You are here

Fast Early Season Swimming from UVPCS at Bennett Cup

A small but mighty group of PCS swimmers raced the Bennett Cup last weekend in preparation for both the Canada West University Championships next week and the PCS Xmas Cracker December 7-9th. The start of season emphasis on kick fitness and skills showed promising early results.

Congratulations to the 15-17 Boys for chopping another 1.2 seconds off the club record in the medley relay, all with best splits for Jacob Rambo, Henrique Ballarin, Keir Ogilvie, and Anthony Gutierrez.  The boys are closing in on the Provincial record and the PCS senior club record. Also taking a chunk off club records was Bill Dongfang, who lopped off 4 seconds in the 13-14 boys 200 Free and 200 Fly. He came close to two 20+ year old provincial records and narrowly missed the 100 Back club record. The 15-17 girls just missed the club record in the medley relay by 0.9sec. Teagan Hunt showed great progress in the 1500 by breaking the 18 minute barrier for the first time.

­The Vikes collected a number of wins over the weekend, including a big best time for Tabitha Craig, breaking the 27 barrier in 50 Free for the first time. Vicky Mock secured her spot at the USport Championships in February with a gold medal performance in the 200 Fly. Padric Mckervill swept the butterfly events with a best time in the 200m. The Vikes used this meet as an opportunity to practice racing their ‘off’ events, so almost everyone saw huge improvements, especially from sprint specialists Bailey Esperson  and Daniel Greer in the 1500 Free, taking off several minutes.

Several B National Development swimmers picked up new Age-Group or Provincial qualifying standards over the weekend. Luke Poulin, Lucy Hallett, Nolan Crisp and Kate Marcovitz all have new events to swim at Provincials. Bridget Rupert was in winning form, getting her hand on the wall first seven out of eight events over the weekend. Her sister Annika Rupert raced an exciting swim-off and took nearly 2 seconds off her best time for the win. The group showed their fitness and hard work is paying off as seen by big time drops such as Brendan Chow’s 13 seconds off in 400 IM, Sidney Boone’s 18 seconds off in 800 free, and Atanas Tchaouchev’s big drop in the 400 IM.

On the B Provincial side, Emma Obee had a standout meet with 100% best times, including a big 2.6sec drop in her 100 back. Kieran Hawes showed big improvement dropping 11.5 seconds in his 200 Free. Summer swimming transplant Justin Mazzulli showed he’s ready to race the big events with a solid 200 Free in his first ‘winter club’ meet.

Up next we have the PCS Awards night Wendesday November 20th at the UVic Student Union Building. Look for more fast swimming from the VIkes next weekend at the Can West Championships in Lethbridge - Go Vikes!

Season: