VIR`s Day 2

UVic Pacific Coast Swimming pulled ahead on Day 2 at the Vancouver Island Regional Championships, finishing the day in first with 1965 points, ahead of Cross Town Island swimming in second place with 1005 points.

Old or young, the Bolts shined in prelims.  2nd year Vike Kara Wilson made her CIS qualifying time in the 200 breastroke with a 2:36.81. 13-year-old Teagan Hunt pushed to achieve her 3rd AAA qualifying time in the 100 Fly with a time of 1:12.33.  PCS returned for the finals session with 75 entries, starting off with the 4x50 medley relay. Our 10 & Under Girls came in 2nd to Nanaimo, and out 10 & Under Boys came in 1st after a disqualification to the Island Swimming boys. The 11/12 Girls also came in 2nd to Island Swimming.  The good relay vibes only increased as Pacific Coast Swimming then went on a four-relay win streak…. Our 11/12 Boys came in 1st, 13/14 girls 1st , 13/14 boys 1st by 10 seconds, and our 15 & Over girls won  by 5 seconds.

Starting off the night on a high note really set a tone for the evening as the individual events began. The first event of the night was the 200 IM. Grace MacDonald and Laura Rincon came 1-2 in their 13/14 age group with 2:31.23 and 2:32.99. 15 & Over Kelsey Andrusak won in 2:23.40 with Allison Hampton from UVic 2nd in 2:27.85.

Our 13/14 boys swept the top 3 in the event. Michael Schmidt was first in 2:16.30, coming incredibly close the club record. Jacob Rambo was 2nd in 2:19.33, and Thomas Chapman was third with a 2:20.07. A PCS podium is an awesome podium!

Although winning the event in a time of 2:05.27, 3rd year Vike Sebastian Michaud just missed his CIS standard by a slim .06, with fellow varsity teammate Thomas Van Maren coming in second with a 2:09.01.

The next event of the night was 100 Backstroke where 10-year-old Nolan Crisp was first with a 1:14.90, despite going slightly slower than his morning swim. Teammate Mattius Melvie followed in 2nd place with a 1:30.39 in the event.  Nathan Chow was 3rd in the 100 Back 11/12, in a time of 1:14.89. The older they got, the more intense the swims became, as Jacob Rambo narrowly out-touched teammate Keir Ogilvie for 1st and 2nd in times of 1:02.28, and 1:02.30.

On the girl’s side, Trinity Aragon-Scriven (12) held her own and came in third, narrowly missing her AAA time in a time of 1:13.43. Lily Chen followed Aragon-Scriven,  with a win in the 13/14 girls 100bk in a time of 1:06.88.

Women`s 200 Breastroke was the next event on the schedule, where Aragon-Scriven was 1st  in 2:59.95. 13/14 Girls swept their event in best times: Laura Rincon 1st in 2:47.84, Kali Lancaster 2nd in 2:55.08, followed by Sydney Meldrum in 2:56.26. Bijou Speirs came in 5th and achieved her 2nd AAA time.

Vike Kara Wilson topped off her CIS time from prelims by taking off an additional 1 tenth of a second at finals to come in 1st place overall, with rookie teammate Andrea Farmer in second with a 2:41.98. UVic’s Juliana Bartemucci took in the hometown advantage as she touched 3rd with a time of 2:43.97. The girls kept up UVPCS’s prominence on the podium, which only continued as the night progressed.

Michael Schmidt (14) held up the male end of this event, achieving a new Club Record and closing in on the VIR record in his 200 Breastroke with a time of 2:27.21.

The 50 Freestyle was next up, where Grace MacDonald relinquished her first place from the a.m. swim to come in second in a time of 28.43 in the 13/14 girls category. The 15 & Over UVPCS girls took the top 5 spots in one clean swoop; 1st was Vike Allison Hampton in 27:82, 2nd was Allison Ballantyne in a time of 28.25, and 3rd was Vike Tabatha Craig at 28.40. Just missing the podium but continuing the UVPCS streak were Fionnuala McKenna and Lia Lancaster who finished 4th and 5th in the event respectively.  In the 11 & 12 boys Nathan Chow took 3rd with a time of 29.60, and Baylee Munro came in 2nd at 25.25 in the 15 & Over category.

The day ended with the 100 Fly.

For the 10 & Unders, on the boy’s side Nolan Crisp took 1st with a 1:18.49, with Connor Mar coming in 2nd with a 1:36.50. For girls Maya Stevens was 2nd with a time of 1:30.30. In the 13 & 14 girls Grace Macdonald came in 2nd with 1:09.94. Allison Ballantyne represented PCS in the 15&O final, coming in at 2nd with a time 1:06.01. 13 & 14 boys swept top three with Keir Ogilvie in 1st at 1:00.30, Jacob Rambo in 2nd at 1:04.24, and Thomas Chapman in 3rd with a 1:06.43. For the 15 & Over boys UVic Vikes varsity swimmer Bryce Moulder came in 1st at 59.95, and fellow Vike Justin Howe finished in 2nd 1:00.76.

A great day of racing from a great group of swimmers, especially on the first full day of the meet! Great job everyone, and let’s carry on the fast swimming tomorrow morning. Let’s go Bolts!