#ROWNATION battles best in Canada @Canadian Swimming Championships

The Region of Waterloo Swim Club’s final competition of the season came to a close this past Sunday, August 6^th, with the Canadian Swimming Championships at the Toronto Pan AM Sports Centre. Representing ROW at this season’s finale were Le Anne D, Olivia G, Katherine S, Sunny X as well as Tyson M who trains with the High-Performance Center for para-athletes based out of Montreal.

The Canadian Swimming Championships and Canadian Junior Championships have gone through quite a transformation over the years, with this being the second season the two competitions have run concurrently as one.  The combination of both meets makes for some very cool competition dynamics allowing for the younger athletes to watch, learn from and meet some of the best Canadian athletes, many of which represent(ed) Team Canada on the International stage!  Some of these athletes represented Canada most recently at the 2023 World Championships, where others represented and earned medals at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games.  Josh Liendo and Summer McIntosh both made appearances earning medals at the World Championships just 2 weeks ago, showing the country their love and support at the National Championships.

Acknowledging the talent pool and experience at this competition, ROW had a much younger group of athletes with far less National scene experience.  This was the 1^st National Championship for 3 out of the 5 ROW athletes, with 13 being the minimum age for girls to attend and race at the competition.  Nationals can be a very big learning curve, given how different the competition layout and logistics are from a typical swim meet.  Some of these differences include:

·       6-day competition

·       Formal deck setup with curtains, advertisements, and signage

·       2-hour preliminary warm-ups and 1.5-hour final warm-ups, with a 50m pool available for training all meet long

·       Days and sessions of no racing dispersed through the competition

·       Finals had call-rooms and walkouts with names being announced prior to races

·       Competition could be streamed and viewed on CBC Sports, with live spectating requiring tickets

·       Racing athletes from other provinces

·       Results in events are far tighter and far faster than any other meet – making for more challenging preliminary swims than some are used to

While some of these differences contributed to nerves and self-doubt, the athletes found their footing over the course of the week, proving they are (and deserve to be) amongst the best athletes in the country!  The athletes found themselves challenging for spots in both A & B finals, where they would go on to race for final placement and team points.  The further the meet progressed into the week, the stronger our athletes grew, which is largely due to the contributions of our relays!

2023 Summer Nationals saw ROW as one of only six clubs with a 13-14 girls relay team, where all other clubs had two-to-five times our membership. This speaks to the depth of ROWs up and coming athletes, during a time period where the country is still finding its way back from the pandemic. #ROWNATION demonstrated the power relays can have, when racing for a cause bigger than one’s self.  While looking a little uncertain through the first few events, the 4x100 free relay ignited a spark where each girl stood up for one another, racing under the ROW banner.  Without this moment in the meet, it’s hard to believe things would’ve panned out the same.  Relays continued to highlight ROWs performances through the entirety of the meet, accounting for 116 points of the teams total 194. Some of the relay standouts:

·       11 out of 12 splits over the three relays were sizable Personal Bests

·       4x100 Free Relay – 4^th Place

·       4x200 Free Relay – Bronze Medal!!

·       4x100 Medley Relay – 4^th Place – with a particularly big swim from Katherine S in the 100 Breast in what she might consider an off-event.

*Reminder: These are NATIONAL placements!

Although an individual sport, the important role relays played at this competition speaks volumes!  The greatest potential for each individual athlete is achieved when we put time and energy into creating the best team culture, environment, and atmosphere – which is often bigger than the individual!

 

Congratulations to these athletes for standing up on the biggest stage of the season to close things out!  Enjoy a well-deserved break after a very busy first-half of your summer, as we prepare to come back next season rested, recuperated, and excited for the Olympic year!

 

#GOROWGO #ROWNATION #ROWUNLEASHED

 

Meet Highlights:

Tyson M

·       Gold!! – Para 200 Free, 200 IM, 100 Back

·       Ontario S14 Provincial Records – 100 Free, 50 Free (tie), 200 IM

Sunny X

·       A Finals (Top 10) – 8^th 800 Free, 7^th 200 Back, 5^th 400 IM

·       B Finals (Top 20) – 19^th 200 IM, 15^th 100 Back, 15^th 200 Fly

·       3 Individual Personal Bests

Le Anne D

·       A Final (Top 10) – 10^th 200 Back

·       2 Individual Personal Bests out of 2

Olivia G

·       B Final (Top 20) – 19^th 200 Back

·       1 Individual Personal Bests out of 2

Katherine S

·       2 Individual Personal Bests out of 3

Relays

·       13/14 Girls 4x100 Free Relay – 4^th

·       13/14 Girls 4x200 Free Relay – Bronze!

·       13/14 Girls 4x100 Medley Relay – 4^th

Team Totals out of 158 clubs which attended:

·       24^th Open Banner - Includes all age and gender categories

·       28^th Junior Banner – Includes the two younger age categories for each gender (F – 13/14 & 15-17, M -14/15 & 16-18)

·       21^st Women’s Team Banner – Includes all categories for female athletes