Age Group Stars Cannings & Clark Pick up 200 Free Wins on Night 3 in Canada

2022 SPEEDO CANADIAN JUNIOR & SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

• July 25 – August 1, 2022
• Montreal, Quebec
• Olympic Park & Olympic Rowing Basin
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results

Brooklyn Douthwright dipped under two minutes in the 200 free for the first time this year, and Canada’s next wave of talent continued to shine on day 3 of the 2022 Speedo Canadian Junior & Senior Championships.

With most of the country’s top swimmers off racing at the Commonwealth Games, there is plenty of room for new faces to top the podiums at this week’s meet in Montreal.

That included Brooklyn Douthwright in the women’s 200 meter freestyle, touching in 1:59.90 to win by over two-and-a-half seconds. The three next-fastest swimmers came out of the 15-17 junior age group, where 16-year old Kamryn Cannings (2:01.49), 17-year old Elan Daley (2:01.76), and 17-year old Christey Liang (2:01.84) were all at or near their best times.

Cannings’ swim moves her up to 18th place all-time among Canadian 16-year olds in the event.

Maxine Clark picked up another win, this time in the 13-14 200 free. After breaking the National Age Group Record in the 100 fly for 13-14s earlier this week, she won the 200 free in 2:03.47 to win the 200 free. That ranks her 13th all-time among Canadians in the age group. She leads the 13-14 High Point rankings through three days of competition.

The 50 meter breaststroke races on Wednesday were swum as a single combined open age group. In the women’s race, it was 16-year old Alexanne Lepage who won in 32.01. She topped a very competitive field that saw the top 8 swimmers all at 32.6 or better.

The men’s race was won by UBC swimmer Justice Migneault in 28.34. That lopped 1.3 seconds off his previous personal best. He picked up a win in the 100 breast earlier in the meet, though that swim wasn’t a best time.

Further down the 50 breaststroke rankings, 20-year old Brayden Hemeon swam 29.28 to break his second Saskatchewan provincial record of the meet. He also cleared the 100 breaststroke record, twice. In the 50, he placed .03 seconds ahead of his younger brother Ethan to claim the record.

There was one Canadian Age Group Record broken on the night. Laon Kim from the Hyack Swim Club in British Columbia won the 13-14 boys’ 800 free in 8:23.15, which took more than two seconds off the old record. The prior mark of 8:25.83 was set by Charlie Kwinter of Etobicoke in 2019. Read more about that record-setting swim here.

Other Day 3 Winners and Highlights:

• Michael Sava won the men’s 200 fly in 2:00.78. He was a few tenths faster in March of this year. 18-year old Benjamin Loewen won the 16-18 age group in 2:01.08, which was the second-best time of the day. William Browne won the 14-15 age group in 2:05.80.
• 18-year old Ashley McMillan won the 200 IM in 2:13.47 – about a second short of her best time. Alexanne Lepage picked up another win, this time in the 15-17 age group in 2:18.37. “I’ve gotten used to swimming back-to-back races at regional meets so I just set it up well with my coach before, make sure I got a little bit in the warm-down pool in between,” Lepage said. “Just making sure I’m having fun with it. It’s fun to race.”
• Possibly the most impressive swim of the night came out of the youngest age group, though. Halle West won the 13-14 race in 2:18.38. That was .17 seconds off of her personal best that currently ranks her 6th all-time in Canada in the age group.
• University of Calgary Swim Club won the mixed 400 free relay in 3:37.13. The winning relay was Nathan Versluys, Richie Stokes, Kaycee Cannings, and Camryn Kannings. Camryn Kannings anchored in a split of 55.24. UCSC went 1-3 in the race, with Pointe-Claire Swim Club’s “B” relay finishing as runners-up.
• Yu Tong Wu won the 15-17 boys’ 800 free in 8:16.31. That was the second-best swim of the night among all age groups, behind only Benjamin Cote’s win in the senior group in 8:11.56. Cote represents the Killarney Swim Club. Cote was raised in the United States and recently completed his freshman season at the University of Florida, which is the top distance program in the US at the moment.

Para Finals

• In the multi-class men’s 100 backstroke final, Tyson MacDonald (S14) won handily with an 816-point 1:04.31. The 7th-place finisher was Hunter Helberg, whose time of 1:18.96 set a new Canadian Record in the S12 classification.
• Shelby Newkirk, fresh off a win in June in the same event at the World Championships, won the women’s 100 backstroke on Wednesday evening. She swam 1:22.46, which was good for 974 points – the highest-scoring swim of the night’s para events. ““It really was special to swim against so many of my worlds teammates,” said the 26-year-old from Saskatoon, who captured the world title in the 100 back S6 at Madeira 2022. “It’s been such a long season and I know we’re all really tired so I just wanted to have fun at this meet. So to be able to cheer on my teammates and swim side by side with them, as well as a number of newcomers, that’s been very exciting for sure.”
• Nikita Ens won the S1-S5 women’s 50 backstroke with a 1:11.12 (565 points) swim. She is an S3 swimmer.
• Tyson Jacob was the lone entrant in S1-S5 men’s 50 backstroke. An S5 classified athlete, he won with a time of 52.96.