Ontario Age Group Championships
- March 5-8, 2026
- Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada
- LCM (50 meters)
- Results
A handful of Canada’s talents were out on full display in Toronto at the Ontario Age Groups earlier this month, among them were former Georgia Bulldog Javi Acevedo and 17-year-old Simon Fonseca Florez, who each came away with several big performances.
Acevedo, among the older and more experienced talents in attendance at age 28, closed the meet with four wins in all four of his events. Representing High Performance Center – Ontario, the former Georgia swimmer swam a career best in the 50 breaststroke, taking the win in 28.55, a more than half-second improvement over his 28.92 from the Canadian Open last April.
He also added a season best in the 50 backstroke, touching more than a full second ahead of the rest of the 17 and older age group swimmers in 25.65. This time still sits well off his best time of 24.90 from the Canadian Swimming Trials in 2023, but does mark the first time he has been under 26 seconds since the Mel Zajac Jr. International Meet in June of 2024.
He also raced two freestyle events, winning both the 50 free (23.31) and the 100 free (49.92), and would be the only swimmer across all age groups to crack the 50-second barrier in that 100 free.
In that same 100 free, Fonseca Florez won three events of his own but also swam a best time by a touch over three tenths to finish 3rd overall in 51.11 in the 17 and older age group. He did swim another career best in the 200 free, marking his first ever time under 1:51 with a prelims time of 1:50.29, though he did not swim the finals, where that time still would have earned him the win by six tenths.
Fonseca Florez added victories in the 400 free (3:58.36), 800 free (8:10.40), and the 1500 free (15:55.85) to complete the distance free sweep in Toronto.
On the women’s side, Etobicoke Swimming’s Olive Rogers (Akron commit) was dominant, winning four individual events in the 17 and older age group, including a sweep of the backstrokes, winning the 50 back (29.90), 100 back (1:02.62), and the 200 back (2:14.54), with the latter two being career best performances.
That 200 back swim from Rogers was among the most impressive of the women’s meet, having cut nearly two seconds off of her former best time of 2:16.42 to take an uncontested win here by five and a half seconds.
Ajax Aquatic Club’s Rowan Baglole (West Virginia commit) saw similar success on the women’s side, picking up several wins of her own, including both the 100 free (56.73) and 200 free (2:04.06), clocking career bests in both races.
This meet also featured a new Ontario Para Swimming record in the 100 free, as 23-year-old Aly Van Wyck-Smart notched a new S3 Classification record.
13-year-old Alessa Darby clocked two Para Records in the 200 IM S6 at this meet, as she initially broke the Ontario Para Record in the prelims in 4:06.13, and later reset that record time in 4:03.16.
