Provincial Short Course Championships

Provincial Spring Championships take place over four days, February 26th – March 1st, in the 25m (short course) pool configuration. These are age-group championships featuring swimmers up to 18 years of age. Preliminary heats swim in two age categories (12 & under and 14-18 years) while finals are set in 11 & under, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16-18 year old categories. Distance events (women’s 800 and men’s 1500 Freestyle) and relays are timed finals. Relays swim in age categories 12 & under, 14 & under and 18 & under. There are A-finals only at this meet, for the top-8 swimmers in each age group from preliminary heats.

UVic-PCS is fielding a team some 35-swimmers strong, with coaches Ron Jacks, Rod Barratt and John Stamhuis. Two days into these Championships our team is having a great time, with achievements including medals, top-8 finishes and some truly impressive drops in personal best times!!

Thursday’s events were the distance Freestyle 800 & 1500 and the 400 Medley Relays.

Highlights included our first medals of the meet: Caileigh Filmer’s Gold and Stefanie Schmidt’s Bronze medals in the 800 Freestyle for 12 and 13 year olds respectively. The women’s 14 & under 400 Medley relay team (Salin Bol, Sophia Borchers, Rachael Newman & Stefanie Schmidt) took the Silver medal, with the men’s 18 & under team (Nicholas Sinclair, Kyle Scarff, Ian Mattock & William Yolland) taking Bronze.

The distance events also saw top-8 finishes from Abby Irving (11 & under), Rachael Newman (14), Evan Letkeman (14), Zac Parkes (15) and Richard Weinberger (16-18); also top-8 in the women’s 12 & under 400 Medley Relay were Emily Ding, Lauren McMillan, Victoria Mock & Caileigh Filmer.

Friday finals featured the 200 Individual Medley, 50 Freestyle, 100 Backstroke and 200 Freestyle individual events, and the 200 Medley Relay.

Nicholas Sinclair (16-18) was the night’s leader, with Silver in 100 Backstroke and Bronze in 200 IM, while Salin Bol (13) took Bronze in 100 Backstroke. Also in the medals for the men’s 12 & under and 18 & under 200 Medley relay teams, respectively, Bronze - Ryan Howe, Ryan Kelm, Stephen Olmos & Akila Sato-Gaudreau, and Silver - Nicholas Sinclair, Kyle Scarff, Ian Mattock & William Yolland.

Top-8 finishes were also seen in 200 IM from Sophia Borchers (13), Salin Bol, Aidan Thirkell (14) and Ian Mattock (16-18); in 50 Freestyle with Ryan Howe (12), Emily Ding (12), Salin Bol, Stefanie Schmidt (13) and Rachael Newman (14); in 100 Backstroke Ryan Howe, Zac Parkes (15) and Stefanie Schmidt; and in 200 Freestyle Caileigh Filmer (12), Stefanie Schmidt, Salin Bol, Aidan Thirkell, Rachael Newman and Nicholas Sinclair. Additional top-8 in relays were the women’s 14 & under team of Salin Bol, Sophia Borchers, Rachael Newman & Stefanie Schmidt, and the men’s 18 & under team of Richard Weinberger, Kody Mitchell, Daniel Borowiecki and Mark Gabel.

Saturday evening events brought finals in the 400 IM, 200 Backstroke, 100 Breaststroke, 200 Butterfly and 200 Freestyle Relay.

Gold, Silver and Bronze marked the evening... Nicholas Sinclair (16-18) won Gold in both 200 Butterfly and 200 Backstroke, while Stefanie Schmidt (13) delivered Gold in 200 Backstroke. Salin Bol (13) was Silver in 200 Backstroke. In the 100 Breaststroke events, Aidan Thirkell (14) was Silver and Lauren McMillan (12) Bronze. And, Rachael Newman (14) and Victoria Mock (11 & under) were Silver and Bronze, respectively, in 200 Butterfly.

Also placing in the top-8 tonight were Ryan Howe (12; 400 IM, 200 Backstroke), Evan Letkeman (14; 400 IM, 200 Butterfly), Richard Weinberger (16-18; 400IM, 200 Backstroke), Emily Ding (12; 200 Backstroke), Sophia Borchers (13; 200 Backstroke, 100 Breaststroke), Zac Parkes (15; 200 Backstroke), Hanna Carter (12; 100 Breaststroke), Kyle Scarff (16-18; 100 Breaststroke), Ian Mattock (16-18; 100 Breaststroke) and Julia Schmidt (16-18; 200 Butterfly).

Relays yielded top-8 placings for both 12 & under teams: Ryan Howe, Stephen Olmos, Ryan Kelm & Austin Nolt and Emily Ding, Abby Irving, Caileigh Filmer & Lauren McMillan. Also in relay top-8 were the women’s 14 & under team – Salin Bol, Sophia Borchers, Stefanie Schmidt & Rachael Newman, and the men’s 16-18 team of Mark Gabel, Nichola Sinclair, Ian Mattock & William Yolland.

Sunday finals and the end of four days of Provincial competition.... events included 400 Freestyle, 100 Butterfly, 200 Breaststroke and 100 Freestyle.

Caileigh Filmer (12) led the final evening of AAAs in the same fashion as she opened the first night of competition – with a Gold medal, tonight in the 400 Freestyle. Stefanie Schmidt (13) followed with Silver in the same event, while Aidan Thirkell (14) took Silver in 100 Butterfly. Salin Bol (13) closed out the meet with Bronze in the 100 Freestyle.

Finals also featured Zac Parkes (15; 400 Freestyle), Richard Weinberger (16-18; 400 Freestyle), Nicholas Sinclair (16-18; 400 Freestyle, 100 Butterfly, 100 Freestyle), Ryan Howe (12; 100 Butterfly), Victoria Mock (11 & under; 100 Butterfly), Emily Ding (12; 100 Butterfly, 100 Freestyle), Rachael Newman (14; 100 Butterfly, 100 Freestyle), Ian Mattock (16-18; 200 Breaststroke), Lauren McMillan (12; 200 Breaststroke) and Sophia Borchers (13; 200 Breaststroke).

Congratulations to all our swimmers and their coaches on their achievements at these Championships!!

As always, full details are available on our results page.

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News flash - Team records fall at Spring Provincials!!

Congratulations to the following swimmer and their coaches on setting new UVPCS records set at Provincial Championships this past weekend:

Ryan Howe (11-12) – 50 & 100 Backstroke; 400 IM
Aidan Thirkell (13-14) – 100 Breaststroke
Nicholas Sinclair (15-17) – 100 & 200 Backstroke; 100 & 200 Butterfly

Emily Ding, Lauren McMillan, Victoria Mock & Caileigh Filmer (11-12) – 200 & 400 Medley Relays
Salin Bol, Sophia Borchers, Rachael Newman & Stefanie Schmidt (13-14) – 200 & 400 Medley Relays
Ryan Howe, Ryan Kelm, Akila Sato-Gaudreau & Stephen Olmos (11-12) – 200 & 400 Medley Relays

Well done!!