The finals at the short course meters Canada Cup in Toronto this evening proved how well the Canadians are swimming in-season this year.
Savannah King started off the meet by taking the 800 freestyle title in 8:35.45. She was well off her best time, but was possibly saving some energy for her 200m freestyle final which she swam roughly 10 minutes after completing her 800. King swam a 2:00.48 to finish sixth in the 200 freestyle, 17 year old Gators swimmervKennedy Goss taking the gold in 1:58.91. Olympian Barbara Jardin who swam out of lane three in the B final however, came home with the fastest swim of the night, winning the B final in 1:58.86.
Four men dipped under the 50 second barrier tonight in the 100 freestyle; Evan Van Moerkerke from the University of Guelph took the title in a 49.46. Van Moerkerke out-touched many time CIS winner Coleman Allen to the wall to take the victory, Allen touched in at 49.47 just 0.01 seconds behind him. Olympian Chris Manning finished fourth.
Manning swam the 50m breaststroke shortly after and despite being the top seed going into the meet, finished 5th in 28.49. Kevin Deret won the event in 28.08.
The women’s 100m breaststroke final boasted two 2012 Olympic breaststrokers: Martha McCabe and Tera Van Beilen. McCabe won the event with ease over the field, touching the wall in 1:06.74. McCabe was just under a second away from her best time of 1:05.84 from a World Cup event this summer. McCabe who is known for her 200m breaststroke is showing some great in-season speed that should help her later on in the season. Van Beilen finished second behind McCabe in 1:07.54.
University of Calgary freshman Tristan Cote won the men’s 400 IM in a personal best time of 4:17.76. Oakville’s Evan White came fourth, touching the wall in 4:18.91. White recently committed to swim for the Michigan Wolverines next season.
One of the most anticipated swims of the meet: the 100m butterfly was just as exciting as predicted. Rivals Katerine Savard and Noemie Thomas fought for the entire race, Savard just out-touching Thomas towards the finish 56.99 to 57.03. Canadian butterfly veteran Audrey Lacroix came third in 58.78. Thomas and Savard faced off again in the women’s 50m freestyle final. Thomas got the upper-hand on Savard in the splash-and-dash, finishing in third with a time of 25.48. Savard finished in seventh while Ariane Mainville won the event in 25.24.
The men’s 100m backstroke was won by Russell Wood. Wood touched the wall in 52.97 to win the gold.
In the women’s 50m backstroke, young swimmers Emma Ball and Danielle Hanus dominated the race. Both 15, Ball touched in 28.28 behind Hanus’ 28.23.
World Championship team member Zach Chetrat completely dominated the field in the 200 fly. Chetrat won the event with a time of 1:55.67 and finished over a body length ahead of second place finisher David Sharpe.
Frank Despond and Robert Wise battled it out until the end in the men’s 400m freestyle and ended up touching the wall with an identical time. The dead-heat-final had Wise and Despond both touching in at 3:47.31. The two shared the gold medal, the bronze going to 400 IM winner Tristan Cote.
Second place finisher in the 100m freestyle, Coleman Allen, finally got his gold medal, winning the 100m IM. Coleman touched the wall in 54.60 ahead of second place finisher Evan White.
The Canadians have shown some fast in-season swimming during day 1 finals, day 2 should also be packed with exciting races.
For full meet results click here.
