Anthony Brito and Kai Namba led the Bow Valley Riptides to a second-place finish in the Canmore Penathlon swim meet, Saturday (Oct. 24) at Elevation Place.
Brito smashed Peter Brothers’ 2006 club record in the individual medley (IM) by an astonishing five seconds, as the club finished the day with 42 medals.
“I know he had a fast IM, but he was going for other records,” said head coach Don Tremblay. “He was going for the 25 fly, 25 breast and 25 freestyle.”
Brito, 10, won gold in the 100-metre IM, the 25m fly and 25m breast to lead the team’s 10-year old swimmers. As one of a crop of fast novice swimmers on the rise with the club, Brito got encouragement from teammate Nick Anderson-Young, who owns the club backstroke title, to go and break his record.
Isabelle Brito, 8, was also extremely strong on the day. She won four medals, including silver in the 100 IM and 25 breast to win the overall title in her age group, followed by teammate Ella Ricci. Namba topped the Boys eight and under race, while Andrew Gerrits, 8, won five medals to finish second overall in the same division, topped by a gold medal effort in the 25m backstroke.
The pentathlon format saw each swimmer compete in five different disciplines, with their accumulated time tallied for an overall result. Joanna Robertson, 10, finished second overall in her division, as did Domenic Griesser. Neo Gleason also finished second in the boys 15 and over division.
Overall, Tremblay was pleased with the team’s results, especially with the younger swimmers. Now in its 10th year, the Riptides club is in great shape, as they are sewing the seeds of a bigger team.
“This year is really booming. Last year we doubled the size of our swim school and now we have a lot of novice guys coming in. We moved some of them up. Coach Tom Shackel did a good job with them last year, and we transferred them to me. They are moving them forward in a good direction,” Tremblay said.
Since he has a younger group, Tremblay tried to use incentives to push technique. Every swimmer who didn’t complete three underwater strokes after each wall flip turn had to do 10 pushups. For every swimmer who executed the maneuver properly, the coach had to do the pushups. By the end of the meet, Tremblay had to complete 230 pushups.
“They’ve been keen to see me do that. But they gave me a couple of days,” Tremblay said.
Several of the older swimmers also medalled, but weren’t peaking for the race due to the Elevation Place three-week pool closure in September. Tremblay said that hampered their training, but they will be ready for the November and Christmas swim meets.
“We started the season late and that impacted the older swimmers. It’s harder for them to do their best. We started training at Sally Borden pool in Banff, but not like before. But I’m pleased the kids were stepping up and racing,” Tremblay said.
The Riptides have two swim meets in Calgary next month, and Tremblay said the club will have more success as the year progresses. He’s targeting the Christmas meet for the team as a spot for success.
“That’s one where we can swim fast.”
Other medal winners included Joshua Lamb, Keira Miles, Joshua Reeder, Brynn Williams and Shallis Williams.
