John Grootveld @ University of Toronto – Meet Summary
Dear ROW families:
The Region of Waterloo Swim Club closed out the month of April by competing at the John Grootveld Sr. Officials Classic hosted by Toronto Swim Club at the University of Toronto. It’s not often that we are able to venture into the downtown core of the biggest city in Canada. I hope everyone was able to experience and enjoy the energy this major city had to offer.
The competition was a timed finals event – meaning 13&overs do not jockey for positions heading into a second round of racing, they get one chance to put together the best performance they can! This is the typical format for 12&under sessions. That said, we had a slight role reversal in session times; 12&Unders raced in the morning sessions whereas the 13&overs raced in the afternoon sessions, which doesn’t occur often. This unique format created a very cool dynamic in which the 13&overs were able to catch some of the 12&under action as they arrived early for their session. It was fantastic to see the older athletes cheering on and supporting our younger athletes as they raced through their 400m freestyles to finish out the meet.
Although not officially scored, meet mobile indicated ROW finished 3rd overall, behind TSC and NYAC, two of the bigger GTA-based clubs.
A big congratulations to Camilla C and Alexandra G-F in qualifying for their first-ever Western Regional Championship Swim Meet! They will be joining our roster of ROW athletes attending WOSA this June in Windsor!!
A few more shout-outs are in order:
· Thank you to Toronto Swim Club for being a great host!
· Thank you to all the parents for braving downtown Toronto traffic and finding a way to make things work! [Despite the major league sporting events and early morning road races]
Our season is moving quickly! The finish line is in sight! Let’s keep putting in the work as we approach Championship season this June and July, so that athletes can be proud of their efforts as 2022/2023 wraps up!
#GOROWGO #ROWNATION #ROWRISING
AJ
Head Coach – Region of Waterloo Swim Club
