When you’re brothers, it’s always a competition.
Yet, for the Fitzsimmons brothers on the Athabasca Rapids Swim Club team, the competition is all about the clock.
Dylan, 17, and 11-year-old Tim, were two of the three Rapids swimmers that claimed personal best times in all five events they swam at the Edmonton Penguins Sprint Series meet on Jan. 17 at the MacEwan University pool.
For Dylan, those results also translated four second place finishes in the 18-and under division, including a nearly seven second jump in his 200 individual medley (IM) best time.
The other Rapids swimmer to garner new personal bests in all five events was Avery Kamelchuk.
In addition, Kamelchuk was fast enough to qualify for the Northern Age Group Regionals with her first place finish in the girls nine-years and under 100m IM. She also added second place finishes in the 200m IM and 50m backstroke to go along with third in the 50m free.
She joins teammates Taylor and Makayla Sheppard plus Bo Maier as the Rapids swimmers who has qualified for the provincial qualifying meet.
The Rapids also had two other swimmers take home top honours from the meet, both in the boys 11-and under category – Zack Sikora, 10, capturing the 200 IM and Xzavier Pomerleau, 11, grabbing top spot in the 25m backstroke. Pomerleau also grabbed second in both the 25m free and 25m breaststroke, while Sikora landed third in the 50m butterfly and 50m backstroke.
Overall, Athabasca swimmers collected at least two or more personal bests each, demonstrating to head coach Steve Splinter that each athlete is improving as the season progresses and learning to use what they do in training when it comes to race day.
The meet was also the first competitive swim for Pomerleau and Isaac Meyer, both of whom performed very well.
A number of Rapids athletes will be gunning to qualify for northerns at the Fast Eddies meet, hosted at the University of Alberta in Edmonton by the Penguins Swim Club, on Feb. 7 and 8.
According to Splinter, several swimmers are – including those already qualified – have a chance to earn another berth.
