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White Rock Wave swimmers find podium plenty at fall competitions

Semiahmoo Peninsula-based team excels in relay events
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White Rock Wave members Tony Pease, Betty Brussel, Alida Brichon and Frank Groff. (Contributed photo)

It’s been a busy few weeks for members of the White Rock Wave masters swim club, as members have been diving into competitions around the Metro Vancouver area.

At an Oct. 23 masters competition in North Vancouver – an event the White Rock club had won, in overall team standings, a year ago – the Semiahmoo crew successfully defended its overall title, with 23 different swimmers contributing, including six newcomers: Anita Baron, Danielle Munro, James LeBrun, Anne Ferris, Gail Evans and Ava Zhang.

Four Wave swimmers – Munro, Baron, Craig Slater and Skip Ray – won four events apiece, while White Rock teams won eight of 10 relays entered, which added to their team’s overall lead.

Following that successful outing, Wave swimmers were back in the pool Nov. 3 at Richmond’s Watermania for a long-course meet, which features swimmers from clubs throughout B.C., Alberta, Washington, Oregon and Nevada.

White Rock, led in large part by its most-senior members, finished second overall in team standings, behind only the host club from Richmond.

Once again, the Wave’s strength was in the relay competitions, with 13 first-place finishes. In the process, two teams – made up of Alida Brichon, Tony Pease, Betty Brussel and Frank Groff – set B.C. and Canadian masters relay records, while two other groups set new provincial marks. In the 4x100 medley relay, Paul Scanlan, Brichon, Theo Manley and Pease set a new B.C. record in the mixed division, while a provincial men’s record was set by Slater, Chris Jo, Ross Nicholson and Groff.

Individually, Joanna Lam and Brussel each won four events in their respective age groups.