Swim Ontario

Paige Kremer of Edmonton notched two more victories in the girls 13-year-old category Sunday to conclude the 2010 Canadian Age Group Swimming Championships with eight gold medals.

On Sunday, Kremer registered victories in the 50-metre butterfly and 200 individual medley. She also won this week, the 50, 100 and 200 freestyles and the 50, 100 and 200 backstrokes. She also clocked six personal best in those eight wins including Sunday’s 50 fly.

“At every competition I’m always trying to get more personal bests,” said Kremer, who was most pleased with her 50 freestyle earlier this week because she came within 0.1 seconds of the age group national record. “One of the things I wanted to make sure was that I always had a solid preliminary swim in the morning. That always gave me a boost of confidence.”

In the same category, Danica Ludlow of Prince George, B.C., produced a gold medal performance in the 400 freestyle with a personal best 4:24.88. It was more than two seconds faster than her previous best set at a meet last weekend. She ended the competition with six medals, two of each colour. Her other victory was in the 200 freestyle.

“It was amazing,” said Ludlow. “My kicking was much better which allowed me to have a much stronger race.”

In the boys 14-year-old age group, Luke Reilly of Vancouver was the victor in the 200 IM for his second gold of the meet. He also won the 400 IM. On Sunday, he clocked a personal best 2:13.29.

“The 200 IM was my best race this week,” said Reilly. “My turns and my breaststroke leg were both better than what I swam in the 400 IM. But all in all I reached my goals for this competition.”

Many of the swimmers here this week will now travel to Victoria for the Summer National Championships July 28-31.

Tianna Rissling collects fourth gold at 2010 Canadian Age Group Swimming Championships

Tianna Rissling of Medicine Hat, Alta., earned her fourth gold medal this week at the 2010 Canadian Age Group swimming Championships on Saturday with a victory in the women’s 200-metre breaststroke in the 16-18 age group.

Rissling clocked a personal best two minutes and 30.79 seconds with Kierra Smith of Lethbridge, Alta., second in 2:32.87 and Vanessa Treasure of Mississauga, Ont., third in 2:38.28. The victory also completed a golden sweep of all three breaststroke events for Rissling.

‘’I was hoping for a best time but to beat it by more than a second is really exciting for me,’’ said Rissling, who also won the 400 individual medley this week. ‘’I’m pretty much a sprinter in the breaststroke so I usually have to take it out fast and I think I did a good job doing that but being efficient at the same time.’’

In boys 13 and under, Bryce Kwiecen-Delaney of Hamilton is now up to five gold after victories in the 100 backstroke and 200 freestyle on Saturday.

‘’I was more happy about my 100 backstroke win,’’ said Kwiecen-Delaney.

‘’I wanted to break two minutes in the 200 free and I just missed it.’’

In the same age group, James Dergousoff of North Vancouver smashed his personal best by seven seconds in his 200 breaststroke victory.

‘’It’s pretty good,’’ said Dergousoff, with five medals so far including three gold. ‘’Everything was better. My start, turns and finish.’’

In girls 12 and under Mackenzie Glover of Winnipeg completed a golden sweep of the three backstroke events with a victory in the 100 backstroke.

Chantal Vanlandeghem of Winnipeg showed why she is one of Canada’s most successful junior swimmers posting victories Thursday in the 50 backstroke and 100 freestyle at the 2010 Age Group Nationals swimming competition.

Both races were close. In the backstroke for the women’s 16-18 age group, Vanlandeghem clocked 29.46 just edging Brooklyn Snodgrass of Calgary in second at 29.68. It was even closer in the 100 freestyle as Vanlandeghem won in 56.74 with Lindsay Delmar of Calgary second in 56.78.

There were strong performances in the 14-year-old age group. Olivia Feschuk of Halifax dominated the girls 400 individual medley finishing in 4:58.51 just missing her personal best set earlier this season. It was her third gold medal of the competition after two victories on Wednesday.

‘’I was glad to swim faster than I did two weeks ago at the Canada Cup,’’ said Feschuk, who started racing at age six. ‘’I corrected my positioning on my backstroke and that made a big difference.’’

In the same age class Kristina Steins of Whitby, Ont., clocked a personal best 29.38 for the win in the 50 backstroke for her second victory in two days.

‘’I’ve been working very hard on my front end speed and this was a very good test for the other backstroke events,’’ said Steins. ‘’I accelerated much better off the start and I was able to break the 29.5 second barrier which was my goal.’’

Competition is also being held in the girls 12 and under, 13 and 15 year old age groups and the boys 13 and under, 14, 15, 16, 17-18 age groups.

Ottawa’s Ashton Baumann wins first national title at 2010 Canadian Age Group Championships

Ashton Baumann of Ottawa earned his first national title on Friday at the Canadian Age Group Swimming Championships with a victory and a personal best time in the men’s 100 breaststroke in the 17-18 age group category.

Baumann, the son of Canadian swimming legend Alex Baumann, clocked one minute and 03.47 seconds in the final bettering his previous best by more than two seconds overall for the day. Luc Boudreau of Wolfville, N.S., was second in 1:05.78 and Christopher Dalen of Calgary third in 1:06.74.

‘’My training is going really well and I was certainly hoping to go a best time tonight,’’ said Baumann. ‘’I kept the focus on technique. It’s been a great year for me so far and I’ve really improved under new coach (Derrick Schoof of Gloucester-Ottawa).’’

Luke Peddie of Edmonton also notched a personal best in the 50 freestyle in the same age group clocking 23.18.

‘’The track start blocks made a big difference for sure,’’ said Peddie, who only breathed once in the race. ‘’It gave me an extra boost to get to the wall that much faster. And just the adrenaline of being in a national final really helped me out. It’s another breakthrough race for me this year.’’

Other notable moments:

- In the women’s 16-18 800 freestyle, Nadine Williams of Edmonton won the gold less than a week after swimming the 10 kilometre at the world open water swimming championships in Roberval, Que.

- In the boys 14 age group, Alexander Hamilton of North York, Ont., posted victories in the 200 butterfly and 800 freestyle.

- Olivia Feschuk of Halifax is up to five gold in the girls 14 age group after victories in the 200 fly and 800 free.

- It was a big night overall for the North York Aquatic Club which saw its swimmers collect five gold.

Competition runs until Sunday at the Pan Am Pool.

Devon Bibault and Paige Kremer, both of Edmonton, and Olivia Feschuk of Halifax posted two victories apiece on Wednesday to open the 2010 Canadian Age Group Swimming Championships.

Bibault earned victories in the 100 butterfly and 1,500 freestyle in the girls 15-year-old age group. Liane Tatigian of Pointe-Claire, Que., and Stefanie Schmidt of Victoria were the other winners in the same age group in the 50 breaststroke and 200 backstroke respectively.

Kremer took the 100 butterfly and 200 backstroke events in the girls 13-year-old division. Olivia Paskulin of Pointe-Claire and Jessica Warrack of Calgary were the 50 breaststroke and 1,500 freestyle victors in the age group.

In the girls 14 age group, Feschuk took the 100 butterfly and 1,500 freestyle. Danica Delaquis of Winnipeg and Kristina Steins of Whitby, Ont., were the 50 breaststroke and 200 backstroke winners.

Competition is also being held in the 12 and under and 16-18 age groups for the girls and the 13 and under, 14, 15, 16, and 17-18 age group for the boys. More than 1,400 swimmers from across Canada are at the meet.

Also of note Frederique Cigna of Montreal smashed a 32-year-old Quebec provincial age group record in the girls 12 and under 100 butterfly clocking 1:05.70. The previous mark was 1:06.77 set by Michele Coulombe in 1978.

“This is the highlight age group swim meet of the summer,” said Ken McKinnon, Swimming Canada’s national junior coach. “When we are developing our talent identification list their times will definitely coming from this competition.”

With over 1400 young swimmers travelling to Winnipeg this week, the Canadian Age Group Championships is said to be the largest swim competition in Canada this summer. The five-day event will take place at the Pan Am pool from July 22nd to 25th.

For Pierre Lafontaine, CEO and National Coach for Swimming Canada, these championships are an important stepping-stone into an athlete’s development.

“It’s an exciting step for young athletes to competed at the national level,” said Lafontaine. “Some of these swimmers will be competing for Canada this summer at the junior and even senior level, so we’re going to see some great swimming in Winnipeg.”

Sixteen-year old Chantal Vanlandeghem of the Manta swim club, who collected five medals for Winnipeg at the 2009 Canada Games last summer, will be one of the local favorites to watch at these Championships.

Canada’s Youth Olympic Games team members Chad Brobowski and Thomas Jobin of the Cascade Swim Club in Calgary will be joined by Lindsay Delmar, University of Calgary Swim Club, Lauren Earp of Etobicoke Swim Club, as they make their final preparation to compete in Singapore in August.

Open Water World Championships team member, Nadine Williams of Sherwood Park will be travelling straight from Roberval to Winnipeg to compete at the Age Group Championships.

“I’m going to get in as much competition as I can before we head out to the Pan Pacs in August.” Williams qualified for Canada’s Pan Pacific Championships team in the 10km Open Water event last week in Roberval, during the FINA Open Water World Championships.

Over fifty-eight girls and seventy-nine boys have entered the 5km open water event scheduled for the last day.

Pool events will be divided in various age groups. Finals will be available on webcast at www.swimming.ca/swimcanwebtv