Two National, Three Provincial Records Fall At Ontario Championships

At the short course Ontario Provincial Championships this past weekend in Toronto, an astonishing two national records and three provincial records were broken throughout the course of the competition.

Kayla Sanchez became the first 13-14 year-old swimmer from Ontario to ever dip below 59-seconds in the 100m backstroke with a winning time of 58.70. Not only was that a provincial record, but it also doubles as a Canadian national age group record eclipsing Danielle Hanus’ 59.09 mark from 2014.

Olivia Anderson of Etobicoke managed to break her own record in the 1500m freestyle by a long shot. The up-and-coming distance swimmer put forth a 16:05.00 to better her former 16:15.73 mark that she set earlier in 2015.

Anderson was just shy of the national age group record held by Savannah King at 16:00.68. That record has stood for over six-years.

Penny Oleksiak, who’s working her way to becoming one of the top sprinters in Canada, pushed her way to a 53.22 performance in the 100m freestyle. In doing so, Oleksiak broke Heather McLean’s senior provincial record time of 53.39 from 2009.

She was also just one one-hundredth shy of the age group national record in the 15-17 year-old category. The record sits at a 53.21 set in February of 2007 by Erica Morningstar.

Owen Huang took down some of the oldest Ontario records on the books in the 13-14 year-old category, including one from legendary Canadian swimmer Alex Baumann.

Huang swam a 1:52.38 in the 200 freestyle to break Baumann’s 1:53.28 record that he set all the way back in 1979. Not only was that an Ontario record, but it was a Canadian national age group record.

Huang also downed the 200 breaststroke record with a 2:16.00, bettering Michael Mason’s 2:16.87 from 1989.

For full meet results click here.