Rebecca Smith Kicks Off Post-Olympic Season; Kamryn Cannings Ranks #1 in Canada

University of Calgary Swim Club – Team Champs and Fall Start Up

• Friday, October 15 & Saturday, October 16, 2021
• University of Calgary
• Short Course Meters (25 meters)
• Results – Team Champs
• Results – Fall Start Up

Still limited by Swim Alberta COVID-19 restrictions that don’t allow for inter-club competitions, the University of Calgary Swim Club hosted back-to-back meets on Friday and Saturday in short course meters.

Among the participants was Tokyo 2020 Olympian Rebecca Smith, who swam the 3rd leg in finals of the silver medal winning 400 free relay. This meet was Smith’s first racing since the Olympic Games, as she did not enter the draft pool for the International Swimming League this season.

Smith’s weekend highlight was a 1:54.71 in the 200 free, which is the 8th best time of her personal career and her second-best time on Canadian soil.

She won every event she entered throughout the weekend. That includes her lone race on Friday, where her 59.78 missed a personal best by .03 seconds, carried by pushing her underwaters almost exactly to 15 meters:

Rebecca Smith‘s Weekend Results:

• 200 free – 1:54.71
• 50 fly – 26.62
• 100 fly – 57.58
• 100 IM – 1:01.37
• 100 back – 59.78

The other high-profile name at the meet was former Youth Olympic Champion Rachel Nicol. She was 2nd at Canada’s Olympic Trials meet in the 100 breast in June, but the 28-year old was just-shy of the time standard needed to earn her a spot in that swim in Tokyo.

Newly-registered with UCSC, Nicol won the 50 breast in 31.08 on Friday and the 100 breast in 1:07.87 on Saturday.

While those two carried the torch for the club veterans, a few of the club’s junior-aged swimmers performed well too. Kamryn Cannings, who was a member of a National Age Group Record breaking 200 medley relay in 2019, swam 5 best times across the two events.

• 50 free – 25.69*
• 200 free – 2:03.50*
• 100 back – 1:04.38
• 100 breast – 1:14.58*
• 100 fly – 1:00.22*

According to Swimming Canada rankings, four of those five times (marked with asterisks above) are the top times by Canadian 15-year olds in the 2021 calendar year.

The 100 fly time is specifically the top time by a Canadian in either half of the 15-16 age group in this calendar year. It ranks her 9th all-time in Swimming Canada history among 15-year olds, and is the fastest short course meters time the country has seen at that age in almost three years.

Other Notable Results:

• 20-year old University of Calgary 3rd year Nathan Versluys swam best times in the 100 free (50.56), 50 breast (30.24), 100 IM (57.36), and almost hit a best time in the 200 free (1:48.58). The varsity squad at Calgary will open their intercollegiate schedule in about two weeks Versluys is a transfer from nearby University of Alberta who is starting his first season with the Dinos. At his first U Sports championship meet in 2020, he had a high finish of 11th place in the 200 IM individually for 9th place Alberta. Now he joins the defending runners-up Clagary in their quest to close the ~200 point gap on the defending champion UBC Thunderbirds.
• 18-year old Ian Friesen, preparing to start his first season with the Dinos varsity squad, also swam three flat-start best times, including a 51.49 in the 100 free.