Seals Rylan Brunette Wins
Two Gold at Man Sask Meet
By Scott Taylor, Photos courtesy St. James Seals
Modest and focused. Ask anyone who
knows 15-year-old St. James Seals
swimmer Rylan Brunette and they’ll
tell you, “He’s modest and focused.”
“He is a pretty great kid, insanely
humble and beyond focused,” said the
person who knows him best, his mom,
Michelle. “I have never seen anything
like it. I say this not as his mom, I say it
as it is a fact. When you actually meet
one of those people with a single point
of focus they are pretty intense.”
Brunette has just completed a
tremendous winter season. He
made his first Western Canadian
Swim Championship, off his swims
last summer, and swam to his first
National Final at the Westerns here in
Winnipeg back in February. He has
been a multiple Provincial Champion
at both long and short course Man
Sask Championships and at the last
Man Sask in Saskatoon, just three
weeks ago he picked up six medals,
including two golds three silvers and a
bronze. He was the top 14-15-year old
Manitoba male at the Man Sask meet
qualifying fully for the Canadian Age
Group Championships in Calgary this
summer.
He was also selected to Prospects
West, which is a team of six
Manitobans who join others from
Western Canada at a unique training
camp that takes place during the 2016
Olympic Trials. Swimmers selected will
26 / sportslife
work with special coaches during the
day and then have a chance to watch
the finals of Trials at night. Successful
Manitoba swimmers such as Kelsey
Wog and Mackenzie Glover were
selected to this team in the past and
Brunette will get the chance this year to
watch them race this time to make the
Olympic team.
Brunette, who has been swimming
with the Seals for four years, was a
member of Team Manitoba at the
Western Canada Summer Games in
Fort McMurray last summer. It was his
first selection to the provincial team
and in every race, he swam a personal
best time.
“Rylan’s strength is that he is very
coachable,” said Seals head coach Ian
Grunewald. “He is very much a student
of the sport and takes feedback very
easily. He pays attention to what others
are doing so see where he can improve
on. He watches his competitors to see
where they are faster so he knows what
he needs to do to beat them next time.”
A Grade 10 IB student at Westwood
Collegiate, Rylan has a twin sister
Caelin, and his goal in the pool is to
one-day reach the Olympics.
“The Olympics has been my goal
ever since I began to see what the sport
is about,” he said. “I feel myself in the
water and on days when we don’t train,
I pretty much drive everyone in my
family crazy. For me, it is nose to the
grindstone and will be until I meet my
Olympic goal.”
Brunette started started swimming in
January of 2012 after he had completed
his bronze cross and couldn’t finish his
lifesaving certification until he turned
16.
“I talked about it with my parents
and we figured this would be
something to keep me swimming for
the next few years until I could go
back to get my lifesaving,