May Meets - a summary
Many Meets in May!
Over the past two weekends, Region of Waterloo Swim Club was very competition-heavy with all groups racing across four different competitions, meant to serve each athlete’s individual needs. Please read ahead
ROW Novice Meet – Saturday, May 6th
Region of Waterloo Swim Club’s novice level swimmers took to the racing pool for the first time since February, and they blew it out of the water! The London and Sydney swimmers came to the meet with lots of team spirit, energy, and some phenomenal performances! The swimmers showed up and raced hard to achieve 93% best times across both groups at the competition.
With their season now past the halfway point, these swimmers started adding some new events to their repertoire like breaststroke and butterfly! Racing new events brings new learning opportunities, and we will continue to work to perfect these new strokes and skills moving forward. The coaching staff are proud of the progress they were able to see at the meet and are looking forward to putting in more hard work as we approach the end of the season.
Congratulations to the swimmers of the meet:
London – Angus E, Tenley W
Sydney – Sebastian F, Parnia A
Big thanks to Royal City Aquatic Club for attending the meet as well as to all the parent officials for making sure the meet ran smoothly.
Congratulations to our London and Sydney athletes on a successful competition! Keep working hard as we prepare for our final competition, the June End of Year Splash in Guelph!
TOP Cup – May 12th-14th
Thirty 10&under athletes from PD2, Beijing and Barcelona represented the Region of Waterloo Swim Club at TOP Cup, hosted by ESWIM at the Etobicoke Olympium.
TOP Cup is one of a kind when it comes to 10&under racing. The meet spanned three days with 1 session Friday afternoon, and 3 sessions on both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday and Sunday evening saw top seeds within the meet race LCM with the rest of the meet being SCM. This resulted in a lot more racing than normal for 10&under athletes, which is a giant draw once per season.
ROW swimmers rose to the occasion and thrived, displaying phenomenal team spirit at an all-time high! Far from the biggest squad on deck, ROW had one of the loudest team cheers every session, in addition to athletes rallying behind one another in support of all individual races. The energy and passion displayed by such a young group of athletes made this an incredibly special experience.
A special Congratulations goes out to Abigail F and Leo S on their first ever WOSA qualifications, way to go!! We love to see our WOSA roster continuing to grow.
Congratulations to our up-and-coming youngsters!
Summary
Medals – 24 [Gold – 4, Silver – 9, Bronze – 11]
Personal Bests – 144
5th Overall Team Finish LCM
6th Overall Team Finish SCM
GMAC Splash & Dash – May 12th -14th
Athletes in Seoul, LA and Paris took to the Victor Davis Pool in Guelph for the GMAC Splash & Dash this past weekend. This meet ran a relatively conventional format, with the exception of a timed finals session for 13&overs on Sunday.
From all in attendance, the atmosphere was amazing, showing support of teammates throughout the weekend regardless of group. It was great to witness racing come to fruition as we approach the end of the season, with several athletes making massive strides forward. This happened in addition to many athletes approaching an ear-shot of qualifications to their next level of competition, whether that be Regionals, Festivals, OYJs, OSCs or Easterns!
Sebastian H and Beckett S battled it out in the 100m breast with 3-person tight finish, both within inches of the Festival time standard. Lulu S told a similar story in the women’s 50 breaststroke only narrowly missing the time standard for Eastern Canadian Championships! The Splash & Dash was full of personal bests, with the tally reaching 146 throughout the course of the weekend.
Congratulations LA, Paris and Seoul on a Fantastic weekend!
Summary
Medals – 15 [Gold – 8, Silver – 3, Bronze – 4]
Personal Bests – 146
Scarborough Pan Am Invite – May 12th-14th
The Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre saw the majority of National Development as well as Provincial Development 1 & 2 this past weekend, for the Scarborough Pan Am Invite.
At this competition, athletes saw long days with LOTS of racing, particularly for the 13&overs, where days began between 6:15 - 7:00am, and finals stretched as late as 8:00 - 9:00pm! Between relays and finals there were athletes who saw as many as 15-18 races over the course of the 3-day meet. Great to witness ROW athletes continue to battle through some relatively tough, long workloads right until Sunday evening. This truly was a meet of overcoming obstacles and barriers!
Despite the challenges presented to each athlete, they were able to come out on top with 62 medals as well as 97 lifetime bests.
This was highlighted by a NEW Club Record: Nic Wei – 11/12yr Boys 200M Breast LCM – 2:46.53
Great job ND, PD1 & PD2!
Summary
Medals – 62 [Gold – 22, Silver – 24, Bronze – 16]
PBs – 97
1 NEW Club Record
Overall, Region of Waterloo took some massive leaps forward both in regards to athletic performance as well as character development! Although always fun, it is not always possible for the entire club to attend one competition due to number constraints, qualification times or otherwise. That said, it was great to witness ROW represented across multiple competitions.
One competition or four, we are still #ROWNATION!
A special thank you goes out to all the mothers this past weekend. Across three meets, many parents were required to put in overtime with sessions stretching out longer than expected. Even on Mother’s Day, moms continued to support their children through their swimming endeavours. In supporting their children they’ve also elected to support ROW culture, for which we owe gratitude!
Thank you and Happy Mother’s Day!
#GOROWGO #ROWNATION #ROWRISING
Coaching Staff
