosie Moulton (14) - Girls 15-17 4x100FR Relay (3:57.98) - 14th Place overall and new club record stripping over 5 seconds off. Rachael lead out in a PB 58.61, Stefanie second in 59.5, Hanna third in 1:01.9 and Rosie anchoring in 57.9.
Day 3 of competition at the 2011 AA's Short Course Championships has wrapped up and PCS swimmers have more trips to the podium.
Here are the highlights from the last day of competition:
Medal Winners: Anna Letkeman - Gold in Girls 12 Year Olds 200 SC Meter Freestyle Justin Howe - Silver in Boys 13 Year Olds 200 SC Meter Freestyle Patricia Horwood - Bronze in Girls 11 & Under 100 SC Meter Breaststroke and Silver in Girls 11 & Under 400 SC Meter IM
Other Finalists: Katherine Krause - 8th Place, Girls Open 200 SC Meter Freestyle and 7th Place, Girls Open 200 SC Meter Backstroke Heather McMillan - 4th Place, Girls 11 & Under 100 SC Meter Breaststroke Kira Stacey - 6th Place, Girls Open 100 SC Meter Breaststroke
The following swimmers achieved AAA standards in swims this weekend: Patricia Horwood (Girls 11&U 50FR, Girls 11&U 100BR and Girls 11&U 400IM) Justin Howe (Boys 13yo 400FR) Anna Letkeman (Girls 12yo 400FR)
Congratulations to all the swimmers, coaches and families for a great 3 days of AA swimming. A full listing of PCS results can be found on our results page.
While our junior swimmers are competing in Chilliwack, UVic-PCS swimmer MacKenzie Downing competed for Canada at the New South Wales State Open Championships being held this week at the Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre in Sydney, Australia.
She competed against some of the world’s best and finished 2nd in the 200 Butterfly in 2:09.57 (LC), the 2nd fastest time swum in the world so far this year (Swim News rankings). She was 5th in the 100 Butterfly in a time of 1:00.25(LC).
Day 2 of competition at the 2011 AA's Short Course Championships sees some more podium finishes for PCS swimmers.
Here are the highlights from Day 2:
Medal Winners: Kristopher Neilson - Silver in Boys 10 & Under 50 SC Meter Breaststroke Anna Letkeman - Gold in Girls 12 Year Olds 400 SC Meter Freestyle Justin Howe - Gold in Boys 13 Year Olds 400 SC Meter Freestyle Anna Letkeman, Riley Tesch, Kennedy Aragon-Scriven, Rachel Sawchuck - Bronze in Girls 12 & Under 200 SC Meter Medley Relay
Other Finalists: Justin Howe - 6th Place, Boys 13 Year Olds 100 SC Meter Freestyle Heather McMillan - 5th Place, Girls 11 & Under 200 SC Meter Breaststroke Kira Stacey - 6th Place, Girls Open 200 SC Meter Breaststroke Kristopher Neilson - 8th Place, Boys 10 & Under 50 SC Meter Butterfly and 6th Place,Boys 10 & Under 100 SC Meter Backstroke Patricia Horwood - 5th Place, Girls 11 & Under 100 SC Meter Butterfly Ana MacLeod, Kira Stacey, Katherine Krause, Anna Letkeman - 7th Place, Girls Open 200 SC Meter Medley Relay
After the first day of competition at the 2011 AA's Short Course Championships, PCS has found the podium in 3 events and many of the swimmers are setting new personal bests and making new time standards!
Here are some of the highlights from Day 1:
Medal Winners: Patricia Horwood - Gold in Girls 11 & Under 200 SC Meter IM and Bronze in Girls 11 & Under 50 SC Meter Freestyle Anna Letkeman - Bronze in Girls 12 Year Olds 50 SC Meter Freestyle and Silver in Girls 12 Year Olds 800 SC Meter Freestyle Justin Howe - Silver in Boys 13 Year Olds 1500 SC Meter Freestyle Anna Letkeman, Kennedy Aragon-Scriven, Patricia Horwood, Rachel Sawchuck - Gold in Girls 12 & Under 200 SC Meter Freestyle Relay
Other Finalists: Katherine Krause - 7th place, Girls Open 200 SC Meter IM Kennedy Aragon-Scriven - 8th place, Girls 12 Year Olds 50 SC Meter Freestyle Justin Howe - 4th Place, Boys 13 Year Olds 50 SC Meter Freestyle Patricia Horwood - 4th Place, Girls 11 & Under 100 SC Meter Backstroke Anna Letkeman - 5th Place, Girls 12 Year Olds 100 SC Meter Backstroke Justin Howe - 4th Place, Boys 13 Year Olds 100 SC Meter Backstroke Ana MacLeod, Kira Stacey, Anna Letkeman, Katherine Krause - 5th Place, Girls Open 200 SC Meter Freestyle Relay
VANCOUVER - Three more swimmers from the University of Victoria Vikes achieved the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) standard as the Vikes women placed third, edging out Alberta by 13 points, and the Vikes men fourth at the 2011 Canada West swimming championships at the UBC Aquatic Centre in Vancouver.
The Vikes now prepare for the CIS swimming championships to be held in Calgary, Feb. 24-26.
Vikes head coach Peter Viszolyi said he was pleased with the results and the Vikes swimmers who made CIS times. They include:
* Ian Brown (29.78 seconds) in the men’s 50-metre breaststroke, good for fourth place overall; * Kim Bryan swam a time of 30.83 seconds in the women’s 50-metre backstroke; and * Julia Schmidt (2:22.14) in the women's 200-metre butterfly.
"We had five kids who hadn't reached the CIS qualifying time before Christmas - now we're down to two guys who still have an opportunity to qualify. That's pretty good overall," said Vizsolyi.
A number of Vikes swam to top-three finishes:
* In the men's 1500-metre, Craig Dagnall placed second to earn silver on Day 1 with a time of 15 minutes, 33.76 seconds. * On Day 2, Ella Dalling was third in the women’s 200-metre backstroke at 2:14.13; * Nick Sinclair (1:59.45) and Derek Doerksen (2:00.37) placed second and third respectively in the men’s 200-metre backstroke on Day 2; * Sinclair also placed second on the final day in the men's 400-metre freestyle at 3:52.96; * David Vizsolyi placed third in the men's 200-metre butterfly on the final day with a time of 2:05.81, four tenths of a second faster than Vikes teammate David Killy who placed fourth;
AWARDS Female Swimmer of the Year: Erica Morningstar, Calgary Female Rookie of the Year: Savannah King, UBC Male Swimmer of the Year: David Dimitrov, Calgary Male Rookie of the Year: Gleb Suvorov, Calgary
Go here to see the original story on the UVic Vikes website.
Want to be fitter? Improve technique? Have fun? Meet people? Have a coach? You can swim now but you don't get around to it? You have swum in the past but want to get back into it? You like to learn in a group setting?
If any of those sounds like you - Come join our Masters Stroke and Fitness group at Gordon Head Pool. All abilities welcome!
Classes 2x per week. Focus of the group is stroke technique - fitness - fun. No competition component.
Monday and Thursday 1:00 - 2:00pm.
To register or for more information, please contact Gordon Head Recreation Center at 250-475-7100.
After three long days of competition, the 2011 Short Course Vancouver Island Regional Championships came to an exciting end with PCS claiming top spot as the team that scored the most points. This is a first for PCS since it was established in 2002. The meet also saw 9 Club Records and 15 Meet Records broken. Many swimmers also ended the meet with new time standard and best time achievements. Congratulations to all swimmers and coaches!
Here are some of the highlights from Day 3:
Record Setters: Kristopher Neilson - New Club record in 10 & U Boys 100 Breaststroke Ryan Howe - New Club and Meet records in the 13-14 Boys 100 Freestyle Rachael Newman – New Meet record in 15+ Girls 200 Butterfly
Finalists: 200FR 10 & U Girls – PCS 1st and 3rd 10 & U Boys – PCS 1st 11-12 Girls – PCS 1st 11-12 Boys – PCS 3rd 13-14 Girls –PCS 2nd and 3rd 13-14 Boys –PCS 2nd 15+ Girls – PCS 2nd and 4th 15+ Boys – PCS 1st
200F 10 & U Girls – Lia Lancaster 4th, Victoria von Sacken Nash 6th, Fionnuala McKenna 7th 10 & U Boys – Nathan Howe 1st, Nicholas Nolt 2nd
400F 11-12 Girls – Heidi Ullrich 2nd, Anna Letkeman 8th 11-12 Boys – Finn Barker 8th 13-14 Girls – Alex Kierstead 6th, Hanna Carter 7th 13-14 Boys – Ryan Howe 2nd 15+ Girls – Rachael Newman 2nd, Sophia Borchers 5th 15+ Boys – Sage Sturgeon 2nd, Evan Letkeman 3rd, MJ Sorba 4th
50BK 10 & U Girls – Leah Biberdorf 1st, Rachel Allen 4th, Jessica Luo 5th, Victoria von Sacken Nash 7th, Jessica Leong 8th 10 & U Boys – Kristopher Neilson 1st, Nathan Howe 2nd, Nicholas Nolt 3rd, Michael Schmidt 4th
200BK 11-12 Girls – Lauren Crisp 2nd, Tabitha Zammit 4th, Kennedy Aragon-Scriven 7th 13-14 Girls – Annie MacIntosh 5th, Victoria Mock 6th 13-14 Boys – Ryan Howe 1st, Rory Hills 5th 15+ Girls – Stefanie Schmidt 1st, Kim Bryan 3rd, Sophia Borchers 4th, Ana MacLeod 8th 15+ Boys – Jon McKay 2nd
50 FLY 10 & U Girls – Katelyn Woo 3rd, Shannon McMillan 4th, Victoria von Sacken Nash 5th, Jessica Luo 6th, Isabella Leong 8th 10 & U Boys – Kristopher Neilson 1st, Nicholas Nolt 2nd, Michael Schmidt 3rd
200FLY 13-14 Girls – Lauren McMillan 2nd 15+ Girls – Rachael Newman 1st (New Meet record), Julia Schmidt 2nd 15+ Boys - William Vosper 1st, Evan Letkeman 2nd
50 F 10 & U Girls – Sophie Tarrant 3rd, Lia Lancaster 5th, Victoria von Sacken Nash 6th, Rachel Allen 7th, Shannon McMillan 8th 10 & U Boys – Nicholas Nolt 1st, Michael Schmidt 2nd, Nathan Howe 3rd
100FR 11-12 Girls – Heidi Ullrich 2nd, Anna Letkeman 6th 13-14 Boys – Ryan Howe 1st (New Club and Meet records), Nival Bissoon 3rd 15+ Girls – Shay-Lynne Daniels 3rd, Stefanie Schmidt 4th, Nicole Stauft 7th 15+ Boys – Sage Sturgeon 1st, Jon McKay 6th, Michael de Clare 8th
100BR 10 & U Girls – Sophie Tarrant 2nd, Victoria von Sacken Nash 3rd, Rachel Allen 6th, Jasmine Lee 8th 10 & U Boys – Kristopher Neilson 1st (New Club record), Michael Schmidt 2nd
Congratulations all! For complete meet results, consult the PCS meet results page.
For ages 11-16. Want to be fitter? Have fun? Meet people? Have a coach? You can swim now but you don't get around to it? You have been swimming with your school team and want to continue on?
If any of those sounds like you - come out and give it a try.
You can swim 1x - 3x per week
Come join our Stroke and Fitness group at Commonwealth Place
Focus of the group is fun - fitness - skills. (competition optional)
Day 2 at this year’s Vancouver Island Regional Championships saw more impressive swimming from PCS swimmers in all age groups. To start the day off, PCS won the mixed 8 swimmer 400 Freestyle Club Relay event! This was followed by numerous other memorable performances including new club, meet and regional records, finalists and event wins. Here are some of the day’s highlights:
Record Setters:
Kristopher Neilson - new Club record in 10&U Boys 50 Breaststroke
Nathan Howe, Michael Schmidt, Kristopher Neilson, Nicholas Nolt – new Club and VIR Meet Records in 10&U Boys 200 Medley Relay
Ryan Howe – new Club and VIR Meet records in 200 Freestyle and new Club, Meet and VIR Regional records in 100 Backstroke (records previously held by PCS swimmer Nicholas Sinclair)
Rachael Newman – new Club record in 15-17 Girls and new VIR Meet record in 15+ Girls 100 Butterfly
Finalists:
200MR 10&U Girls – PCS 1st and 2nd 10&U Boys – PCS 1st (New Club record)
200IM 10&U Girls – Sophie Tarrant 4th, Victoria von Sacken Nash 7th, Fionnuala McKenna 8th 10&U Boys – Kristopher Neilson 1st, Michael Schmidt 2nd, Nicholas Nolt 3rd, Ciaran Breen 4th
400IM 11-12 Girls – Emma Carter 5th 13-14 Girls – Rosie Moulton 2nd, Lauren McMillan 3rd, Hanna Carter 4th 13-14 Boys – Rory Hills 4th 15+ Girls – Sophia Borchers 4th 15+ Boys – Evan Letkeman 1st, Jon McKay 5th
100FR 10&U Girls – Sophie Tarrant 4th, Fionnuala McKenna 6th, Lia Lancaster 7th 10&U Boys – Nicholas Nolt 1st, Kristopher Neilson 2nd, Nathan Howe 4th, Ciaran Breen 5th
100BK 10&U Girls – Fionnuala McKenna 6th, Katelyn Woo 8th 10&U Boys – Kristopher Neilson 1st, Nathan Howe 2nd 11-12 Girls – Tabitha Zammit 7th 13-14 Girls – Annie MacIntosh 4th, Leanna Woo 7th 13-14 Boys – Ryan Howe 1st (New Club, Meet and VIR records), Nival Bissoon 5th, Rory Hills 6th 15+ Girls – Stefanie Schmidt 4th, Rachael Newman 6th, Savannah Moneo 7th 15+ Boys – Sage Sturgeon 1st, Evan Letkeman 3rd, Jon McKay 5th, Michael de Clare 6th
50BR 10&U Girls – Rachel Allen 2nd, Sophie Tarrant 3rd, Victoria von Sacken Nash 4th, Jasmine Lee 7th 10&U Boys – Kristopher Neilson 1st (New Club record), Michael Schmidt 2nd, Ciaran Breen 3rd
200BR 11-12 Girls – Tabith Zammit 2nd, Riley Tesch 8th 13-14 Girls – Lauren McMillan 1st (New Meet record), Alex Kierstead 2nd, Hanna Carter 3rd 13-14 Boys – Rory Hills 2nd, Jackson Sinclair 3rd 15+ Girls – Sophia Borchers 4th 15+ Boys – Ian Brown 2nd, Eric Christiansen 5th
100FL 10&U Girls – < strong>Katelyn Woo 3rd, Jessica Luo 4th 10&U Boys – Kristopher Neilson 1st 11-12 Girls – Heidi Ullrich 1st, Kennedy Aragon-Scriven 8th 13-14 Girls – Lauren McMillan 3rd, Rosie Moulton 4th, Emily Ding 5th 13-14 Boys – Nival Bissoon 4th 15+ Girls – Rachael Newman 1st (New Club and Meet records), Julia Schmidt 2nd 15+ Boys – Ben Partridge 1st, William Vosper 4th, Ian Brown 6th
200FR 11-12 Girls – Heidi Ullrich 2nd, Anna Letkeman 5th 13-14 Girls – Rosie Moulton 1st, Alex Kierstead 4th 13-14 Boys – Ryan Howe 1st (New Club and Meet records), Nival Bissoon 5th 15+ Girls – Siobhan Newell 1st, Rachael Newman 3rd, Stefanie Schmidt 4th, Sophia Borchers 5th 15+ Boys – Ian Mattock 1st, Sage Sturgeon 4th, MJ Sorba 5th, Evan Letkeman 7th
Congratulations all! For complete meet results, consult the PCS meet results page.
Updated Here are some highlights from Day 1 of Vancouver Island Regional Championships.
Emma Carter makes her first 11&U AAA /time in 100BR. Ryan Howe wins 50FR and 200IM, setting a new club record in 200IM.
Rosie Moulton wins 50FR, 100BR and 200IM, narrowly off of the club record in each.
13-14 Boys establish a new club record in 4x50MR. Ryan Howe (with a club and VIR record in 50 BK), Jackson Sinclair, Nival Bissoon and Stephen Olmos scrap .20 seconds off the club record from 2010 to win the category.
200MR 11-12 Girls - PCS 1st and 5th 11-12 Boys - PCS 3rd 13-14 Girls – PCS 2nd and 4th 13-14 Boys – PCS 1st with a New Club Record 15+ Girls – PCS 6th 15+ Boys – PCS 2nd
50FR 11-12 Girls - Heidi Ullrich 3rd, Anna Letkeman 4th 13-14 Girls - Rosie Moulton 1st 13-14 Boys - Ryan Howe 1st, Nival Bissoon 2nd, Stephen Olmos 8th 15+ Girls - Rachael Newman 1st (tied), Kim Bryan 3rd, Nicole Stauft 4th 15+ Boys - Sage Sturgeon 1st, Cody Flegel 2nd
100BR 11-12 Girls - Tabitha Zammit 2nd, Emma Carter 4th, Riley Tesch 5th, Heather McMillan 8th 13-14 Girls - Rosie Moulton 1st, Lauren McMillan 3rd, Alex Kierstead 4th, Hanna Carter 5th 13-14 Boys - Rory Hills 3rd, Jackson Sinclair 4th, Stephen Olmos 7th 15+ Girls - Savannah Moneo 4th, Sophis Borchers 6th, Olivia King 8th 15+ Boys - Ian Brown 1st, Eric Christiansen 4th
200IM 11-12 Girls - Heidi Ullrich 3rd, Tabitha Zammit 6th 13-14 Girls - Rosie Moulton 1st, Lauren McMillan 3rd, Alex Kierstead 7th 13-14 Boys - Ryan Howe 1st, Nival Bissoon 3rd, Rory Hills 7th 15+ Girls - Sophia Borchers 6th 15+ Boys - Evan Letkeman 3rd, Jon McKay 7th
400 FR 10& Under Girls – Victoria von Sacken Nash 5th 10 & Under Boys – Kristopher Neilson 1st, Nicholas Nolt 2nd, Nathan Howe 3rd
800FR 11-12 Girls – Anna Letkeman 4th 13-14 Girls – Alex Kierstead 2nd 15+ Girls – Rachael Newman 1st, Sophia Borchers 4th 15+ Boys – Michael de Clare 5th
1500FR 11-12 Girls – Heidi Ullrich 1st 11-12 Boys – Finn Barker 4th 13-14 Girls – Victoria Mock 3rd 13-14 Boys – Ryan Howe 2nd, Justin Howe 4th 15+ Boys – Richard Weinberger 1st, Zac Parkes 2nd, Evan Letkeman 3rd
Stephanie Dixon was recently named a finalist for the 2010 Sport BC 45th Annual Athlete of the Year Awards in the Athlete with a Disability category. Other finalists in the category are Braedon Dolfo (Langley, BC) for Athletics/Track & Field and Lauren Woolstencroft (North Vancouver, BC) for Para-Alpine Skiing. Congratulations Stephanie!
The winners will be announced on February 24, 2011 at the Sport BC Awards Dinner. Tickets are available through Sport BC.
Congratulations to PCS swimmers who were selected from all those on Vancouver Island to attend the Annual 10 & Under VIR Regional Camp in Duncan. They included: Sophie Tarrant, Victoria von Sacken Nash, Fionnuala McKenna, Lia Lancaster, Jessica Luo, Katelyn Woo, Kristopher Neilson, Nathan Howe, Michael Schmidt, Nicholas Nolt and Allison Ballantyne. In total, 24 swimmers and 5 alternates (including our own Anna Stebeck and Ciaran Breen) were selected. The Camp was held in Duncan on Saturday, January 15th, 2011 and special guest, 2 time Olympian, Christin Petelski was in attendance!
PCS swimmers Ryan Howe, Lauren McMillan and Rosie Moulton and coach Rod Barratt recently travelled to Portland Oregon as part of Swim BC's Age Group Provincial team. While there, the team competed against 4 US State teams: Pacific Northwest Swimming, Pacific Swimming (from northern California) and Southern California Swimming. All fared well competing against some of the strongest swimmers in their age groups in their first international yards-based meet: Ryan Howe – 100 Free (7th), 200 Free (4th), 100 Back (5th), 200 Back (7th), 100 Fly (6th), 400 IM (10th) Lauren McMillan – 100 Breast (8th), 200 Breast (7th), 200 Fly (12th), 200 IM (16th), 400 IM (16th) Rosie Moulton – 100 Free (12th), 200 Free (8th), 100 Breast (9th), 200 Breast (9th), 200 IM (6th), 400 IM (10th)
Congratulations all and thanks to Kristine McMillan who accompanied the team as Team Manager.
Complete results can be found on our Results page.
Pacific Coast Swimming Saturday lessons has new exciting program options for 2011 at UVic pool!
Option #1 The same morning lessons you have been used to at the same times on Saturday mornings! Let Iza know you are interested in sticking with your regular time slot. You will register through the club for these and pay $45 per month. Private & semi-private lessons are also available.
Option #2 Saturday afternoon partnership lessons with Vikes Recreation. Please register through UVic from Jan to April. Invite all of your friends to join in on the lessons!
Sessions start January 15, 2011 and end April 16, 2011. That's 14 weeks, straight through the UVic reading break (February 21-25, 2011) as well as the school kids reading break (March 21-25, 2011). The program will end the weekend before Easter (April 22–24, 2011).
Lightning Fast (LF) 1&2 from 3:00-3:30pm or 3:30-4:00pm. LF 3&4 from 3:00-3:45pm or 4:00-4:45pm. LF 5 from 4:00-5:00pm
Lauren McMillan, Ryan Howe and Rosie Moulton along with Coach Rod Barratt will travel south the Portland Oregon as part of Swim BC's Age Group Provincial team. The swimmers will be part of the 32 swimmer contingent that will contest the All Star Quad meet(Jan 08-09) between BC. Pacific North West Swimming, Pacific Swimming (northern California) and Southern California Swimming.
Team is selected off of the top swims done by BC swimmers between October and December.
Congratulations to all on their selection - the team will be behind them and all of Team BC at the meet.
Updated 22-Dec-10 Rachael Newman and Stefanie Schmidt were in Portland over the December 11-12 weekend with Team BC for the 2010 Paul Bergen Jr Invitational.
Several articles can be found on the Swim BC site for Day One and Day Two action.
Stefanie was 7th in the 200BK. She also had personal bests in 100BK, 400FR and 800FR, setting the club record in 100BK with a time of 1:04.77.
The 9th Annual PCS Xmas Cracker Invitational was one of the largest meets we have hosted to date, with 27 teams and 609 athletes plus coaches from throughout BC, Alberta and the Yukon represented. UVPCS alone had 118 swimmers entered in the meet.
Our individual event winners included: Eleanora Dalling, Derek Doerksen, Ryan Howe, Ian Mattock, Lauren McMillan, Rosie Moulton, Annika Schmuck, Nicholas Sinclair, Liz Sissons, Eric Stein, Sage Sturgeon and David Vizsolyi.
Second place finishers were: Sophia Borchers, Alexandra Kierstead, Emma Milner, Kristopher Neilson, Danielle Newton, Ben Partridge, Kaela Richardson, Heidi Ullrich, and Allison Wood.
Further top-3 places were achieved by: Ian Brown, Kim Bryan, Carlene Creyke, Katelyn Hayward, Justin Howe, Nathan Howe, David Killy, Anna Letkeman, Zac Parkes and Tyler Smith.
Rounding out the top-8 were Nival Bissoon, Hanna Carter, Eric Christiansen, Emily Ding, Rory Hills, Evan Letkeman, Victoria Mock, Savannah Moneo, Michael Schmidt, Jade Simpas, MJ Sorba, Nicole Stauft, Aidan Thirkell and William Vosper.
Numerous Xmas Cracker meet records also fell, including to the following UVPCS swimmers: Ryan Howe (13-14 50 Butterfly–also a Vancouver Island Regional Record ) and Ella Dalling (15 & Over 50 and 200 Backstroke).
Several UVPCS team records fell as well: Kristopher Neilson (10 & Under 50, 100 and 200 Breaststroke); Rosie Moulton (13-14 50 Freestyle); Lauren McMillan (13-14 200 Breaststroke); Ryan Howe (13-14 100 and 200 Freestyle; 50 Butterfly); and Zac Parkes (15-17 1500 Freestyle).
Congratulations to the following swimmers on achieving new time standards: CIS – Danielle Newton, Kaela Richardson, Annika Schmuck and Tyler Smith Western National – Evan Letkeman (15) BC AAA – Justin Howe (12) BC AA – Kennedy Aragon-Scriven (12) BC A – Han Huang (12), Tanya Christie (11) and David Hiebert (11) VIR AAA – Rachel Allen (10) and Nicholas Nolt (9) VIR AA – Jasmine Lee (9), Isabella Leong (9) and Jessica Luo (8).
And last but not least, congratulations to those swimmers who achieved 80%-100% best times: Rachel Allen, Kennedy Aragon-Scriven, Allison Ballantyne, Georgia Ballantyne, Ewan Barker, Finn Barker, Nival Bissoon, Ciaran Breen, Ian Brown, Achintya Chaudhari, Eric Christiansen, Michael De Clare, Chloe Freeman, Patricia Grace Horwood, Justin Howe, Nathan Howe, Erica Kelm, Mohand Khouider, Alexandra Kierstead, Tanner Lawless, Jasmine Lee, Isabella Leong, Anna Letkeman, Evan Letkeman, Jessica Luo, Fionnuala McKenna, Kristopher Neilson, Stephen Olmos, Emma Reinsch, Rachel Sawchuk, Jackson Sinclair, Eve Taylor, Riley Tesch, Brandon Turner, Victoria von Sacken Nash and Tabitha Zammit.
UVPCS finished the meet in 1st place overall, with a score of 3490 points. Congratulations to all of our swimmers and coaches on a great meet!
Many thanks to all our volunteers – including many PCS families & friends, and those from other teams as well, including Comox, Campbell River Killer Whales, Island Swimming, Langley Olympians, West Vancouver Otters and Whitehorse Glacier Bears. As everybody knows, our kids' swim meets happen because of dedicated volunteers and we have a great group!! Thanks too to Saanich Commonwealth Place for its wonderful staff and facility.
Happy holidays to all our families, friends, supporters and sponsors, thanks again and see you at the next Cracker!
Twas the night before Cracker, And over the net, The emails were flying, "Have you volunteered yet?"
Actually the 2010 Xmas Cracker is less than 4 days away and there are plenty of volunteer spots left to be filled. If you haven't volunteered yet and can spare some time, especially on Friday and Sunday, please send a message to meets@pacificcoastswimming.com to sign up.
Team Aquatic Supplies - TAS will be at the meet and have a full range of swimming merchandise. Thank you to TAS for contributing prizes for the swimmers;
Esquire Wholesale Ltd - The T-Shirt People - Thank you to Esquire for contributing prizes over the weekend for the swimmers.
Cracker is always a very fun meet. Lots of fast swimming, a visit from Santa, and new this year: live streaming of races to the web! We look forward to seeing you there!
UVPCS swimmer Richard Weinberger and coach Ron Jacks were among those who received awards at this year’s Swimming Canada Awards Gala held in Toronto this week. Richard won the Open Water swimmer of the year award based on his bronze medal performance at the 2010 Pan Pacific Championships this summer in the 10k event. Ron was presented with the Open Water Coach of the year award. Congratulations Richard and Ron!
MacKenzie Downing travelled to Toronto this past weekend to compete in the Canada Cup Grand Prix event at the Etobicoke Olympium. While there, she won the Silver medal in both the 100 and 200 Butterfly events. Her 200 Butterfly time ranked her among the top-25 in the World this past year and also managed to break her own Club record in that event. She also broke club records in both the 200 and 400 Freestyle events, events which she competed only in heats. Congratulations MacKenzie!
Complete results can be found on our Results page.
Congratulations to all of our Award Winners and recognized athletes from the 8th Annual PCS Awards Night. Here are the names of those recognized for all our their efforts and accomplishments last year.
T.O.P. Swimmers 7&U Paris Ford, Marisa Smith, Ortensa Samosa, Jovan Sihota, Madeline Astridge, Kira Bogle, Alexander Gilford, Nicholas Gilford, Rae Webber, Kali Lancaster, Jena Stewart, Georgia Ballantyne, Chalonne Forsman, Yassin Guitoni, Ricky Chiu, Grace MacDonald, Johnny Chen, Michael Schmidt, Remie van Raams Donk, and Mathew Geng
8yrs Maelle Reed, Armaan Gill, Cindy Li, Catherine Gong, Isabella Leong, Ava Tarrant, Jessica Luo, Ewan barker, Ki-sang Li, Kirran Breen, Shannon McMillan, Anna Stebeck, Mary McDonald, Casey Garrison, Trillian Zammit, and Jessica Maitland
9yrs Sophie Tarrant, Lia Biberdorf, Reven Liu, Fionnuala McKenna, Kris Neilsen, Nick Nolt, Anna Stebeck, Braeden Copeman, Tanner Lawless, Lia Lancaster, Riya Gill, Rachael Allen, Nathan Howe, Victoria von Sacken Nash, Katelyn Woo,
10yrs Kris Neilsen, Yasmine Dharampaul, Patricai Horwood, Emme Reinsch, Abby Fraser, Shaun Gill, Timothy Jaxliy, Katelyn Woo, Megan Law, Edward Liang, Emma Carter, Lauren Crisp, Heather McMillan, Finn Barker, Spencer Lee, Zhane Forsman, Paricia Ye, Noah Baxter,
AA Qualifiers Ana McLeod, Trillian Zammit, Katelyn Woo, Sophie Tarrant, Anna Stebeck, Emma Reinsch, Michael Schmidt, Heather McMillan, Shannon McMillan, Fionnuala McKenna, Edward Liang, Spencer Lee, Lia Lancaster, Shaun Gill, Abby Fraser, Kiaran Breen, Lia Biberdorf, Rachael Allen, Brenden Ward, Ariyan Suleman, Rory Hills, Shanae Atkinson, Savannah Barratt, Rachael Sawchuk, Grace Thomas, Justin Howe, Patricia Horwood, Riley Tesch, Victoria von Sacken Nash, Allison Ballantyne, Katherine Krause, Rebecca Thomson, Nathan Howe, MacKensie Masterton,
AAA Qualifiers Annie Mcintosh, Vicky Mock, Melanie Yu, Julia Schmidt, Chloe Chapmann, Jackson Sincalir, Lauren Crisp, Kristopher Neilsen, Finn Barker, Emma Carter, Anna Letkeman, Tabitha Zammit, Heidi Ullrich, Jade Simpas, Cole Barratt, Mike De Clare,
AGN Qualifiers Hanna Carter, Emily Ding, Ryan Howe, Alex Kiestead, Eric Christiansen, Aidan Thirkell, Sophia Borchers, Savannah Moneo, Lauren McMillan, Alice Wang, Rosie Moulton, Katelyn Hayward, Caileigh Filmer, Remy Mock,
Sen National Qualifiers Salin Bol, Stefanie Schmidt, Ian Mattock, Rachael Newman, Zac Parkes, Allison Wood, Nick Sinclair, Richard Weinberger, MacKenzie Downing,
Club/Prov/National Record Breakers New Club Records Finn Barker, Emma Carter, Fionnuala McKenna, Katelyn Woo, Kris Neilsen, Victoria Von Saken Nash, Nathan Howe, Alex Keirstead, Hanna Carter, Savanah Moneo, Katelyn Hayward, Nick Nolt, Lauren McMillan, Sophia Borchers, Ella Dalling, Lauren Crisp, Eric Christiansen, Alison Wood, Heather McMillan, Evan Letkeman, Mike De Clare, Jade Simpas, Rachael Newman, Zac Parkes, Ryan Howe, Alice Wang, Derek Doerksen, Jade Surgeon, Nick Sinclair, Cole Barratt, Aidan Thirkell, Emily Ding,
BC/Can Stefanie Schmidt (4x100 and 4x200 F.R.), Salin Bol (4x100 and 4x200 F.R.), Rosie Moulton (4x100 and 4x200 F.R.) Caileigh Filmer (4x100 and 4x200 F.R.) and MacKenzie Downing
Team BC/Can Team BC Lauren McMillan, Ryan Howe, Rosie Moulton, Rachael Newman, Salin Bol, Stefanie Schmidt, Zac Parkes, Caileigh Filmer
Team Canada MacKenzie Downing, Nicholas Sinclair, Zac Parkes, Richard Wienberger
Super Kicker 10&U Sophia Tarrant and Nathan Howe
11-12 Vicky Mock/ Heidi Ullrich/Tabitha Zammit and Spencer Lee
13-14 Leanna Woo and Ryan Howe
FINA Add Up Cup 11-12 Cailiegh Filmer and Justin Howe
13-14 Stefanie Schmidt and Ryan Howe
Top Swimmers (Age and Class) 10&U Lauren Crisp and Kris Neilson
Results from the Langley Olympians Swim Meet are now posted on the results page. They feature some great swims, meet records and new time standard achievements.
Special congratulations to Emma Carter who tied the PCS 10 & Under Girls 50 Breaststroke record and to Jon McKay who achieved his Age Group National qualifying standard in the 200IM. Congratulations as well to: event winners Emma Carter, Lauren Crisp, Jon McKay and Jade Simpas; 2nd and 3rd place finishers Rory Hills, Rebecca Thomson and Heidi Ullrich; and finalists Katherine Krause, Ana MacLeod, Fionnuala McKenna, Shannon McMillan, Jackson Sinclair, Victoria von Sacken Nash and Tabitha Zammit.
Swimmers from: Keating, Deep Cove, Arbutus, Frank Hobbs, Cedar Hill, Royal Oak and Campus View schools took part in the first PCS F.A.S.T. school swim meet of the 2010-11 season.
Results are now posted on the PCS Results page or download them directly here.
Thanks to all of the parents who helped out timing.
PCS swimmers were competing in four competitions over the weekend!
20 swimmers went to Langley for the LOSC Invitational 14 swimmers were racing in the finals of the BC High School Championships in Nanaimo 40 were challenging themselves at the Race Day at SCP A bunch were part of the 120 swimmers who swam for their school teams in the first PCS F.A.S.T. Schools swim meet of the 2010-11 School Swim season.
Results, pictures and stories will be posted to the website shortly.
UVPCS had a great time at the Pacific Cup over the weekend.
Congratulations to event winners Carlene Creyke, Ian Mattock, Siobhan Newell, Stefanie Schmidt, Nick Sinclair, Liz Sissons, Sage Sturgeon, and Richard Weinberger.
Our top-3 finishers included Hanna Carter, Ella Dalling, Ryan Howe, David Killy, Lauren McMillan, Savannah Moneo, Rosie Moulton, Zac Parkes, Chelsea Reader, Annika Schmuck, Eric Stein, David Vizsolyi and Allison Wood.
And, further top-8 finalists were Nival Bissoon, Sophia Borchers, Ian Brown, Eric Christiansen, Emily Ding, Derek Doerksen, Rory Hills, Alex Kierstead, Evan Letkeman, Jon McKay, Lauren McMillan, Emma Milner, Rachael Newman, Danielle Newton, Victoria Mock, Ben Partridge, Julia Schmidt, Jackson Sinclair, Tyler Smith, MJ Sorba, Heidi Ullrich and Tabitha Zammit.
In the process, Stefanie Schmidt set new short course club records in the 15-17 Girls 100 and 200 Backstroke as well as the Open Age Group 200 Backstroke; Ryan Howe set a new short course club record in the 13-14 Boys 100 Butterfly; and the 15-17 Girls - Stefanie Schmidt, Savannah Moneo, Rachael Newman and Salin Bol – also set a record in the 200 Medley Relay. And, six more Vikes swimmers - Carlene Creyke, Craig Dagnall, David Killy, Ian Mattock, Emma Milner and Liz Sissons - posted seasonal qualifying times for the CIS Championships. That brings the total to 14!
The 12 and under Jamboree also saw some great performances. Michael Schmidt placed 1st in all 5 of the events he entered and, although only 8 years of age, broke the UVPCS 10 & U 50 Breaststroke record. Other first place finishers were Grace MacDonald, Ava Tarrant and Sophie Tarrant. Top-3 finishers included Georgia Ballantyne, Ewan Barker, Chloe Freeman and Christian Turpin. Delaney Chan and Eve Taylor also posted great times in their first ever competitive meet.
Well done, swimmers and coaches!
As always, complete details will be posted on our Results page.
UVic swimmers took to the pool for the second time in just over a week in their continuing preparations for the Canadian Interuniversity Championships (CIS) to be held in Calgary in late-February.
The team placed 3rd overall behind the Host SFU and Calgary Dinos. Several athletes continued the team marathon tradition at this meet of competing in every individual event offered at the meet, a total of 17 events in two days, plus finals if qualified for. These athletes were: Ian Brown, Nick Sinclair, Eric Stein, and Richard Weinberger.
Gold medalists at this weekend’s meet included: Siobhan Newell (1st in 200 Free and 200 IM, 3rd in 400 IM), Ian Mattock (1st in 200IM and 400IM), Richard Weinberger (1st in the 1500 Free, 2nd in the 400 Free and 400 IM, and 3rd in the 800 Free), and Craig Dagnall (1st in 800 Free).
Silver medalists included: Nicholas Sinclair (2nd in the 100 Back and 1500 Freestyle, 3rd in the 50 Back and 400 IM), Ella Dalling (2nd in the 200 Back, 3rd in 50 Back and 100 Back), Allison Wood (2nd in 100 Back), and Aimeson King (2nd in 800 Free).
Bronze medalists were: Danielle Newton (3rd in 50 Fly, 200 IM), Derek Doerksen (3rd in 200 Back), Liz Sissons (3rd in 100 Breast), and David Vizsolyi (3rd in 200 Fly and 1500 Free).
Other finalists included Kim Bryan, Lindsay Clarke, Carlene Creyke, Shay-Anne Daniels, David Killy, Emma Milner, Ben Partridge, Julia Schmidt and Sage Sturgeon.
The SFU meet saw four more UVic swimmers achieve CIS qualifying times: Siobhan Newell, who qualified in three events (200 Free, 200 IM, 400 IM), Nicholas Sinclair who qualified in the 1500 Freestyle, Allison Wood who qualified in the 100 Backstroke, and Richard Weinberger who qualified in the 1500 Freestyle. These swimmers will join four other UVic swimmers who made the standard at last week’s Senior Circuit meet – Ella Dalling, Derek Doerksen, Aimeson King and Eric Stein.
Congratulations swimmers and coaches!
Results from both of this meet can be found on our Results page.
This past weekend UVic-PCS hosted its first meet of the season - the 2010 Team Aquatic Supplies - Swim BC Senior Circuit Meet #1.
Four of our swimmers won their events: Ella Dalling (100 Backstroke), Derek Doerksen (200 Backstroke), Zac Parkes (1500 Freestyle), and Nick Sinclair (200 Butterfly). Other top-3 finishers included Ian Mattock (200 IM); Tyler Smith (200 Freestyle), Eric Stein (400 IM), David Vizsolyi (200 Butterfly) and Allison Wood (100 Backstroke).
We had a further 10 swimmers finish in the top 8: Sophia Borchers, Katherine Cook, Carlene Creyke, Emma Milner, Savannah Moneo, Rosie Moulton, Siobhan Newell, Rachael Newman, MJ Sorba, and Sage Sturgeon.
And last but not least, the following UVic swimmers met the CIS standards required for them to qualify to compete at the Canadian Interuniversity Swimming Championships (CIS) held each spring: Ella Dalling, Derek Doerksen, Aimeson King, and Eric Stein.
Congratulations swimmers and coaches! As always, full details are available on our Results page.
UVPCS swimmers and coaches traveled to Nanaimo this weekend to compete in the Annual Nanaimo Fall Invitational ... and compete they did!
Three Club records fell by the wayside:
Kristopher Neilson broke the Boys 10 & Under 100 Breaststroke record.
Lauren Crisp, Emma Carter, Fionnuala McKenna and Lia Lancaster broke the 10 & Under Girls 200 Freestyle record.
Lauren Crisp, Emma Carter, Katelyn Woo and Lia Lancaster broke the 10 & Under Girls 200 Medley Relay record.
Congratulations all!
Event winners at the meet were: Emma Carter, Lauren Crisp, Emily Ding, Annie MacIntosh, Kristopher Neilson and Tabitha Zammit.
Second and third place finishers were: Finn Barker, Nival Bissoon, Rory Hills, Justin Howe, Nathan Howe, Ana MacLeod, Jon McKay, Victoria Mock, Nicholas Nolt, Rachel Sawchuk, Michael Schmidt, Jade Simpas, Heidi Ullrich and Victoria von Sacken Nash.
Top-8 finishers included: Kennedy Aragon-Scriven, Ewan Barker, Ayaka Behro, Ciaran Breen, Katherine Krause, Lia Lancaster, Tanner Lawless, Anna Letkeman, Heather McMillan, Stephen Olmos, Jackson Sinclair, Ariyan Suleman, Riley Tesch, Rebecca Thomson, Katelyn Woo and Leanna Woo.
Swimmers with 80% or more best times in their events were: Kennedy Aragon-Scriven, Emma Carter, Tanya Christie, Rory Hills, Justin Howe, Nathan Howe, Erica Kelm, Katherine Krause, Kali Lancaster, Tanner Lawless, Anna Letkeman, Annie MacIntosh, Fionnuala McKenna, Shannon McMillan, Kristopher Neilson, Rachel Sawchuk, Jackson Sinclair, Anna Stebeck, Riley Tesch, and Tabitha Zammit.
And not least, congratulations to Rory Hills and Jon McKay who earned AAA qualifying times as winter swimmers as well as to Kennedy Aragon-Scriven, Anna Letkeman, Heather McMillan, Rachel Sawchuk and Michael Schmidt who achieved new AA standards.
Well done swimmers and coaches - a great start to what is sure to be a great season!!
As always, complete results will be available from our Results page.
Alright, its a little late...we know...but still 2009-2010 was a great year for UVPCS swimmers. So here is the 2009-2010 UVPCS Year in Review. Have a read and celebrate the successes of our swimmers, families and club. Congratulations to all!
Seven swimmers are among the 72 UVic Vikes student-athletes being recognized for their academic achievement in the 2009-10 season. The following Science and Social Science student swimmers made the Honour Roll based on their GPAs: Ryan Clouston, Remy Mock, Jessica Pietrusiak, Kaela Richardson, Nick Sinclair, Elizabeth Sissons and David Vizsolyi. Congratulations all!
The complete story can be found at the Vikes website.
MacKenzie’s final day of competition had her swimming the 200 Butterfly. She finished the heats in 4th place overall and concluded the meet with a 6th place finish, her highest placing at the Games. Congratulations MacKenzie!
After 4 days of competition, MacKenzie has completed two of her three events. She finished 8th in the 50 Butterfly finals. On Wednesday, she placed 7th overall in the heats for the 100 Butterfly event and just missed making finals, finishing 9th in the semi-finals. MacKenzie will be concluding her competition with the 200 Butterfly event to be swum on Saturday.
In the first day of competition at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, MacKenzie Downing achieved two best times and set a new Provincial Record in the 50m Butterfly event. Her time of 27.12, achieved in the semi-final event, bettered her own previous LC Provincial record time of 27.33 set in August, 2007. MacKenzie will be competing in the 50m Butterfly Final this evening. It also happens to be her 24th Birthday. Happy Birthday MacKenzie!!!!
UVPCS swimmer MacKenzie Downing is set to compete as part of the 25-member Canadian team at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India. Prior to the Games, the Canadian team held a staging camp in Singapore. While there, MacKenzie who is an avid Formula 1 racing fan, took the time to attend a Formula 1 Grand Prix event that was being held in Singapore at the same time. Here is an interview with MacKenzie about her Formula 1 experience:
The Opening Ceremonies for the Commonwealth Games take place tomorrow with swimming events scheduled to begin on Monday, October 4th and to continue through Saturday, October 9th. Heats for the butterfly events - MacKenzie’s specialty - take place on Monday, October 4th (50 Butterfly), Wednesday, October 6th (100 Butterfly), and Saturday, October 9th (200 Butterfly). GO MACKENZIE GO!
UVPCS swimmer Stephanie Dixon always has an extremely busy schedule. This past month was no different. On September 12th, Stephanie was highlighted in the Victoria Times Colonist new feature series entitled ‘My Victoria’. Her story appears below. On September 25th, at the Swim BC Annual Meeting held in Richmond, Stephanie won Female Para-Swimmer of the Year. Stephanie closed the month as the keynote speaker at this year’s Annual Vikes Championship Breakfast fundraiser. She is an alumnus of the UVic swim team and 2005 UVic Outstanding Female Athlete of the Year. The breakfast, which took place on September 28th, 2010 at the UVic McKinnon Gym, raises over $300,000 each year to help Vikes student athletes realize success in the classroom and field of competition. Over $1 million has been raised in the three years that the event has taken place. For further information, click on the following links: http://vikes.uvic.ca/news/2010/9/28/GEN_0928101510.aspx http://www.bclocalnews.com/vancouver_island_south/saanichnews/sports/104113494.html http://fwix.com/vancouver/share/5feb31f15b/vikes_breakfast_sets_athletes_on_right_step
By Stephanie Dixon, Times Colonist, September 16, 2010
My Victoria is a series of reflections by prominent Victorians from different walks of life about what the city means to them.
Stephanie Dixon is one of Canada's most successful competitive swimmers. Her numerous medals include a record five gold medals at the Sydney Paralympics.
Competitive swimming has taken me around the world. I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to explore different countries, experience different cultures and see the incredible beauty of the world. However, the best part of travelling the world for me is coming home and being reminded that it doesn't get any better than this. Our beautiful city really is my favourite place in the world.
After living here for seven years, there are many reasons why I love Victoria, the beauty and weather among the top. But what I love most about this vibrant city is how active everyone is!
With people cycling to work, families walking their dogs along Dallas Road and climbers ripping it up at Fleming Beach, at any given moment the city is swarming with people out and about being active.
I believe the city plays a big role in promoting participation. Whether for fun, fitness or glory, the city has a program that will suit anyone and all interests, from beginner to elite levels of ability. Victoria reflects a culture of healthy, active living.
For years, Victoria has been attracting the country's top athletes as it continues to expand its world-class facilities and programs. My decision to move to Victoria in 2003 happened after meeting a coach from Victoria at an international competition the previous summer. I was inspired by his approach to sport, believing that success in sport could take on many external forms.
He told me that an elite athlete is not necessarily the fastest or the strongest, but an individual who is committed to putting their best foot forward day in and day out in order to reach the goals they have set out for themselves.
Even though my times in the pool may not be as fast as other elite-level swimmers with two legs, he recognized that I still have the ability to be competitive in my work ethic, dedication and passion to improve. He would take on any swimmer who was dedicated to a goal of reaching their greatest potential.
I wanted to work within a community that would support me in becoming the greatest swimmer that I possibly could be, regardless of whether I had one leg or two. I had a feeling that this coach was the right person for me to work with, and hoped that the city and university that he was associated with also shared his vision on athletics and success (and I would soon find out that I couldn't have been more right).
The support I received and continue to receive from the university and community of Victoria has been overwhelming. One of the proudest moments of my life was being named the University of Victoria Athlete of the Year following a gold medal performance at the 2004 Paralympic Games.
Since my move to Victoria, I have been infused with the energy of the city and have also participated in many recreational activities apart from my training as a swimmer. I have tried kayaking, hiking, surfing, rock climbing and sailing.
One of my favourite memories is when I was out sailing and met another woman who also only had one leg. As soon as she saw me, she asked what size my foot was. I told her it was an eight and she was overjoyed! Since she was the same size and had the opposite leg, she had finally found someone to swap shoes with!
The beauty of the city may be what initially attracts people to Victoria, but after living here, I believe it is the active lifestyle adopted by so many residents that truly sets Victoria apart. As someone who has big dreams to go after, I couldn't have chosen a more inspiring environment.
Pacific Coast Swimming swimmers and coaches garnered several Provincial awards for the 2009-2010 swim season during the Swim BC Annual Meeting held in Richmond on September 25, 2010. Stephanie Dixon won Female Para-Swimmer of the Year and Richard Weinberger took Open Water Swimmer of the Year. The new Swim BC Board of Directors was also announced and former PCSPA President Dean Crawford was once again named President.
Just a reminder to swimmers and parents that practises begin Monday, September 20th, 2010. Please check the practise schedule for times and locations.
Also, please hand in your registration forms as soon as possible. Registration booths will be set up this week and volunteers will be on hand to collect your forms and answer any questions. The schedule for registration booths will be: Saanich Commonwealth Place - Monday and Tuesday - 5:00-7:00pm UVic McKinnon Pool - Wednesday - 5:30-7:30pm
Swim BC recently announced its Fall 2010 Prospects and Youth/Junior teams. Seven UVPCS swimmers made the list:
Youth/Junior Team Members: Salin Bol, Stefanie Schmidt and Zac Parkes.
Prospects Team Members: Lauren McMillan, Caileigh Filmer, Rosie Moulton and Ryan Howe.
Athletes selected to these teams will participate in one of two training camps this fall: a Youth and Junior team camp on October 16 and 17 in Victoria; and a Prospects team camp on October 23 and 24 in Richmond.
Welcome and Welcome Back to Pacific Coast Swimming and the 2010-2011 swim season!
PCS will be hosting our annual Registration BBQ today, (Friday September 10th, 2010), at Elk Lake Eagle Beach (by the rowing club) from 5pm-8pm. Click here for a map.
If you didn't get your personalized package in the mail, full registration information can be found on the PCS Registration page. Volunteers and coaches will be on hand at the BBQ to help you through the registration process and any your questions.
So bring along the family and enjoy the BBQ, refreshments, purchase Pacific Coast Swimming team gear and say hi to friends and coaches.
Pacific Coast Swimming will be hosting our annual registration BBQ in preparation for the upcoming season on Friday September 10th, 2010 at Elk Lake Eagle Beach (by the rowing club) from 5pm-8pm. Click here for a map.
Personalized registration forms are being sent out to swim families right now. Please bring your forms, and post dated cheques along with the family and enjoy the BBQ, refreshments, purchase Pacific Coast Swimming team gear and say hi to friends and coaches.
If you didn't get your package in the mail, full registration information, including a registration package, can be found on the PCS Registration page.
