The Sault Surge Aquatic Team is continuing to make waves at swimming competitions.
Four Surge swimmers - Brie Reid, Emma Vallee and siblings Sophia Li and Andrew Li - won medals at the Border City Invitational in Windsor, Ont, Dec. 6-8.
Sophia won the gold medal in the girls 13 years old 50m backstroke. Li finished in the top 10 in all but one individual event. Li’s times in the 100m and 200m backstroke, 100m and 200m breaststroke and the 400m freestyle and medley events all qualified her for the Ontario Age Group Provincial Championship to be held in Toronto in February.
“I was super happy to win gold. This was my favourite event so far,” Sophia said in a conversation with SooToday.
Vallee won five medals - one silver and four bronze.
She took silver in the girls 12 years old 400m freestyle along with four bronze medals for 50m and 100m breaststroke and 200m and 400m individual medley races. Vallee also set new club records in three of her individual events.
Reid took the silver medal in the girls 15 years old age category 50m breaststroke event. She has made it to the finals at the provincial level in the past.
Andrew swam to a bronze medal in the boys 15 years old 50m backstroke event. His 20 points led the Surge male team at the meet as he finished in the top 10 for his age group in seven individual events.
All four swimmers are now qualified to compete in the Ontario Age Group Provincial Championship to be held in Toronto in February.
“This was a high performance meet so it was definitely exciting to win a medal there. I had fun with my teammates and made some new friends with other teams. The swimming part is good but it’s also about having fun,” said Andrew.
Andrew and Brie Reid were profiled on SooToday in January 2024.
Each of the four young athletes who won medals in Windsor said they are interested in attending university on swimming scholarships once they graduate from high school and the Sault Surge.
“I’m proud of the work they’re putting in right now. They’re coming along. We’re making some progress and we’re developing. We’re getting more kids getting up to the higher end swim meets,” said Rod Thomas, Sault Surge Aquatic Team head coach.
“I’ve got these kids here until they’re 17 and I want them to be able to swim at university with a scholarship.”
The Sault Surge has produced many scholarship-winning swimmers in the past, including Paige Banton at West Virginia’s Marshall University and Logan Belanger at Georgia Southern.
Two other Surge alumni - Erik Kary and Kevin Li - are also attending university on swimming scholarships at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario and Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick respectively.
Meanwhile, Surge coach Rod Thomas said he wants the Surge to be ready for the Dave Kensit Memorial Championships. The Kensit is a northeastern Ontario regional championship meet that includes swim teams from many communities and will be hosted by the Surge at the John Rhodes Community Centre Pool in the Sault Feb. 7-9, 2025.
“I would like us to be as competitive in the region as we possibly can,” Thomas said, stating that swim teams from Sudbury are tough competitors.