UCSC Wins Westerns Team Banner
A strong forty-four-member team was in Edmonton last weekend (April 20-24) racing at the Canadian Western Swimming Championships. The UCSC contingent showed a ton of resiliency with some swimmers racing as many as 20 times over the course of the four-day meet. The club walked away with countless best times, 19 club records, 8 provincial records, and 1 National Age Group Record. A complete team effort led to UCSC winning the championship banner by a sizable margin. This is UCSC’s first Westerns win in over a decade.
Day 1
The UCSC swimmers didn’t waste any time getting started as they kicked off the first prelims session with a bang. We had a total of 48 swims advance from prelims to finals, and 7 club records and 2 provincial records were achieved. UCSC also took an early and commanding lead in the team standings race by over 300 points.
Each day one UCSC male and female swimmer are presented with the “Swimmer of the Session” award, chosen by their teammates. Day 1 winners were Aiden Norman for a monster 200 free swim, setting him up to win a Bronze in the final, and Sienna Rodgers for throwing down a club record in the 50 back.
Day 2
The momentum continued through Day 2 where we advanced 43 more swims to the finals and continued our record-breaking ways. 5 more club records were smashed, along with 2 provincial records.
The Swimmer of the Session awards were handed off to Bella Korczewski for an incredible 100m backstroke where she swam to her first Junior National cut, and Andrew Fenning who rose to the occasion at his first Westerns and dropped a big PB in the 400IM.
Day 3
UCSC continued to turn heads with impressive swims through day three. The highlight was no doubt the men’s 4x100 Medley Relay of Aiden Norman, Jett Verjee, Nick Duncan, and Lorne Wigginton, who set a National Age Group Record with a time of 3:48.35. That time eclipses the previous record by over a second – a time that stood since 2015.
The Swimmer of the Session awarded on day 3 went to Kealeigh McLeod and Yaseen Daoud. Kealeigh won a bronze medal in the 400IM and got under the Trials standard for the first time. Yaseen also had an impressive 400IM where he won the B final. He later went on to qualify for his first CJC and Trials in the 200 back.
Day 4
On the last day of competition, UCSC filled the finals heats once again and was awarded with the championship banner, totalling 3626.5 points, nearly 1500 more than the second-place team.
The final Swimmer of the Session awards went to Rosie Housman and Nick Duncan. Rosie had an incredible 200 backstroke, where she got herself on the podium at her first Westerns and qualified for Trials in the process. Nick swam a huge 55.12 in the 100 fly to crush the previous provincial record – his second of the meet.
Kamryn Cannings and Lorne Wigginton capped off the weekend by earning the Top Aggregate Awards in their respective age group. This is awarded to the top male and female point-earners in the junior and senior age categories.
National Age Group Records:
Men 15-17 4x100 Medley Relay: A. Norman, J. Verjee, N. Duncan, L. Wigginton (3:48.35)
Provincial Records:
Maxine Clark – 100 free (56.92)
Maxine Clark – 200 free (2:04.14)
Maxnie Clark – 400 free (4:24.84)
Nick Ducan – 50 Fly (25.21)
Nick Duncan – 100 Fly (55.12)
Women 15-17 4x100 free: Kay Cannings, Kam Cannings, E. Housman, M. Clark (3:47.54)
Women 15-17 4x100 medley: S. Rodgers, A. L’Archeveque, K. Cannings, M. Clark (4:14.77)
Club Records:
Kamryn Cannings – 50 free (25.88)
Kamryn Cannings – 200 free (2:01.76)
Maxine Clark – 50 free (26.66)
Sienna Rodgers – 50 back (30.22)
Sienna Rodgers – 100 back (1:04.74)
Lorne Wigginton – 200 breast (2:19.65)
Lorne Wigginton – 800 free (8:23.45)
Jett Verjee – 50 breast (29.73)
Men 15-17 4x100 free: G. Black, A. Norman, N. Duncan, L. Wigginton (3:32.17)
Women 15-17 4x200 free: M. Clark, Kay Cannings, E. Housman, Kam Cannings (8:22.01)
Men 15-17 4x200 free: G. Black, A. Norman, N. Duncan, L. Wigginton (7:48.39)
New Canadian Junior Championships Qualifiers:
Julia Norman
Bella Korczewski
Yaseen Daoud
New Trials Qualifiers:
Quinnlan Bymoen
Yaseen Daoud
Rosie Housman
Kealeigh McLeod
Western Canadian Swimming Championships Attendees:
Sonia Bakhshi, Gibson Black, Emily Bugbee, Quinnlan Bymoen, Andrew Byrne, Kamryn Cannings, Kaycee Cannings, Victoria Chen, Matthew Cheung, Meredith Chicilo, Maxine Clark, Maria Cosic, Yaseen Daoud, Nick Duncan, Andrew Fenning, Hayley French, Calli Giroux, Katie Graboski, Theo Graboski, Hayleigh Haines, Eliza Housman, Rosie Housman, Zoey Janzen, Ryenne Katterhagen, Isabella Korczewski, Jordan Lloyd, Alicia L’Archeveque, Kamryn Leslie, Teagan McKenzie, Kealeigh McLeod, Demerti Mylonas, Kyla Nelson, Aiden Norman, Julia Norman, Elijah O’Reilly, Amy Peng, Sienna Rodgers, Cooper Scott, Connor Sortland, Sydney Stewart, Jett Verjee, Lorne Wigginton, Rachel Wigginton, Christine Zhou