Swimmers from the Winskill Dolphins Swim Club travelled to Victoria weekend for the annual Island Pacific Cup Invitational meet.
Teams from across the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, and Oregon came to compete at the spectacular Commonwealth Pool in Saanich. The Dolphins embraced their first major invitational competition of the season, taking full advantage of the opportunity to race the best swimmers from the Pacific Northwest.
Leading the Dolphin pod was Markus Thormeyer (14), who swept the backstroke events, winning the 100 and 200 metre distances by healthy margins. He added the 400 freestyle to his list of weekend victories, smashing his previous nest time by 15 seconds. Thormeyer also nabbed second place finishes in the 200 individual medley and freestyle and was third in the 100 free. His 100 back clocking - 1: 01.22 was a club record, bettering the previous standard set by Luke Reilly in 2010.
Teammate NuNu Singh (14) put her stamp on the backstroke as well, winning the 50 and 100. She was also second at the 200 distance. Singh added a pair of fifth place finishes in the 50 and 200 fly. Her 100 back time (1: 04.53) qualifies her to compete at the elite Paul Bergen International meet this December in Oregon.
Sidney Peake (15) distinguished herself with third place finishes in the 100 and 50 freestyle. She also battled senior competitors to claim seventh in the 400 free and the 50 breaststroke events. Peake's 100 free clocking of 58.95 seconds puts her on the list of qualifiers for the Bergen meet.
Patrick Sheppard (16) put himself on the podium with seasonal best performances in all the breaststroke events, placing second in the 200 breast, and third in the 100 and 50 breast distances.
Colette Summers (14) made her mark in the sprints, earning second place finishes in 100 and 50 freestyle events. She rounded the weekend out with three more top eight finishes - 7th in 200 IM, 400m IM and 400 free.
Tai Long Singh (11) had an actionpacked meet, finsihing second in 50 free and 100 back; third in 50 back, 200 Back and 200 free; fourth in 400 free; fifth in 200 IM and sixth the 50 butterfly.
The finals of every breaststroke race was heavily populated by Winskill women. Kiersten Gilberg (13) collected second, third and sixth place finishes in the 50, 100, and 200 events respectively. Likewise, Taylor Reilly (13) placed fifth, fourth, and third at the 50, 100, and 200 distances. She also added a seventh place in the 200 back. Completing the tirade of finalists, Melissa Kwantes (14) made her mark by claiming fourth, sixth, and fifth in the 50, 100, and 200 breaststroke events.
Madison Milford (17) finished fourth in the 50 and eighth 100 back events. Isaiah Rusak-Gillrie (12) made his finals debut in the 100 breast race, then preceded to capture two more top-eight finishes in the 400 and 50 free respectively.
In the 400 freestyle relays, Summers, Singh, Kiana Beaton (16), and Peake claimed gold while the boys team of Sheppard, Thormeyer, Singh, Rusak-Gillrie was third. For the 200m free and 200m IM relays, both Winskill girls teams took third place in the 13-14 years old category: Summers, Singh, Reilly, Kwantes, and Gilberg. And Victoria Simpson (16) cracked the 30 second barrier in the 50 freestyle on her leg of the 200 free relay with Beaton, Milford, and Peake.
Tai Long Singh, Isaiah Rusak-Gillrie, and Markus Thormeyer were each awarded 'Swimmer of the Day' for their inspirational individual races during the preliminaries.
"[Island Pacific Cup] was what our swimmers needed at this point of the year," said Winskill Head Coach Ben Keast. "At first glance the athletes swam well, but for the real pay-off you look deeper. The meet was exciting! It broke up their everyday humdrum routine and challenged them with situations you can't easily recreate locally. What they truly accomplished this weekend was taking a vital step towards successes later in the season."
