Swimming Canada released the psych sheet for the 2015 Canadian Swimming Trials which will be the selection meet for the Canadian World Championship team, Pan Am team, and World University Games team.
Among some of the top Canadian talent fighting for a spot on a national team, many members of the Michigan team will be crossing north of the border to compete in Toronto. There are a total of 197 entries from foreign (non-Canadian) athletes including the likes of Michael Wynalda, Geoff Cheah, and Bruno Ortiz.
Some stellar match-ups are set to be made. In the 50m fly, recent NCAA Champion with Cal Noemie Thomas leads the charge ahead of Katerine Savard and Sandrine Mainville. Sam Corea, who also medalled at NCAAs in Greensboro is seeded fourth behind Mainville.
Savard and Thomas will face off again in the 100 with the addition of Audrey Lacroix. Both Lacroix and Savard are Commonwealth Games gold medallists, and Thomas is a world championship finalists in the event. The three all have potential to make it. The three will also fight for a spot on the team in the 200 fly where Lacroix is seeded first, Savard second, and Thomas third.
The men’s 200m fly will be dominated by American swimmers. Kyle Whitaker and Dylan Bosch are the top two seeds in the event by a long shot. The fastest Canadians seed is Zack Chetrat who’s entering the meet with a 1:59.00.
Georgia swimmer Brittany MacLean is seeded first in the 200, 400, and 800 freestyles, but will opt out of the 1500. She swam a similar schedule at NCAAs the past weekend. She’ll have Samantha Cheverton as her biggest competition in the 200. In the middle-distance and distance swims she’ll be up against UBC’s Savannah King, Tabitha Baumann, and Cheverton.
The women’s backstroke events are very tightly packed. Brookylnn Snodgrass of Indiana has the top seed in the 100 followed by Dominique Bouchard (Missouri), and Hilary Caldwell. Rising age-group star Taylor Ruck will be swimming the 100 back as well, going in as the fourth seed ahead of Danielle Hanus and Kennedy Goss.
The 200 will feature a very similar field but with Caldwell leading the pack. Bouchard, Genevieve Cantin, Snodgrass, and Ruck follow in her steps. This will be Ruck’s first chance at qualifying for a senior international meet for Canada. Ruck trains in Arizona with the Scottsdale team, and has lived there the majority of her life, however does not have American citizenship and plans to represent Canada internationally given the opportunity.
Chantal Van Landeghem, another Georgia swimmer, is the fastest seed in the 100 freestyle. Originating from Manitoba, Van Landeghem will have to hold-off Canadian swimming veteran Victoria Poon, recent CIS champion Sandrine Mainville, and Ohio State graduate Michelle Williams.
The breaststroke events will also feature some very solid international talent with the likes of Breeja Larson. Larson will be swimming the 100 and 200 breaststrokes entering Kierra Smith’s domain. Smith is coming off an NCAA Championship title in the 200 yard breaststroke and is one of the favourites to make the national team. Throw in Martha McCabe who won a bronze in the 200 breaststroke at worlds in 2011, and it’s going to be one of the best races. Tera Van Beilen of UBC and Ashley McGregor of Texas A&M will also be ones to watch. Fiona Doyle who killed it at the CIS Championships will also be a serious contender who could spice things up.
Canadian freestyle star Ryan Cochrane is entered in the 200, 400, and 1500 freestyles. He’s the favorite in the 400 and 1500, and will have to battle some of the young up-and-coming Canadians if he wants to win the 200. He’s done it in the past, so anything is fair game. He is also one of the only Canadian men who’s projected to make the worlds team based on the new trials standards.
Richard Funk, who trains with Michigan, is the top seed in the 200 breaststroke. Missouri’s Igor Koslovskij who is not Canadian is seeded second ahead of Eli Wall. Wall swept the breaststrokes at the 2015 CIS Championships. Sam Tierney of Missouri will also be making the trek to Canada to swim at the new Pan Am facility. Funk will be seeded first in the 100 breast as well ahead of Zach Hayden and Eduardo Solaeche-Gomez.
To see the psych sheet click here.
John Atkinson flew to USC to “recruit” Santo Condorelli. I know because he ignored other Canadian swimmers on the team and only talked to Santo, then flew out, I’m guessing the trip was paid for with tax payer dollars.
@Concerned. I get the feeling that by now you and I are the only two reading these posts at this point. Sorry for the delay in responding.
I’ll un-entrench my stance from “open the drawbridge and allow americans to compete here” to “let’s wait and see how things work out this time next week”. Please do the same. I golf better when I’m playing with better golfers. Let’s see if Ashley Mcgregor swims better with Breeja there. Let’s see if Zack Chetrat swims faster with Kyle Whittaker beside him in prelims. I hope they do.
We’ll know next week if 60 something extra americans with 200 swims will impact space in warm up pools, parking, length of the meet… Read more »
1) Faster competition means faster times.
2) Swim Canada will use times from prelims for the selection of the Junior Team. (read the team selection criteria)
3) Santo Condorelli is in fact a Canadian.
Dear Marley, I must admit you make several good points. However,their is a big difference between the Winter North meet in Alaska and the Florida Gulf Coast sprint meets and the Canadian World Championship Trials. I thought it was fantastic that several U.S. teams participated at this years Ontario Swim International. The truth is that most of our Elite juniors want to swim across the border. Why? numerous reasons. Let’s face it, besides UBC and maybe Calgary the competition is not comparable. The trials allow our athletes to perform under optimal conditions. And yes you are right, there will be ton’s of coaches and recruiters in attendance. Numerous swimmers that are very good, maybe not as good as Maclean,Cheverton, Bouchard… Read more »
Dear Concerned,
1. usa swimming has an “open border” policy with canada and other fina member countries allowing foreign swimmers to enter sanctioned meets. canadians can enter meets from the Winter North Meet in Haines Alaska to the Florida Gulf Coast’s “shamrock sprints” meet in Miami Florida. Most don’t enter yards meets because swimming canada (and most other countries i reckon) won’t convert yards times to scm/lcm. But they can if they want to. This is a good thing, isn’t it? Our village trades our bananas for your village’s milk. Everyone wins.
2. There aren’t 200 usa swimmers entered in this meet. More like 60 something. you may have confused total swims with total swimmers. maybe say thanks… Read more »
Marley. What are you talking about? Who organizes these trials? Swim Canada. Who funds them? Corporate sponsors, and especially the government. With our tax dollars. Second, there are over 200 U.S. swimmers entered for the Canadian World Trials. Ask swimmers, parents and coaches what they think about that. As for zillions of meets that our swimmers can enter, you don’t know what you’re talking about. The tom Dolan, Paul Bergen and Minnesota Grand prix.
Not much else. Show me which meets Canadians entered, the so-called zillions.
@danjohnrob don’t worry about brittney.
@swim777 Condorelli not canadian. pencil in your own star.
@concerned There are a zillion scy meets in usa that canadians can, and do, enter if they want the experience. Regarding canadian tax dollars being spent on Breeja taking a spot in finals???? almost peed myself reading that. don’t know where to begin on this but sleep well knowing that significantly way more money being spent by americans on canadian swimmers today than vice versa.
I was wondering why Brittany MacLean did not do as well at the NCAA Champ’s. Do the experts here think it was because her Canadian Trials were so soon afterward and she had to make a decision which meet to focus on? I hope so, because she did SO WELL in 2014!
Anyway, it looks like the Canadians are going to have one of the best women’s teams they have fielded in recent years. I would expect their medley relay especially to be quite good!
Santo Condorelli is Canadian??? He does not have a star beside his name