If you scroll down this page you can go back through a very successful season of swimming performances from nearly every meet OSC attended this season. What you won’t see is all the hard work that a season like this took to achieve from September to July. Our athletes trained extremely well all year round and I am very pleased and proud of our coaching staff for their diligence and commitment to each and every swimmer in the pool. I would also like to thank the Board of Directors for all their dedication and hard work all year round, hopefully after a year as head coach under my belt things will run even smoother at that level and I know that they will certainly make every effort to make that happen. Our parent group was a volunteering machine all season long, from the JP Fiset meet all the way to huge support at Age Group Nationals in Calgary, I am very proud of our team spirit and pride of our parent group.
I would like to wish David Peddie, Chantelle Dubrule, Winston Yeap, Doug Rawlick, Nathan Lynch and Caleigh Leighton- Nipp the best of luck at their post secondary endeavours and would like to extend an open invitation to all of them to return to OSC at anytime.
Please enjoy your summer away from the pool, be active and athletes this summer and spend some time dreaming about the next step you wish to take in your swimming journey, whether it be a National Team or a first ever B time – both require the dream.
Head Coach - Carl Simonson
Pictures, pictures, pictures will be posted over the next week. We have a lot from our season ending meets.
OSC Swimmers Win 15 Medals at
Alberta Summer Games. While many of OSC’s 14 and under swimmers finished
their season with Age Group Provincials or Age Group Nationals, 9 of them
continued training until the last weekend of July to compete in the Alberta
Summer Games in Red Deer. These Games brought together athletes from 17
different sports from all across the province. Since the Alberta Summer Games
teams are determined by where a swimmer lives OSC was represented with 6
swimmers (Christine Kemp, Georgina Bull, Jenna Lee,
Taylor Mothersell, Sam Dhar, and Luke Peddie) on the Edmonton
(Zone 6) team, and by 3 (Madison Mills, Elodie Maunder, and
Aisha Friesen) on the Blackgold/Yellowhead (Zone 5) team, which encompassed
cities around Edmonton and all the way to Jasper. OSC also had two coaches on
the Zone 6 team, with Dave Macdonald being the Head Coach and Michelle
MacNeil being the Assistant Coach.
The conditions of the meet were tough; with long sessions,
non-ideal sleeping arrangements, and a transportation system that was often
late. Our swimmers rose to the challenge of great performances without a word of
complaint, and came through with some really outstanding swims. Here are a few
performances that really stood out in the coaches minds:
• Elodie Maunder coming from nowhere in the 200 breast to drop 5 seconds
and win the bronze medal.
• Georgina Bull winning the 100 back with perfect splitting and a 2
second drop to 1:10.8, and winning the silver in the 200 back with a negative
split!
• Sam Dhar going best times in all 5 of his races including an excellent
1:13.90 100 fly.
• Taylor Mothersell going 1:27 to win a silver in the 100 breast.
• Jenna Lee dropping from 1:09 to 1:05.98 in the 100 free.
• Madison Mills winning the 200 back and 200 free with great swims.
• Christine Kemp winning the 400 free with a great negative split effort.
• Aisha Friesen swimming a great split on the 200 free relay to help her
team touch out another for the bronze.
• And last but not least, Luke Peddie dropping 3 seconds in the 400 free
to make the final in 4:54.
Medals won by OSC swimmers were as follows: Madison Mills
(Gold – 200 Free, 200 Back, Silver – 400 Free, 100 Back, Bronze – 200 Free
Relay), Christine Kemp (Gold – 400 Free, Silver – 50 Free, 100 Free, 200
Medley Relay, Bronze – 100 Fly), Georgina Bull (Gold – 100 Back, Silver –
200 Back, 200 Medley Relay), Taylor Mothersell (Gold – 200 Free Relay,
Bronze – 100 Breast), Elodie Maunder (Bronze – 200 Breast), Jenna Lee
(Silver – 200 Medley Relay), and Aisha Friesen (Bronze – 200 Free Relay).
Congratulations to all the swimmers who represented OSC so well at
this meet. The coaches and chaperones were also very proud of how the OSC
swimmers conducted themselves and behaved so well, and how, although they were
young, were really great leaders for the team. Thanks also to Denise
Mothersell who volunteered her time as a chaperone for this team and did an
outstanding job.
The Olympian Swim Club brought 4 of our 5 National qualifiers to Pan Pacific Trials July 27th to 30th; Dana Armstrong our newest qualifier attended the Far Western Championships in Concord, CA.
Both Sheena Gross and Deanna Matthews had to contend with one of the fastest women’s finals at a Canadian National Championships in many years. Deanna swam right on top of her best times in the 200 back and breast on day 3 and 4 both times being just about 2 seconds over making a top 16 placing. In the 400 IM Sheena swam a time that would have placed her in the top 16 at Commonwealth Trials but was 3 seconds out of a second swim at these Pan Pacific Trials – just an example of how much faster these trails were than just 8 months ago.
Doug Rawlick was on his game with two 8th place finishes in the 800 Free and 1500 Free. He had to swim both events in the morning and watch the top 8 seeded swimmers race at night to see if his preliminary posted time would stand up, they both did. Doug’s 800 Freestyle time of 8:34.04 was swum just 10 minutes after his 400 IM, truly a well prepared athlete. Doug was announced officially as Canada’s Male Open Water swimmer attending the Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Maui this January. Doug will be swimming with the University of Alberta next year but his roots will always be with OSC. We all wish him the best of luck in both his academics and athletics.
Josh Au had the swim of the meet from OSC. His 2:06.64 200 Fly in Prelims placed him second in the consolation final after all 34 swimmers raced. In the consol Josh bettered his time to a 2:06.32 which makes him the leading Youth aged butterflyer at Pan Pac Trials and most likely the flyer attending the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in Sydney this December – Official selections will be announced in two weeks. On Sunday night we were informed that Josh was also a candidate for the FINA World Junior Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil August 23rd to 28th. As it turns out he will be the male alternate for the team. They are taking four Male and four Female swimmers to the meet, it is very exciting to have one of the top 5 Youth swimmer in the country right here at OSC.
Over all in team scoring OSC placed 32nd as a team with only 4 swimmers and 17th on the men’s side with only 2 young boys. It was great to watch the finals at the meet and see several men and women in their mid to late 20’s still swimming and improving… certainly a message to all swimmers in the club – stay with the sport! Men’s 100 Fly and 100 Free only had one swimmer in the top 8 who was under the age of 22 and the Women’s 100 Fly only had one 17 year old swimmer in the top 8.
The meet was a great experience for all, as it is always important to see how fast the country is training and racing in order to keep pace or better yet, move up. It is evident that the Junior and Youth initiatives that CEO Pierre Lafontaine has implemented will certainly accelerate our improvement and is meant to get our younger National athletes pushing the veterans. Go to www.swimming.ca and check out the results for yourself.
Day 5 of Far Westerns saw OSC put 3 more swimmers into finals. First Nathan Kindrachuk finished 3rd in 200 Breast with a best ever time of 2:30, then Erik Olson shocked everyone at the pool with his second breakthrough 400 Freestyle swim of the day finishing 3rd with 4:14 out of lane 2, and finally Kristan Kushlyk returned from a bout of heatstroke to place 7th in the 50 Breast with a 38.2.
Throughout the weekend it was evident that the Olympian Swim Club was one of the most prepared teams for swimming fast. While some teams had a pleasant vacation at the pool, OSC swam with pride and had their fun by swimming great in the pool. Way to go, swimmers!
There has been some unusually hot weather, Day 4 at the
Far Western
Championships in California, and a couple of our swimmers were really
challenged by the heat in the last 2 days. While a couple swimmers were forced
to stay out of the sun today and recuperate, the remainder of our squad carried
on the fine swimming that our team has reliably produced each session into Day
4.
Today we had 2 more scoring swims: Nathan Kindrachuk’s 100
breast with a time of 1:10 for 5th place, and Colin Bull’s spectacular
8:53 in the 800 free for 6th place. Other great swims include Kelly Delorme’s
2:25 in the 200 Free, and Alex Williams’ 1:24 in the 100 Breast.
With all of our heat-related issues under control, we are looking
forward to another great day at the pool tomorrow. Check back for more on Far
Western Championships.
Lori-Layne Kremer swam an amazing finals race in her 200 fly with a 2:25.66 to start the night off with a silver medal. Shannon Johnston followed that with a 35.0 in her 50 back, placing 8th overall. Finally, Kristan Kushlyk swam her 100 breast in 1:21.8 to steal a bronze medal from about 3 more girls within one stroke of her at the flags.
To finish the night, our 15&Over boys set a new Club Record in the 4x200 Free Relay. Justin Selner (2:08.0), Erik Olson (2:02.2), Nathan Kindrachuk (2:07.9), and Colin Bull (2:00.0) broke the old club record of 8:30.41 by nearly 12 seconds in a final time of 8:18.44. These 3 fifteen-year-olds and 1 sixteen-year-old placed 10th overall in the 15-18yr age category for the relays.
There are still 2 more days to go. Look back here for more updates soon.
Far Western Championships - After 2 days in the sweltering heat wave of
the Californian west coast, Olympian swimmers have put together yet another
excellent team performance at this year’s Far Western Championships in Concord,
CA. Scoring after Day 1 had OSC in 16th position, and 2nd for Canadian teams
behind Etobicoke swimming.
This year’s Far Western meet has set a new record for attending
swimmers at over 1100, and the depth of competition is impressive. Scoring swims
so far are Erik Olson 4th in 1500 Free with 17:16, Justin Selner
8th in 1500 Free with 17:28, Dana Armstrong 6th in 400 IM with 5:17, and
Shannon Johnston 7th in 100 Back with 1:15.
Other great swims include: Lori-Layne Kremer’s 400 IM with
5:27 and 1500 Free with 18:55, Kristan Kushlyk’s 1500 Free with 19:48,
Alex Williams’ 1500 Free with 19:23, Kelly Delorme’s 800 Free at
10:27, Colin Bull’s 1500 Free at 17:30, and Nathan Kindrachuk’s
400 IM at 4:58. Every swimmer at the meet has contributed a great performance to
the team effort so far.
Also of important note, our 10 swimmers competing in the California
heat wave drank 70 bottles of water on Day 1, and over 100 bottles of water on
Day 2. There’s no question that this level of dedication to maintaining a
healthy body has contributed to the team’s success.
Stay tuned for more updated of the Far Western Championships
throughout the weekend.
OSC finished off their outstanding Age Group Nationals by sending 9 swimmers to Sylvan Lake to compete in the first ever 5-km Open-Water Age Group National Event, which was attended by nearly 20 clubs from around Canada. As luck would have it, from 9AM to 1PM at Sylvan Lake we received the only 4 hours of sub-20 degree weather in Alberta for the past 2 weeks. Braving a bit of a cool morning and a brisk on-shore wind, OSC took away 2 more medals Monday in a very well attended open-water event.
Doug Rawlick took the 17&Over category with a time of 1hr 4min, and Bryce Fisher finished 2nd in the 16yr category with a time of 1hr 8min. Congratulations to all the swimmers who competed in this event!
OSC Ends
Age Group Nationals With a Best Ever Finish!!
The 2006 Age Group Nationals proved to the country what Alberta
already knows: OSC is a force to be reckoned with. The team moved up 3 places on
Sunday night with 16 final swims, and ended up in 5th place overall, a 15 spot
improvement from last year. Even more impressive was our Girls team who placed
2nd in the country! Overall we won 29 medals, after only 2 last year. The team
was loud during finals, and the team spirit was some of the best around the
pool.
The final two nights of competition were excellent ones for the
team. On Saturday night the team had 10 final swims, and came out of those with
7 medals! Our one Gold medal went to the 13-14 girls 400 medley relay (Deanna
Matthews, Natasha Fung, Lori-Layne Kremer, and Madison
Mills) and in the process broke the provincial record in this event.
What’s more impressive is that 3 of these 4 girls have turned 13 within the last
5 months, so they have almost 2 more years to take down more of these records.
The other medalists this night were Madison Mills (Bronze – 200 free),
Natasha Fung (Bronze – 100 breast), Deanna Matthews (Silver – 200
back), Lori-Layne Kremer (Silver – 100 fly), Josh Au (Bronze – 100
fly), and the 12 and under girls 200 medley relay (bronze – Kelly Delorme,
Taylor Mothersell, Kristan Kushlyk, and Shannon Johnston).
Sunday night was the best night of the weekend for OSC. We came in
placed in 8th, but with 16 swims we were poised to move up. When all the dust
had settled we had 10 more medals and a 3 spot improvement. On the night there
were 6 Silvers (Natasha Fung – 400 IM, Sheena Gross – 400 IM,
Lori-Layne Kremer – 50 fly, Kristan Kushlyk – 200 breast, Natasha
Fung – 200 breast, Deanna Matthews – 200 breast) and 4 Bronze Medals
(Deanna – 400 IM, Lindsay Morton – 400 IM, Nathan Kindrachuk
– 200 breast, and Colin Bull – 800 free).
These great swims were thanks to an amazing morning on Sunday.
Through 40 degree temperatures and an already long meet, the OSC swimmers were
totally unfazed and really showed the toughness that it takes to be a
championship caliber team. Overall the coaching staff was really impressed with
the performances of the team, and the commitment the team showed to swimming
well every time they stepped on the blocks. Now 23 swimmers are moving on to
Nationals, Far Westerns, and Alberta Summer Games this weekend. Good luck to
these swimmers and although we’re at three different meets, let’s finish off the
season with a bang!
Just to put our team performance thus far into perspective, last summer OSC sent a team of 29 swimmers (including Coach Dave who swam 5 events) to Winnipeg, where the team finished in 20th position overall with 362 points and 2 medals. This summer OSC has 29 swimmers competing in the meet in Calgary, and sits in 6th position overall after 2 days with 502 points, and 12 medals. If anyone had any doubts coming into this meet that OSC has become one of the top Age Group Swimming programs in Canada over the last 2 seasons, all doubts have just been answered.
Congratulations to all OSC swimmers for their contributions to our team’s performance. Every swimmer is an integral part of what makes OSC such a fun, exciting, and fast swim team.
An extra special congratulations to Dana Armstrong who made her first ever Senior National Qualifying Standard on Day 2 in the 200 Fly Final. Her time of 2:22.76 eclipsed the standard by over 0.5 seconds. That brings our number of National swimmers up to 5 with still 2 days to go and several more opportunities to qualify.
Good luck to all of our swimmers on the final half of the 2006 Canadian Age Group Nationals!
Sunday night the Club Records and Gold medals continued. Golds went to Kristan Kushlyk (400 IM & 200 Breast), Deanna Matthews (400 IM), Berkley Nowlan (50 Fly), Mackenzie Lubberding (50 Fly, 100 Free), Kelly Delorme (800 free), Colin Bull (800 free) , and the Girls 13-14 400 free relay (Madison Mills, Natasha Fung, Christine Kemp, and Shanesse Nowlan). Both the 11-12 girls and 15-16 boys 800 freestyles were sweeps for OSC, with Kelly, Kristan and Shannon Johnston sweeping the girls event, and Colin, Erik Olson, and Bryce Fisher sweeping the boys’!
Club records went down to Lori-Layne Kremer in the 13-14 50 fly (30.74), Mackenzie Lubberding in the 10 and under 50 fly (34.49) and 100 free (1:08.34), the 13-14 Girls 400 free relay (4:11.57), and the 15-17 boys (Dave Peddie, Winston Yeap, Bryce Fisher, and Erik Olson) in 3:56.13. Overall the meet produced 20 club records, to bring the season total to 97. With a few more at Age Group Nationals, Nationals, and Far Westerns we should be able to get over the 100 mark!
This marks the end of the season for many OSC swimmers, so to all those swimmers congratulations on a great season! 29 OSC swimmers are heading to Age Group Nationals in 2 weeks, then the following week we have 4 swimmers attending the National Championship in Montreal, 10 swimmers going to Far Westerns in San Francisco, and 9 swimmers representing the club at the Alberta Summer Games in Red Deer. Good luck to all these swimmers and keep riding the wave!
OSC Continues the Great Performances. Saturday at
Provincials was just as great of a day as the previous two with more great
performances from every OSC swimmer. Moving up your placing was the theme of the
finals session, and the swimmers took it to heart with great swims from outside
lanes, and many surprise medal winners. Gold medals went to Deanna Matthews
(200 back), Berkley Nowlan (100 fly), Mackenzie Lubberding (100
fly), and Joshua Au (100 fly). In the 400 medley relays, Golds went to
the 13-14 Girls (Deanna, Natasha Fung, Lori-Layne Kremer,
and Madison Mills) and the 11-12 Girls (Kelly Delorme, Kristan
Kushlyk, Tessa Wilson, and Shannon Johnston). New club records
were set by Mackenzie Lubberding in the 100 fly, and by the 13-14 Girls
400 medley relay. The final day of action is Sunday with the 400 IM, 50 Fly, 100
Free, 200 Breast, 800 Free, and the 400 Free Relay.
Real-time Results
OSC has also won a ton of Gold medals so far this weekend. The winners have been Mackenzie Lubberding (50 free, 200 IM, 400 free), Deanna Matthews (50 back, 100 back), Berkley Nowlan (200 IM, 400 free), Natasha Fung (200 IM), Bryce Fisher (1500 free), Lori-Layne Kremer (200 fly), and Josh Au (200 fly). The 13-14 Girls relays have won all 3 so far (200 free, 200 medley, 800 free) and the 10 and under girls won the 200 free relay tonight.
With such a strong start OSC is poised to continue the great swimming and move up the overall team scores. Keep up the great racing everyone!
Real-time Results
Provincial Championship This Weekend at Kinsmen. 55 OSC
swimmers will be competing at the Provincial Championship this Thursday to
Sunday here in Edmonton at Kinsmen pool. With this many swimmers in the meet
it’s sure to be an exciting one for the team. Daily stories will be available
here on the website, but better yet come on out to the pool to cheer on the
team! Prelims each day start at 8:30 am, and finals begin at 4 pm. LET’S GO “O”!
Real-time Results
A Substance Quick Reference Card can be printed to bring with you to competitions should you need to purchase medication away from home. Always double check with your coach before taking any medications before or at compeititons.
If it is banned and they need to continue using it (such as an inhaler for asthma) they will need to have a doctor sign off on the Abbreviated Therapeutic Use Exemption Form
If you have any questions or are uncertain about the process please contact either Coach Carl kingcarl@shaw.ca or Coach Chris Jellylegsnelson@yahoo.com
>> http://www.didglobal.com/page/PHPSESSID/820a589f2c6f7c674f08d3d323c9b23f/home
This is a radio interview done on 630 Ched’s Inside Sports show the other night. The golfer in question (Brad Fritsch) made his first ever US Open Golf Tournament – he finish tied for 128th and missed the cut to continue on in the tournament.
I was amazed at the parallels that were so easy to draw between what he is talking about in his golf game to our sport of swimming. Take the 10 minutes to listen to the interview and try to imagine he is talking about swimming.
Here are some of the things that I heard and thought were interesting
> What did going to the US Open do for him psychologically?
> Wingfoot in New York was considered one of the toughest golf courses on the US PGA Tour this year, listen to what he says about the challenge and think about how that attitude impacted his game.
> Listen to Al Stafford’s comments on the strategy of ‘attacking’ the course in order to win. How does that relate to swimming a race?
> Even in the pro ranks you can see that other professionals are watching and learning from others in their sport.
> Interesting how even in the professional ranks the lower ranked players do not have the same access to the technology, travel and sports science of the leading pros.
> “It’s all about Timing” – Playing well at the right times of the season!
> “Practicing the right things”
> “The harder you work the more likely you will show your true potential in pressure situations”
> Listen to how much he is aware of the next tournament he will be playing in…
I was extremely impressed with the efficiency that our ‘meet staff’ put together and took down all the timing equipment. The meet ran without flaw and was probably the most relaxed I had ever seen officials.
For many of our swimmers in the program this was the meet to wrap up the season for them and they really swam their hearts out taking home the lion’s share of the over 50 best times swum at the meet. For the remainder of the kids training and racing until Provincials, Age Group Nationals, Pan Pacific Trials or Far Westerns this meet was a good Long Course racing opportunity just 2 weeks out of the start of all those meets.
A big part of the excitement of the meet was due to the great job the coaches on staff did in dividing the club into the two teams for the meet. A special thanks to Dave Mac and Chris Nelson for their ‘over the top’ work on preparing for this meet.
In the end it came down to the relays to decide with first ever winning team. With The White Team in the lead after all the individual events by the narrow margin of 4 points, The Blue team strategy paid off in the end, taking just enough relays wins to pull past White and win the meet by less than 10 points!
The meet showed great team work from swimmers and parents, amazing swimming from all levels of our program and a fun social setting to wrap everything up with at the end.
I am sure that this is just the beginning of what will be many more Blue vs. White battles in the future and certainly many more fun times with all members of our swim club.
Thanks again to all for an amazing season through the end of June, I look forward to seeing all of you back in the fall if I don’t see you at Provincials in July!
Carl Simonson, Head Coach
Also at this competition, Joshua Au made the A final of 200 fly in a best time of 2:10.14, and the B final of 100 fly in a solid 59.0. This is quite an accomplishment at this truly International competition! Congratulations to all 8 OSC swimmers who represented the club so well with very solid mid-season performances!
For the fourth consecutive year at the end of May, OSC sent a large team to the Regina Optimist Dolphins Long Course Invitational. Thursday morning the team of 34 swimmers boarded the bus for the 8-hour ride to the Lawson Aquatic Centre. When we arrived, the team swam for an hour just to loosen up after the long bus ride, and then headed off with their billet families or parents to rest up and get ready for the meet starting the next morning. This meet was a great opportunity for the team to practice traveling a long distance to a meet, and then to swim fast! This meet was also a chance for swimmers to make a number of A and B finals and to practice lots of racing before we come into the Championship Meet season.
The meet was a great success for the team, as we won the meet handily amassing 5700 points with the next closest competition back at 3800 points! These points came from all levels within the team. Our 10 and Under Girls won almost every event, including a ton of meet records from the relays and Berkley Nowlan. Our three 10 and under boys were awesome with lots of best times, medals and even some medal sweeps! Our 11-12 girls, led by Natasha Fung (who swam and won every event except 1500 free), were dominant winning lots of medals and winning both relays in meet record times. Our lone 11-12 boy, Luke Peddie, swam great winning 5 events including the 800 and 1500 freestyles, which he swam in back to back heats! The 13-14 girls were very solid, racing well and posting lots of best times. Nick Tworek was our only 13-14 boy but he was his usual consistently fast self posting best time after best time and winning a number of medals. The 15 and over girls were constantly in the finals making their presence felt and showed that they can swim fast in the most challenging of events. Last but not least our 15 and Over boys rocked the competition. Though none of these guys were over 16 years of age, Bryce and Callum still posted gold medal swims, and Justin and Erik both won medals themselves.
There were also some special events at this meet. The girls and boys each had an 800 free eliminator where the last place person after each 100 is eliminated. We had swimmers in both of these events, with Erik Olson placing a solid 2nd in the guys event, and Lindsay Morton placing 2nd in the girls race, both posting excellent times. The other exciting event was the 7x50 free skins race. In this event the 8 fastest swimmers overall from the heats of the 50 Freestyle start, with the last one getting eliminated each 50 until there are only two swimmers left. Natasha Fung was the only girl under 14 years old to qualify for this event, and at 12 years old it was quite an accomplishment to qualify in 6th position. However, throughout the skins race, she not only managed to hold on, but actually placed top 3 in her heat for each of the final 6 50’s. As all of the pre-race favourites faded and got knocked out of the event, Natasha’s fitness and toughness moved her all the way up to the final two where she finished second to a swimmer from Regina. Way to go guys!
We had four swimmers make qualifying times for new meets during this competition as well. Aven Preston made her first Age Group Nationals cut in a 100 fly official split in her 400 IM with a time of 1:10.08. Shannon Johnston made her fourth Far Westerns cut in the 100 fly posting a time of 1:16.48 (a 4 second drop) and qualified herself for the trip to California. We also had two new 'A' qualifiers: Noah Lubberding with a 1:44.71 in the 100 fly, and Taylor Mothersell in the 100 breast with a 1:31.85.
The coaching staff was especially impressed by the team spirit that was showed by this squad. The cheers before each session (including Oilers cheers!) were awesome and LOUD, and the cheering war with Regina was a highlight! A special thanks to Alison Lewis for chaperoning this trip. It was her first time chaperoning a trip but you couldn’t tell as she did an amazing job. Thanks, Alison!
Deanna Matthews Qualifies for Senior Nationals and 12 more club records are broken at EKI. By coaches Dave Macdonald and Michelle MacNeil
The 28th annual Edmonton Keyano International was yet another fantastic meet for the Olympians, and proved that the team's great short course season was no accident. Here are a few of the highlights:
Congratulations go out to several OSC swimmers who achieved amazing things at the EKI meet this past weekend. Deanna Matthews (13), a member of the High Performance Group, swam an awesome 200 back (2:23.89 LC) on Friday night to make her first Senior National qualifying time, and booked her ticket to Montreal for this summer's Pan Pacific Games Trials. Deanna nearly made it 2 national times in the 200 breaststroke (2:43.86 LC), falling one second short of that event's qualifying time. Congrats Deanna!
After missing the 1500 free Age Group National time at short course Provincials by only 5 seconds, Shannon Johnston (11), in a strong and well paced 1500 freestyle, made the time standard by a whopping 21 seconds and qualified for Age Group Nationals, which are to be held in Calgary this July. Way to go Shannon!
Elodie Maunder made a huge breakthrough in this meet making her first ever A time in the 200 breaststroke. She made the QT in the prelims, and then dropped her best time by 2 more seconds, going 3:12.54 in the final. Awesome Job!
Several club records were also set at the meet. On the girl’s side of the meet, five different records were broken. Natasha Fung (12) took down two of the 11 & 12 Girls sprint freestyle records, posting a 28.54 in the 50 Free and a 1:02.49 in the 100 Free. The former records of 28.68 and 1:02.71 were set back in 1986. Natasha was also a part of two record setting relays; the 4 X 50 Freestyle relay of Fung, Shannon Johnston, Kristan Kushlyk, and Kelly Delorme broke the old record of 2:04.24 set in 1991 with an incredible time of 2:02.77. This same group of ladies (Johnston – Back, Kushlyk – Breast, Fung – Fly, Delorme – Free) then proceeded to set a new record in the 200 Medley Relay, finishing in a time of 2:17.89, just under the former record of 2:18.44 set last season. Not to be outdone, the 13 & 14 Girls Medley Relay of Shaneese Nowlan, Deanna Matthews, Lori-Layne Kremer and Madison Mills clocked a time of 2:08.01, a full second under the former record. Within this relay, Nowlan’s 50 Backstroke lead off time of 32.95 eclipses the record set by Thea Norton back in 2001.
Mackenzie Lubberding (10) continued to rewrite Olympian Swim Club history by breaking several records throughout the course of the meet. He began by demolishing the Boys 10 & Under 400 IM record of 6:23.56 set in 1988 with an astonishing time of 6:07.75. He lowered his own 50m freestyle record not once, but twice during the meet, clocking in at 31.46 during preliminaries, and surprising everyone with an unbelievable 30.55 in the finals that evening. He followed up these performances by breaking his own records in the 100 Free (1:11.07), 200 IM (2:51.73) and the 100 Fly (1:19.02)
This brings our year total to 72 records, well past our season goal of 70, WITH 5 MEETS TO GO!
Overall OSC placed 3rd in this competition, beating out usual powerhouse University of Calgary for this position. Great job to all the OSC swimmers on swimming so well at this meet. Next up for OSC are the Regina Invitational May 26-28, the Silver Cup May 27-28, and the Mel Zajac International in Vancouver June 2-4. Keep up the fast swimming everyone.
More Club Records Fall at the Mayflower Invitational and New Qualifiers. Mackenzie Lubberding took down three additional Boys 10 & Under long course club records at the Mayflower meet to bring his total to seven in the past two weeks. In 50 Freestyle, his time of 32.05 eclipses the former record of 32.43 set in 1988. He swam a solid 1:11.29 in the 100 free to take down the former record of 1:12.95 from 1985, and a 3:14.07 in the 200 Butterfly to break his own record of 3:19.53 that he set last July.
Congratulations also to Monica McDowell who achieved her first 'A' time in the 100 Butterfly, and Caitlin Kamminga qualified for Age Group Trials in the 400m Freestyle.
Congratulations to all swimmers in the meet!! It was fantastic to see so many best times and victories in a wide range of events!
Sherwood Park Mayflower Meet Time Change To keep sessions at a reasonable length, the Mayflower meet will now have two sessions on Sunday April 9th. The first session will be only the 400 freestyle, and the remaining races of that day will be in the second session. The following swimmers are in the 400 free and will need to be at Coronation Pool at 7:45 AM on Sunday: Annika Kamminga, Tatiana Bowzaylo, Samantha Ferland, Danielle Rahel, Georgia Coughlan, Kaitlyn Peters, Sarah Jane Joly, Tessa Wilson, Kate Myszkowski, Georgia Fetzko, Keltie McDonald, Kimberly Barclay, Nicole Shrimpton, Elora Hunka, Jordan Freer, Taylor Picken, Andrew McDowell, Sam Dhar, James Mielnichuk.
All other swimmers who are in this meet will now need to arrive at the pool at 9:45 am. If you have any questions feel free to speak to your swimmer's coach or email Dave Macdonald (daveosccoach@gmail.com). Thanks!
Mackenzie Lubberding Assaults the OSC Record Book at White Bears. Congratulations to Mackenzie Lubberding for setting an amazing 4 new club records this past weekend at the White Bears Long Course Meet.
He began the meet on Saturday with an astounding 2:51.79 to break the 200 IM club record by nearly 5 seconds. He continued rewriting the books on Sunday with 3 new records in the 200 Breast (3:19.32), the 100 Fly (1:20.00) and the 200 Freestyle (2:37.10).
More congratulations go out to OSC's Paige Kremer, Noah Lubberding, Berkley Nowlan, and Kristan Kushlyk for winning the 200 meter challenge in their respective age groups.
OSC Finishes off the Short Course Season with a Strong Senior Provincials. 40 OSC swimmers competed at Alberta Senior SC Championships this weekend.
Two club records were broken, one in Mens Senior 400 medley relay. The team of Nathan Lynch, Winston Yeap, Josh Au, and Doug Rawlick just got in under the previous record by 4/100 of a second in a time of 4:04.72.
Madison Mills set the other record in the 200 freestyle for 11-12's in a time of 2:10.75. She started this meet in pursuit of two provincial records, which she missed by 3 tenths of a second in 200 Free and 6 seconds in 1500 Free last weekend at Age Group Provincials. In the toughest performance of the meet, she missed the 200 Free record by 8 one-hundredths of a second. This performance was a really gutsy one from this young lady. Competing in her second meet in two weeks and having swum the 1500 in the preliminary session as well. It took a great mental and physical effort for her to get up to this level of performance. Congratulations Madi!
OSC swimmers also won quite a few medals at this competition. Sheena Gross won two, a gold in the 400 IM, and a silver in the 200 backstroke. Josh Au got his first medal of the weekend on Sunday night winning the 100 fly in a new lifetime best performance. Lindsay Morton swam a gritty 400 IM on the first day to claim the bronze medal in another solid performance of 5:05.31. Finally, OSC maintained our tradition of excellent distance swimming, with Doug Rawlick and Lauren Mothersell both claiming bronze medals in the 1500 freestyle events.
Another highlight of note was Alex Williams achieving her first ever Western Championship qualifying times. Alex narrowly missed making this meet in December, but she persevered and this weekend the hard work paid off. Saturday night she swam the 200 breaststroke B final and made the standard dropping her best to 2:48.97. Sunday she added to that making the standard in the 1500 free, dropping 54 seconds from her previous best! Great work Alex!
Overall it was a solid weekend for OSC's senior swimmers. The team finished in a very respectable 4th place overall, and were 4th on both the men's and women's sides of the competition. This meet was a great way to finish off the short course season for the team. With the 2 new club records that brings the total tally for the season up to 53! An amazing feat for only 6 months. Now it's on to the real season, the Long Course season, and lots more fast swimming from the team!
Being named to Team Alberta 14 & Under Tour Team, which will head to Kamloops to take on our rivals in BC. The team is comprised of 32 swimmers representing two ages groups and both genders. Congratulations go out to:
11 & 12 Girls |
13 & 14 Girls |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Madison Mills | OSC | Edmonton | Tsue Anderson | EKSC | Edmonton |
| Lori Kremer | OSC | Edmonton | Colleen Nesbitt | GLEN | Calgary |
| Saskia McLean | EKSC | Edmonton | Pam McGhee | UCSC | Calgary |
| Stephanie John | UCSC | Calgary | Bobbie Mielnichuk | EKSC | Edmonton |
| Anna Goodway | CP | Calgary | Deanna Matthews | OSC | Edmonton |
| Olivia Cook | FMSC | Fort McMurray | Rachel Nicol | LASC | Lethbridge |
| Natasha Fung | OSC | Edmonton | Maura Lavoie | OSC | Edmonton |
| Karlyn Elford | STSC | Sherwood Park | Jacqueline Kubik | GLEN | Calgary |
11 & 12 Boys |
13 & 14 Boys |
||||
| Thomas Jobin | CASC | Calgary | James Kendrick | CASC | Calgary |
| Russell Wood | CASC | Calgary | James Goodway | CP | Calgary |
| Luke Peddie | OSC | Edmonton | Trace Kremer | OSC | Edmonton |
| Ken Naito | RIP | Canmore | Randy Churchill | UCSC | Calgary |
| Kevin Nelson | CASC | Calgary | Karl Wolk | EKSC | Edmonton |
| Marius Strydom | GPP | Grande Prairie | Chris Trickett | RDCSC | Red Deer |
| Mason Ogg | CASC | Calgary | Joshua Alook | FMSC | Fort McMurray |
| Corey Mills | CASC | Calgary | Ross Cocks | EKSC | Edmonton |
The final night of Age Group Provincial Championships ended up even better than the first two nights. The first event of the evening was the 10 and Under girls 200 Free Relay, and OSC's team of Tatiana Bowzaylo, Berkley Nowlan, Paige Kremer and Monica McDowell won the Bronze Medal. It was a tight race right to the end but Monica came through and held off the Killarney swimmer. Next up were the 11-12 girls relay of Madison Mills, Lori Kremer, Natasha Fung and Shannon Johnston. All four posted amazing splits and they broke the club record by an amazing 4 seconds in 1:57.02! The 13-14 Girls were also amazing posting great splits. Shaneese Nowlan, Maura Lavoie, Madison, and Aven Preston came in 5th in 1:56.16.
200 IM's were up next, and the first race of the event had 2 OSC swimmers. Berkley Nowlan, a hard-fought race to win the event and break 3:00 for the first time in 2:58.34. Tatiana Bowzaylo, also in the final, posting a best time for 8th. Mackenzie Lubberding also swam this event and came in for the Silver in 2:50.43, a 3 second drop. The 11-12 Girls event was a 1-2 finish for Natasha and Lori, with Natasha breaking her own club record set 2 weeks ago. In the B final Kristan Kushlyk was 9th in 2:41.31, and Kelly Delorme dropped 2 seconds from the morning for 13th. In the 13-14 girls event Deanna Matthews and Shaneese represented the club with 3rd and 4th place finishes respectively and both with best times. Maura Lavoie was in the B final and came 11th, swimming 4 seconds faster than in the morning. Trace Kremer and Nick Tworek were in the 13-14 A final of this event and came 2nd and 7th, both with solid times.
In the 100 Free Berkley Nowlan had an amazing last 50 to win the event in 1:15.05. Paige Kremer and Tatiana Bowzaylo were also in the final and placed 7th and 8th. In the boys event Mackenzie Lubberding got yet another club record dropping it down to 1:09.33 for the Silver medal. Madison Mills broke the club record in the 11-12 category and won the silver medal. Maura Lavoie competed in the 13-14 B final and finished up in 14th. Luke Peddie swam another best time in the 11-12 boys event and came in for 4th place in 1:05.03.
In the 50 breast Kristan came 4th in a best of 37.14, and Natasha was 5th in 37.52. Taylor Mothersell was in the B final and posted a best time of 40.72 for 15th. Deanna Matthews won the 13-14 B final in a best time of 36.69.
The 400 free was another great one for OSC. Madison and Lori were 1-2 in 4:40.59 and 4:45.54. Natasha fung came in for a tie for 4th in 4:49.41. Shaneese won the Bronze medal in the 13-14 event in a best of 4:38.76. Luke Peddie swam in the 11-12 final and came in 5th in another 5:00 performance. Trace Kremer finished off the event with a Silver in the 13-14 event.
Berkley Nowlan won her 6th Gold medal of the meet in the 100 fly dropping a 1:23.32, and Paige Kremer came in 8th in 1:33.13. Mackenzie won the A final in 1:17 and won yet another Gold medal. In the 11-12 race Madison Mills went a best time for the Silver. The B final had Tessa Wilson in 11th, Shannon Johnston in 14th and Katelyn MacLeod in 16th, all in best times. The 13-14 A final had Maura Lavoie in 5th and Aven Preston in 7th, both with solid swims, and the B final had Shaneese Nowlan in for 14th. Luke Peddie swam in his 7th A final of the weekend and came in 8th in a best time.
In the 50 back Tatiana was 8th in the 10 and under final. Deanna Matthews won the silver in the 13-14 event, and Jenna Lee was 15th in the B final. Trace Kremer was the final individual swim of the night and won the B final in 30.61.
The most exciting race of the night was a time trial for the 11-12 girls to
attempt to break the National Age Group record for the 400 medley relay. Not
only did they break the record, they destroyed it by over 2 seconds! The team of
Madison Mills, Kristan Kushlyk, Lori Kremer and Natasha fung all swam best
splits and at 9 pm came in for a final time of 4:38.25! This was these girls
last chance to break records, and they came through with an amazing performance.
Congrats Girls!Overall the team placed our best ever of 3rd, with the girls first, the boys fourth!
Another amazing night by OSC at Age Group Provincials in Calgary! The night started off with some amazing relay swims in the 200 Medley. First up were the 10 and Under girls (Tatiana Bowzaylo, Berkley Nowlan, Paige Kremer, and Monica McDowell) who battled for a medal the whole way and ended up 4th after all the girls posted their fastest splits ever. Of special note was Monica McDowell who is at the meet only swimming relays, and swam her best ever 50 free on the end of the relay by over 2 seconds! Then came the 11-12 girls. Each girl swam an amazing split, led off by Madison Mills in a club record of 32.72, then Kristan Kushlyk in 36.67, Lori Kremer in 30.30, and Natasha Fung in 29.14 to destory the provincial record by 2 seconds in 2:08.83! The B team (Shannon Johnston, Taylor Mothersell, Tessa Wilson, and Kelly Delorme) were 9th with great splits, and the C team was 15th (Katelyn MacLeod, Berkley Nowlan, Grace Tworek, and Kate Myszkowski). The 13-14 girls A team (Shaneese Nowlan, Deanna Matthews, Lori Kremer, and Maura Lavoie) swam an excellent race for 4th place in 2:08.96. The B team (Georgina Bull, Aisha Friesen, Aven Preston and Jenna Lee) swam in the morning and were 13th. The boys 13-14 team (Nick Tworek, Trace Kremer, Luke Peddie, and Nolan Vader) were 9th in their event, all posting great splits.
Next up; 200 free. Berkley Nowlan won the 10 and Under event convincingly in a new best of 2:37.19, and Paige Kremer was 4th with a 2 second drop in 2:49.21. Madison Mills went out fast and swam to a 3 second drop and a club record of 2:10.98, just 3/10
's of a second short of the provincial record. Natasha Fung was also in the final and posted a new best of 2:18.11 for 4th. In the 13-14 event our only representative was Shaneese Nowlan who moved up to 13th in a solid 2:16.13. In the boys 11-12 race Luke Peddie swam nearly a best time to finish in 6th position. Trace Kremer swam in the 13-14 A final and was 2nd in a very good 2:01.88, and Nick Tworek moved up 1 spot in the B final to 15th.
In the 10 and Under 50 fly, Berkley Nowlan swam a best time and came 5th. Mackenzie Lubberding followed that up in a new boys club record of 34.38, and Brandon Godley came in for 5th in a best time of 41.27. In the 11-12 girls event Lori Kremer won another one in 31.01, and Tessa Wilson was 8th in the final. In the 13-14 event Maura Lavoie and Aven Preston were 6th and 7th respectively, both in faster times than the morning. In the 11-12 boys event Luke Peddie was a surprise winner dropping a full second and setting his first ever club record in 32.32.
400 IM was the next event, and OSC's swimmers didn't stop piling up the victories. In the 11-12 event Lori Kremer dropped 6 seconds to win in 5:21.13. Natasha Fung and Kristan Kushlyk were also in the final and both had huge drops to place 4th and 7th respectively. In the 13-14 event Shaneese Nowlan used excellent backstroke and freestyle legs to win a tight battle in 5:10.71. We got our third win in this event from Trace Kremer in the 13-14 event winning handly by 10 seconds, and Nick Tworek held his own for a 4th place finish.
The next event was the 100 back, another strong one for the team. Mackenzie Lubberding swam his first time under 1:20 to come 2nd in 1:19.04. Brandon Godley also competed in the final but was DQ'd. In the 11-12 Girls event Madison Mills broke another club record to place 3rd in 1:09.45. Shannon Johnston and Kelly Delorme swam in the B final and were 13th and 15th in best times. In the 13-14 event it was a 1-2 finish for Deanna Matthews and Shaneese Nowlan in 1:07 and 1:08. With that swim Deanna qualified for the Alberta vs. BC Dual Meet team that is being selected from this meet. In the 13-14 boys event Trace and Nick were 8th and 15th respectively.
In the 200 breast Berkley won another medal coming 3rd in the 10 and Under event. Natasha Fung and Kristan Kushlyk came in for medals in the 11-12 with the silver and bronze respectively. Deanna Matthews had a blazing last 100 to win the silver in the 13-14 event.
Tatiana Bowzaylo was awesome in her 50 free final just missing the podium with a 35.40. Mackenzie Lubberding won his 3rd medal of the night by winning the 50 free, only 9/100's over his club record. Madison Mills got yet another medal in the 50 free with a bronze in 28.38, just 1/100 over the club record. Natasha Fung was also in the A final and broke 30 for the first time in 29.84, good for 6th. Shannon Johnston rounded out this event placing 16th in the B final. Our final swim of the night was Luke Peddie's 50 free and he dropped a nice 7/10's of a second for a bronze in 29.17.
In the race for spots on the BC vs. Alberta Dual Meet Team, OSC swimmers leading their categories to this point in the meet are Shaneese Nowlan, Lori Kremer, Trace Kremer, Madison Mills, and Maura Lavoie. Deanna Matthews backstroke wins have guaranteed her a spot on this team.
Olympian Girls are in 1st place, the Boys in 4th, and the team is Third Overall, behind Cascade and UCSC, with one day to go.
The first night of Age Group Provincials started off with a bang for the OSC squad. The first swims of the night were the 400 Free Relays. The 11-12 Girls A relay of Madison Mills, Lori Kremer, Natasha Fung and Kelly Delorme broke the provincial record by 3 seconds with a 4:18.60. The B team of Shannon Johnston, Kristan Kushlyk, Tessa Wilson, and Kate Myszkowski were 9th in 4:49.39. The 13-14 Girls A team of Shaneese Nowlan, Maura Lavoie, Madison Mills, and Aven Preston came in for the bronze medal in a time of 4:12.03, just missing the Club Record. The B team (Jenna Lee, Deanna Matthews, Georgina Bull, and Aisha Friesen came in for 13th, all of them with life time best splits. The 13-14 Boys (Nick Tworek, Trace Kremer, Nolan Vader and Luke Peddie) were 6th in their event, again all with excellent splits.
Next up was the 200 fly. The A final featured Lori Kremer who won the event in another solid swim of 2:28.28. The B final was full of OSC swimmers with Tessa Wilson coming in for 11th, Katelyn MacLeod, 14th and Kate Myszkowski, 16th. In the 13-14 event Maura Lavoie got another win for OSC in a best of 2:25.16. Shaneese Nowlan came in for 4th with another solid swim. In the B final Aven Preston came in for 12th place. In the 13-14 boys event Nick Tworek swam a gutsy race and just missed the podium coming in for 4th place, just off his best time set in the morning. Sam Dhar swam in the B final and came 13th in a lifetime best of 2:50.14.
Next up was the 100 breaststroke. In the 10 and Under event Mackenzie Lubberding was awesome in for 2nd in 1:30.21. In the 11-12 girls event Natasha Fung set a new club record in 1:18.75 for the silver medal. Kristan Kushlyk swam another good race of 1:20 for 4th position. In the 13-14 girls event Deanna Matthews swam a good race for 12th place. In the 11-12 boys event Luke Peddie swam a new best time of 1:33 in the morning, and ended up 14th with a slightly slower time than in the morning. In the 13-14 event Trace Kremer was the man coming out of lane 2 for a silver medal in a new best time of 1:15.36.
200 Back was next up and proved to be another great one for the team. In the 10 and Under event Tatiana Bowzaylo dropped 4 seconds for 7th place in 3:15.95. In the 11-12 event Madison Mills broke her own club record set in the morning with a Gold in 2:27.45. Lori Kremer was also in the A final for 6th place. In the 13-14 event Deanna Matthews swam a great race for the win with a time just over her best in 2:22.53. Shaneese Nowlan had a great best time for the bronze medal in 2:24.07. In the B final Georgina Bull swam a best time of 2:35.08 for her best time in a very well paced race. Nick Tworek was our only boy in this event and ended up 13th in a solid time of 2:27.50.
The final event of the evening was the 100 IM. Berkley Nowlan won the 10 and Under event in a huge drop of 1:23.87. Paige Kremer also had a great swim for 5th in 1:32.20. In the 10 and Under Boys event Mackenzie Lubberding was the Gold medalist in his 2nd club record of the day, smashing the old record by 6 seconds in 1:18.61. Brandon Godley dropped 7 seconds from the morning for 5th position. In the 13-14 Girls event Maura Lavoie and Aven Preston swam in the B final and came 12th and 15th respectively.
From the morning swims Berkley Nowlan won the timed final 400 free in a new best time of 5:31.54. Paige Kremer was 5th in a best time and Tatiana Bowzaylo also posted a best time for 10th position. In the 1500 free Madison Mills swam an amazing race dropping her best by 54 seconds and won the gold in 18:19.06. Lori Kremer came in for the Silver in 18:46.56, Kristan Kushlyk was 7th in 19:50.56, Kelly Delorme made her first club national time in 20:32.68 for 12th, and Shannon Johnston just missed the standard coming in 17th in 20:45. In the 11-12 boys event Luke Peddie swam a solid race in for 5th place. Trace Kremer and Nick Tworek swam the 13-14 event and came 2nd and 6th respectively.
All in all it was an awesome first day for the OSC contingent.
New Provincial Record for 11-12 Girls Relay.
On Saturday February 25th OSC's performance groups held a time trial to attempt to set some 11-12 long course records before these swimmers turn 13. First up Lori Kremer attempted to break the provincial record in the girls 200 Butterfly, one which she missed by .01 of a second last summer. She was on pace at the 150 mark but faded just slightly coming home and just missed the record again. After a few exhibition races by the rest of the group, the 11-12 400 medley relay (Madison Mills, Kristan Kushlyk, Lori Kremer, and Natasha Fung) stepped up in pursuit of the National Record in the 400 Medley Relay. Though they fell short of the national record, the broke their own Provincial record by 3 seconds in 4:53.24. The old record was set last summer at the provincial championship by Madison, Kristan, Lori, and Christine Kemp. These swimmers have one more meet as a team to attempt to break Provincial and National records, next weekend at Age Group Provincials before they age-up. Good Luck Girls, and keep those records coming!
Alberta Age Group Trials Recap from coach Maciek Zielnick
It was great to see all the energy that the Olympian swimmers brought to Lethbridge over the weekend even though it was a small team. Everybody came ready to race and that attitude paid off as we saw plenty of best times and one new ‘A’ time.
The great swimming started right on Friday with plenty of awesome races in the 400 free. First was Sarah Fleming going a best time by 15 seconds and posting a time of 6:03.8. Then right in the next heat came Grace and Elodie both going best times, Grace by 15 seconds and Elodie by 28. Grace's final time was 5:51.3 and Elodie's 5:45.7. Finally in our series of awesome 400 free races was Katrina finishing in a time of 5:18.4 and taking 10 seconds from her previous best time.
Saturday kept up the pace with plenty of fast swims from the OSC gang. Highlights were Grace swimming her 200 fly in 3:20.5 taking ten seconds from her best time and absolutely crushing the ‘A’ cut, and Elodie swimming her second great 200 breast of the meet and finishing in a time of 3:14.1 – a best time by 8 seconds.
I'm also happy to say that Olympian didn't fall under the slow Sunday spell and finished the meet with some of their fastest and definitely most exciting races. The huge highlight on Sunday was the Girls 200 Free Relay. All of the girls swam with an intensity even higher than the rest of the meet and ended up finishing 4th place with a final time of 2:18.7 – 8 seconds faster than their entry time. Samantha and Sarah deserve pats on the back for their relay splits. Samantha split 33.49 seconds as lead off just missing her ‘A’ cut by 0.09 seconds and Sarah brought the relay home in a split of 33.5, which was an awesome time.
Excellent racing by everyone at the meet, and good luck to Grace who will now go on to race at Age Group Provincials in two weeks in Calgary.
Westerns Recap from the Head Coach, Carl Simonson
Winnipeg was host to Canada’s Western Championships this past weekend. The weather in Winnipeg was bitterly cold, nothing new, but the swimming in Manitoba certainly made up for the lack of ‘heat’ outdoors.
Thursday afternoon we started off the meet with some very fast 50m performances, including a new club record for girls 13-14 50m Backstroke by Deanna Matthews, and our first medal of the weekend from Doug Rawlick in the 1500m Freestyle. The distance events were terrific for OSC – 11 personal best time swims in the 800 / 1500 Freestyle.
Friday saw 6 swimmers making the middle distance Freestyle finals and two girls, Deanna Matthews and Shaneese Nowlan both break 1:07 for 100m backstroke at night in second swims. Natasha Fung also set a new club record in the 200 IM with a best time of 2:31.81.
Saturday was probably one of the most exciting final sessions. To start the evening we had Shaneese swim a 200m Back swim off, winning handily, then getting right back onto the blocks for the B final of 200m Butterfly. There were many swimmers and coaches impressed by her toughness in doing the literal back-to-back events. Watching Erica Morningstar break a Canadian Record was great to see live but the highlight of our night was watching Josh Au make his first national standard in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:06.15. A great charge to the finish not only gave Josh his first national cut but earned him the silver medal in the event. Carly Perreaux dropped nearly 2 seconds in the 200m Breaststroke B final to go 2:39.44 – just over the National Standard in that event, and Natasha Fung dropped nearly 5 seconds from her previous best time to break her own club record in the same event
Sunday night was a bit of a heart breaker with Lindsay Morton and Sheena Gross both in the finals. Sheena moved up from 7th to 5th in the final and Lindsay narrowly missed her National standard by 18/100th of a second in a time just under 5 minutes. Josh grabbed his 2nd silver medal of the meet in the 100m Butterfly and Doug added his second bronze medal of the meet in the 800m Freestyle. Lauren Mothersell dropped 8 seconds off her personal best time in the 1500m Freestyle to place top 10 and Lori Kremer followed in the next heat with a Provincial Record performance of 18:13.
Overall, OSC had over 50 Top 16 performances and ended the meet with the Men placing 6th overall in points, the Women placing 13th, the Age Group swimmers (15 & Under Girls / 16 & Under Boys) placing 9th, and the overall Team score 11th out of the 47 teams at the meet. We had one new Provincial Record performance by Lori Kremer (11-12) in the 1500m Freestyle and by the end of the meet we saw 8 individual and 2 relay OSC Club Records fall.
OSC laid the foundation for a great follow up competition at Age Group Nationals this summer in Calgary. Many of our swimmers will still be in the same age group at next year’s Western Champs and I am sure that the ink on the record book will be wet with all the changes again next season!
I would also like to congratulate Grace Tworek for achieving her A Time at Age Group Trials in Lethbridge. I heard great things from all the swimmers at the meet down south and am sure to get more details as the week progresses.
One Medal and Two More Club Records Finish off OSC's Western Championship. The final night of swimming at Westerns was another great one for OSC. The first event of the evening was the 200 free where Brittany Vader came in for 16th position, and Doug Rawlick was 12th in the 17 and Over Men's event. Carly Perreaux came in 15th in the 16 and Over 100 breast just slightly off her best time, and Nathan Kindrachuk was 11th in 1:09.0 in the 16 and Under Men's category.
Next up was the 400 IM, traditionally one of OSC's strongest events, and tonight did not disappoint. Shaneese Nowlan started it off with another 3 second drop to 5:09.20 for 10th place. Carly Perreaux swam her second race of the night in the 16 and Over B final and came in 16th. Sheena Gross and Lindsay Morton swam in the A final with Sheena coming in 5th and Lindsay coming 7th, but disappointingly she missed the National Standard by a mere 18/100ths of a second. In the men's event Callum Lavoie put in a solid performance for 10th place in 4:44, and Doug Rawlick came in 7th with 4:41.
The 100 Fly B final was good to our 15 and Under women with Lori Kremer winning it in a new club record of 1:06.51 and Maura Lavoie coming in 3rd in a new best time of 1:07.69. The Men's event featured Callum Lavoie and Justin Selner 14th and 16th in the B final, and Josh Au won another silver medal in the A final in a new best time of 57.59.
The final event of the meet was the 200 Medley Relay. The Women's 'A' team (Cari, Carly, Lori, and Sheena) was 24th in 2:06.55, the 'B' team composed of all 13-14's (Shaneese, Deanna, Maura, and Christine) was 27th in 2:07.52, and the 'C' team (Brittany, Natasha, Lindsay and Lauren) were 32nd in 2:11.55. Of note on the 'B' team was Shaneese Nowlan who broke her first ever club record in the 50 Back with a 31.50 lead-off split. On the Men's relays we saw more solid swims to finish the meet. The 'A' team (Trace, Nathan, Josh, and Dave) were 15th in 1:53.20, all posting excellent splits, and the 'B' team (Bryce, Callum, Doug, and Colin) were 22nd in 1:58.24.
Overall at this meet our team won 4 medals, got 1 new national qualifier, broke 1 Provincial Record and 10 Club Records, and finished the meet in 11th position. With the number of young swimmers on this team, our future at this competition looks very bright. These swimmers will now prepare for the Age Group Provincials and Senior Provincials which take place in two and three weeks respectively.
One Provincial, 2 Club Records on the Final Morning of Westerns. The final morning of the Western Champs began with the 200 freestyle. Brittany Vader posted a best time to sneak into the B final with a 2:11.50. Lauren Mothersell, Maura Lavoie, Christine Kemp, and Caleigh Leighton-Nipp also competed in this event and were slightly over their best times. In the men's event Doug Rawlick's 1:58.73 was good enough for 14th and the B final. Also competing in this event were Joshua Au, Trace Kremer, Colin Bull, Erik Olson, and David Peddie who posted strong results but were just outside the top 16.
In the 100 Breast Natasha Fung broke yet another club record with a time of 1:19.02, breaking a record from 1990. Carly Perreaux swam only 1 tenth over her best time, but it was good enough for 13th place, so we will see her in action again tonight. Deanna Matthews also swam this event and came in for 34th position. In the men's event our only representative was Nathan Kindrachuk who's 1:09.69 placed him in 11th and will give him another shot tonight.
Next up was the 400 IM which was an exciting race for OSC. In the 15 and Under Girls Shaneese Nowlan dropped 5 seconds to place 12th and secured a spot in the B final. In the 16 and Over event we will be well represented tonight with Lindsay Morton in 5th and Sheena Gross in 7th. Just missing the B final was Carly Perreaux in 17th, and posting more solid swims were Cari Harr in 19th and Dana Armstrong in 21st. In the Men's event Callum Lavoie just missed the A final with a 9th place finish, but will race from lane 4 in the B final tonight. Nathan Kindrachuk posted a 4 second drop for 19th place, and Bryce Fisher came in for 25th. Doug Rawlick was our only 17 and over male, and he came in for 5th and will race for the medals tonight.
In the 15 and Under 100 Fly Maura Lavoie posted a best time of 1:07.80 for 9th position, and Lori Kremer will also be in the B final in 12th place. Christine Kemp battled hard through sickness and came in for 25th position with a swim close to her best. Dana Armstrong posted a best time of 1:07.28 for 26th in the 16 and over event, and Caleigh Leighton-Nipp came in for 45th just over her best. Josh Au is in the hunt for another medal after qualifying 2nd in the 16 and Under event, and in the B final we will have Callum Lavoie and Justin Selner in 13th and 16th respectively.
The final event of the morning was the Women's 1500 Free and the Men's 800 Free. As usual OSC had a very strong showing in these distance events, led by Doug Rawlick's bronze medal in 8:18.60. David Peddie placed 7th in the same event adding more valuable points for the team. In the 16 and Under boys event Erik Olson was 13th, Trace Kremer was 14th and Colin Bull posted a best time for 16th. Also of note were Bryce Fisher in 18th and Justin Selner in 24th. In the women's mile Lori Kremer stole the show breaking the 11-12 girls provincial record by a whopping 13 seconds in 18:13.18 good for 14th place. Our fastest girl was Lauren Mothersell in a best of 17:52 for 9th place, and Brittany Vader added a 15th place finish. Tonight the team hopes for a strong finish with 4 A Finals and 10 B Finals to be contested.
New National Qualifying Time for Joshua Au at Westerns. Saturday night began with a swim-off for first alternate in the Girls 15 & Under 200 Back, which Shaneese Nowlan won in a new best time of 2:24.17. She then got back on the blocks for the very next heat of the 200 fly B final, where she ended up 16th. Tough racing from Wanita! In the 15 & Under 200 fly final featured Lori Kremer in for 5th, Maura Lavoie in 6th and Brittany Vader in 8th in a new best time. The 16 and Over B Final had Lindsay Morton who set a new best time of 2:23.56 for 12th place. Next up was the 16 and Under boys B final of the 200 fly, where Justin Selner came in for 16th with a new best time of 2:19.9. In the final Josh Au went out after his race, split 1:00.9 at the 100, and ended up at 2:06.15 to make his first Senior National time! Congrats Josh! Also in the final Callum Lavoie dropped another second for a 2:12 and 7th place. In the 17 and Over event Doug Rawlick dropped 2 seconds to finish 10th in 2:08.24. 200 breast was a solid event for the club, with Natasha Fung setting yet another club record with a 2:44.34 for 13th in the 15 and Under event, and Carly Perreaux getting under 2:40 for the first time with 2:39.88 for 10th in the 16 and Over event. Callum Lavoie was our only representative in the men's event, placing 13th in the 16 and Under event, just over his morning time. 200 back was the final event of the night with Deanna Matthews placing 7th in the 15 and Under final with a solid 2:22, and Sheena Gross won the B final of the 16 and Over event in 2:19.48. Another great night for OSC in Winnipeg. Tomorrow is the final day of racing with the 200 Free, 100 Breast, 400 IM, 100 Fly, Women's 1500 free, and Men's 800 free. Stay tuned . . .
One New A Qualifier So Far at Age Group Trials in Lethbridge. In addition to the Western Canadian Championship, OSC has 6 swimmers competing this weekend at the Age Group Trials in Lethbridge. Congratulations to Grace Tworek who qualified for A's in the 200 Butterfly with a ten second drop from her previous best. Coach Maciek reports that the team is racing really well, posting lots of best times, and swimming faster than ever. Results should soon be available at www.lethbridgeswimming.com
OSC in the Hunt for the Medals after Saturday Fast Morning at Westerns. Though sickness is running rampant through the team, they are still finding ways to swim faster than ever before. The morning began with the 200 fly, one of OSC's strongest events, and the results did not disappoint. In the 15 and under girls event Lori Kremer and Maura Lavoie are in position to challenge for medals tonight placing 4th and 5th respectively, while Brittany Vader and Shaneese Nowlan will be in the B final placing 9th and 12th. In the 16 and Over event Lindsay Morton had a strong swim to make the B final, while Dana Armstrong, who is coming back from a shoulder injury, gutted out a solid swim for 19th position. In the men's 16 and Under Josh Au posted a best time for 2nd place, and only missed the National standard by 6 tenths of a second. Callum Lavoie also posted a best and will race in the final from lane 7. The B final will feature Justin Selner who dropped 2 seconds to place 15th. Doug Rawlick was 11th in the 17 and over event and will race in the B final tonight.
Next up was the 200 breast, where Natasha Fung placed 14th in a new Club Record, while Deanna Matthews narrowly missed the B final coming in 17th. Carly Perreaux was solid in 12th position in the 16 and Over event, while Cari Harr was slightly over her best for 25th position. In the 16 and Under boys event Callum Lavoie made his second final of the night placing 13th, while Nathan Kindrachuk would have made a second swim were it not for a disappointing disqualification.
In the 100 free Lauren Mothersell had an excellent 2 second drop for 38th place, while Christine Kemp was just over her own best for 41st position. Our only representative in the 16 and Over event was Caleigh Leighton-Nipp who was only marginally over her best time for 66th position. In the men's event Colin Bull posted a solid best time of 56.6 but just missed the B final in 18th position, while David Peddie also posted a best time of 55.3 for 27th place.
The 200 back will be another chance for OSC to medal tonight as Deanna Matthews qualified in 3rd place in a best time, while Shaneese Nowlan's 2 second drop almost got her into the B final placing 17th. Sheena Gross was 9th in the 16 and Over event, while Cari Harr came in for 20th place. Four of the boys swam this event with Josh Au being slightly over his best in 20th, Trace Kremer going a best for 25th, Bryce Fisher's 1 second drop got him 29th, and Erik Olson while very sick came in for 31st.
Two new club records were set in the 400 medley relays at the end of this morning's session. The 13-14 girls competing on the 'B' relay (Shaneese, Deanna, Maura, and Christine) broke their own record with a 4:37.98 for 23rd place. OSC 'A' (Cari, Carly, Lori, Sheena) are in 15th with a 4:33.23, and OSC 'C' (Brittany, Natasha, Lindsay, Lauren) were 27th in 4:40.91. The 15-17 boys (Josh, Nathan, Doug, and Dave) broke the club record by 3 seconds with a 4:06.27 for 13th place, while the 'B' team (Trace, Callum, Justin, and Colin) were 20th in 4:19.13. A great night is in store for the team who sit 15th in the team point standings, but should be able to overtake a number of teams tonight. Keep up the great racing everyone!
More Best Times from OSC at Westerns. Friday night started off with the 200 IM, where Sheena Gross won the B final in a new best time of 2:22.23. Nathan Kindrachuk and Josh Au raced in the 16 & Under B final and placed 13th and 15th respectively, Nathan dropping 1 second from his best time, while Doug Rawlick placed 13th in the 17 and Over event in a solid time of 2:12.88. In the 400 Free Brittany Vader placed 7th in the B final of her event, and in the 16 and Over event Sheena Gross was 10th and Lindsay Morton was 16th. OSC had a strong group of guys in the men's 400 Free. In the 16 and Under event Colin Bull and Trace Kremer were 11th and 14th respectively, both with their second PB's of the day in this event. For the 17 and Overs Doug Rawlick was 6th in 4:05.82, and Dave Peddie improved on his morning swim to place 3rd in the B Final. In the 100 Back OSC's young girls made some more huge drops with Shaneese Nowlan improving her best time to 1:06.62, while Deanna Matthews was 10th in 1:06.84. Saturday promises to be another strong day for OSC with the 200 Fly, 200 Breast, 100 Free, 200 Back, and the 400 Medley Relay being contested. Stay tuned for more updates from Winnipeg.
Two Finals, Ten Consolation Finals for OSC on Friday morning at Westerns. OSC had a fast morning with the following swimmers advancing to tonight's finals: Sheena Gross (200 IM - 10th , 400 Free - 9th), Josh Au (200 IM - 9th), Nathan Kindrachuk (200 IM - 16th), Doug Rawlick (200 IM - 12th, 400 Free - 7th), Brittany Vader (400 Free - 14th ), Colin Bull (400 Free - 9th), Trace Kramer (400 Free - 11th), David Peddie (400 Free - 14th), Shaneese Nowlan (100 Back - 7th), Deanna Matthews (100 Back - 12th). Also of note was Natasha Fung, who broke the 11-12 girls club record in the 200 IM with a 2:31.81 this morning. Finals begin tonight at 6 pm CT.
Strong First Day for OSC at Westerns. Olympian swimmers had a great first night at the Western Canadian Championship in Winnipeg. One new club record was set by Deanna Matthews in the 13-14 50 back, breaking her own record with a 31.60. Doug Rawlick posted a personal best in the 1500 free of 15:45.09 to win the bronze medal in the 17 and over men's event. The meet continues through Sunday.
Club Records have been updated to February 9th.
ONE Provincial, and SEVEN new club records, and new qualifiers for Westerns, and Alberta Age Group Trials at Blue Bears! On the Team Performance side of things, OSC won the Male, Female, AND Overall Team Scoring Titles at Blue Bears, and our third meet in a row! We started strong with JP Fiset, added PCS Christmas Cracker and now Blue Bears. This really is an incredible accomplishment considering that we had a far smaller number of swimmers as compared to the host team, Keyano. Every OSC swimmer played a part in the success of the team, whether it was through individual performance or team support, and so you should all be proud of this accomplishment. From Head Coach, Carl Simonson: Looking at rehearsing for peak performances, I felt that OSC was on top at Blue Bears when comparing to the other teams. We had swimmers executing their race strategies with confidence, trying new events (another key element of the In-Season Competition) and acting and looking like a team, a great thing to practice for our National and Provincial meets. As for getting the highest quality workout going, I think it’s safe to say that every OSC swimmer put in their best efforts at the meet (it certainly showed in the scoring!) and that each member of our team should be very excited and motivated for the upcoming Championship meets in February and March.
A big ‘thanks’ to all of our parents who volunteered at the meet on the weekend. I feel that OSC truly is the best team in our city from top to bottom and it couldn’t happen without great staff, parents and athletes!
Old Alberta Record >> 1994 400 MR 4:54.08 L.A. Swim Club
Old Club Record >> 25-Feb-05 400 MR 4:55.96 M. Mills, N. Fung, L. Kremer, C. Kemp
Girls 11-12 400 free relay - Madison Mills, Natasha Fung, Lori Kremer, Kelly Delorme - 4:23.56
Old Club Record >> 25-Feb-05 400 FR 4:28.63 M. Mills, L. Kremer, N. Fung, S. Johnston
Girls 11-12 100 back - Madison Mills - 1:10.44 (tied record)
Old Club Record >> 30-May-90 100 Back 1:10.44 Tara Fullbrandt
Girls 13-14 400 medley relay - Shaneese Nowlan, Deanna Matthews, Maura Lavoie, Christine Kemp - 4:38.20
Old Club Record >> 1-Jan-99 400 MR 4:44.62 A. Kremer, K. Timmons, B. Kremer, C. Huebert
Boys 10 and U 50 Free - Mackenzie Lubberding - 31.31
Old Club Record >> 4-Mar-90 50 Free 32.07 Dallas Dyson
Boys 10 and U 100 Fly - Mackenzie Lubberding - 1:19.82
Old Club Record >> 4-Mar-90 100 Fly 1:20.28 Dallas Dyson
Boys 15-17 400 medley relay - Callum Lavoie, Nathan Kindrachuk, Joshua Au, Colin Bull - 4:09.24
Old Club Record >> 1-Jan-96 400 MR 4:18.76 OSC Relay
Doug Rawlick is swimming with the Canadian Youth/Junior Tour Team in Melbourne,
Australia. You can check results of the
2006 Victorian Championships being held at the brand new Commonwealth Games
pool. Canadian Men went 1-2-3 in 1,500 freestyle.
The Canadians compiled five gold, nine silver and three bronze on Wednesday.
After three days of competition they have 55 medals.
In the junior men's 1,500 freestyle, Pascal Wollach of Calgary took the gold in
16 minutes and 25.33 seconds with OSC's Doug Rawlick of Edmonton second in
16:32.88 and Ray Betuzzi of Calgary third in 16:35.25. Greg Gerum of Hamilton
was seventh.
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