A slew of Pacific Sea Wolves swam their way to the podium at BC AAA Swim Championships earlier this month in Richmond.
Esmee Smit-Anseeuw, 13, led the medal charge, with five gold medals in the girls competition – in the 100- and 200-m breaststroke; 200- and 400-m individual medley and the 200-m butterfly.
Darren Yuan, 15, won three gold medals, in the 50- and 100-m freestyle and the 100-m fly; Mason Lin, 14, added six medals to his collection, including a gold in the 200-m backstroke; and Aksel Smit-Anseeuw, 15, was first in the 200-m back and also picked up medals in the 100-m back, 400-m Im and 1,500-m free.
Other PSW swimmers to medal included Trista Tetrault, who won gold in the 200-m back, and also finished on the podium in three other events; Edwin Zhao, who won four medals, highlighted by gold in the 1,500-m free; Olivvya Chow, who won gold in 200-m IM and was a podium-finisher in five over disciplines; Alexander Blaskovich, 13, who won three medals; Isabelle Lei, second in two events; Bailey Mothe, who won bronze in 100-m back, Vanessa Rivas, who won the 15-year-old girls’ 100-m breast; Darian Fry, who was third in the 100-m fly and Kanata Kitigawa, who took home bronze in the 11-and-under boys’ 100-m fly.
Meanwhile, in Montreal, PSW alum Hilary Caldwell placed second in the 100- and 200-m backstroke races at the Canada Cup Montreal.
The event was Caldwell’s last tuneup swim before heading to Europe, where she’ll represent Canada at the Summer Olympics in London.
Caldwell’s Olympic swim, the 200-m backstroke, will be held Aug. 2.