VIR`s Day 3 Comox

Day 3 of VIR’s came to a close, and while the wear and tear of the meet takes a toll on all the athletes, our Pacific Coast Swimmers pulled ahead with some huge stand out swims and best times. The night started with a swim-off for girls 13-14 200 Free as Teagan Hunt (13) came from behind and reeled in her competitor on the last 25 meters to win in a best time of 2:20.60. Hunt really set the tone for the duration of the evening.

Prelims saw timed finals for both the 100 IM and 50 Fly from out swimmers. In the 100 IM Riley Andrusak (9) came in 3rd in her age category with a 1:31.09. The youngest Andrusak also competed in the 50 Fly where kept her bronze medal position, finishing in 3rd for the 10 & Under girls with a 42.65. Once again there was a PCS covered podium as our 10&U boys swept the top three positions, with Nolan Crisp in 1st  at 34.76, Mattius Melvie in 2nd with a 40.58, and Connor Mar in 3rd with 45.29.  The young ones weren’t the only ones prominent in the event-- 15 & Over girls had Allison Hampton in 2nd with a 31.03, and Kelsey Andrusak in 3rd with a 31.18 in the 50 fly, and Keir Ogilvie rocked the boys 13-14 final in the same race, finishing in 1st 27.75.

The new 8x50 Freestyle mixed relay went off with all PCS’s top swimmers by age group: Riley Andrusak (9), Nolan Crisp (10), Asia Trudel (12), Nathan Chow (12), Grace MacDonald (14), Keir Ogilvie (14), Allison Ballantyne (16), and Artem Kuklev (15). PCS won that relay by 20 meters, 10 seconds ahead of second place.

All of this excitement took place before the individual event Finals had even begun! It was clear early on that it would be a fast night for your Bolts.

Riley Andrusak wasn’t done with her medal count for the night, taking on all the 10 year olds in the 200 free, coming in 3rd and winning a bronze medal. Good things really do come in 3’s! In addition, Andrusak touched the wall at 2:47.23 seconds-- improving 9 seconds from her morning prelim swim.

10 & Under boys 200 Free was won by Nolan Crisp in 2:34.53 adding to his growing collection of gold medals. In the same event, Anastasia Trudel (12) came in first for the 12 & Under girls with a best time and AAA standard of 2:19.52.  The 13-14 girls final featured Grace MacDonald in 1st and Lily Chen in 3rd, and on the boys side Jacob Rambo won it in 2:03.37. The 15 & Over girls made sure PCS owned the podium as Kesley Andrusak placed 1st, followed by Allison Ballantyne in 2nd, and Vikes swimmer Tabitha Craig in 3rd . The Vikes were also present in the boys 15&O event as Jeremy Lynn came in 1st  in a time of 1:57.68 and Jake Beyak came in 2nd.

400 IM saw Grace Macdonald follow up with yet another 1st in 5:26.27 seconds, as well as young Nolan Crisp taking over 7 seconds off of Michael Schmidt`s 400 IM Club record of 6:07.21 by touching in a time of 6:00.57. Congrats on the new club record, Nolan! Boys 13-14 swept top three with Jacob Rambo 1st at 4:44.40, Michael Schmidt in 2nd with a 4:51.03, and Thomas Chapman in 3rd with a 4:54.46. This clean sweep showed just how our boys can persevere through a long race, even on a tough day of racing!

Switching over to the 100 breast, Pacific Coast Swimming had several finalists and medalists. The boys 10&U final had Mattius Melvie in 3rd with a 1:48.83. 13 &14 boys had Michael Schmidt in 1st with a time of 1:08.96, and 15 & Over boys had UVic swimmer Baylee Munro in 1st with a 1:07.47. For the girls 11-12 final, Trinity Aragon-Scriven placed 2nd with a 1:22.31. 13 & 14 girls showcased Laura Rincon 1st with a 1:18.50, and Kali Lancaster in 3rd with a 1:20.19.  15 & Over girls had the Vikes clean up nicely in the final, with Kara Wilson in 1st with a 1:13.31, with teammates Andrea Farmer and Juliana Bartemucci touching close behind with a 1:16.17 and 1:16.76. 

Last but not least, 200 Fly rounded off the night. The spotlight was on Grace Macdonald during the 13-14 girl’s final, who finished with a 2:34.37. Our trio of 13-14 boys took their positions on the podium with Keir Ogilvie in 1st with a 2:13.82, ahead of Jacob Rambo in 2nd with a 2:19.06 and Aleks Frketic in 3rd with a 2:24.72.  The 15 & Over girls had Kelsey Andrusak in 2nd with a 2:25.66, and the 15 & Over boys showed rookie Vike Justin Howe coming in 2nd as well with a 2:10.22.

Day 3 was remarkable for our swimmers, both as a team and individually. With one more day to go, Pacific Coast Swimming is in the lead with the boys scoring 1,453 points so far, and the girls rounding up 1,861 points! Great work so far everyone; see you Sunday morning for the last day of VIR’s!