Day 5 of Canadian Junior Championships see’s Alberta’s athletes shine

SwimAlbertaNews, Swim Alberta News

CALGARY – In the long and short of it, Christey Liang of Edmonton starred in the girls 13-14 age group on Sunday with victories in the 50-m freestyle and 400-m freestyle to conclude the pool portion of the 2019 Canadian Junior Swimming Championships.

In the 50 free, Liang clocked 26.50 with Eliza Housman of Calgary second at 26.85 and Amy Pan third at 27.15.

Liang notched her third gold of the competition placing first in the 400 free in 4:27.96. Camryn Stannard of Nanaimo, B.C., was second in 4:28.05 and Teagan McKenzie of Calgary third in 4:29.72.

Helen Anne Sava of Toronto was the other winner in the age group with her victory in the 200-m individual medley in 2:22.46.

‘’I was a little bit nervous at first,’’ said Sava, with her first victory of the meet. ‘’But I have a lot of people here supporting me and I knew it as my last chance to get a gold so I was pumped and excited for the race.”

Justin Fotherby of Penticton, B.C., was the most successful individual swimmer of the competition collecting a fourth gold medal in the boys 14-15 200-m individual medley in 2:06.89. He also won the 800 free, 400 IM and 100 breaststroke over the five days of racing.

Other winners in the age group were Lochlan Rogers of Qualicum Beach, B.C. in the 50 free in 24.44 and Quinn Matteis of Chatham, Ont., in the 400 free in 4:07.94.

‘’I was confident and happy to make the A final,’’ said Matteis, with his first win. ‘’It was a very big learning opportunity this week. I did a lot more events than I’ve ever done and it really helped me grow as a person.’’

In the boys 16-18 age group, Eric Brown of Pointe-Claire, Que., and Jacob Gallant of Fredericton each collected  a third gold with victories in the 400 free in 4:02.39 and the 200 IM in 2:05.66. Edouard Fullum-Huot won the 50 free in 23.53.

‘’I started with a strong prelims race,’’ said Fullum-Huot. ‘’Tonight it was even faster and it was the first time I only needed to take one breath. Overall this week it didn’t go as well as I wanted but I’m happy with my rankings.’’

The winners in the 15-17 age group were Kyla Leibel of Red Deer, Alta., in the 50 free in 26.08, Ashley McMillan of Penticton in the 200 IM in 2:16.21 and Josie Field of Langley, B.C. in the 400 free in 4:23.42.

Leibel will be competing at the Pan Am Games next week.

‘’This was a great opportunity to prepare for the Games,’’ said Leibel, also the 100 free winner on Thursday. ‘’I’m looking forward to helping Team Canada at the Games and perhaps helping a relay get on the podium.’’

Pointe-Claire Swim Club and Cascade Swim Club won the men’s and women’s 4X100 medley relays.

Pointe-Claire leads the overall club standings with 1,761 points, Edmonton Keyano is second at 1,706.5 and University of Calgary third at 1,245.

Competition ends Monday with the open water events at Lake Chaparral in Calgary.

Full results: https://results.swimming.ca/2019_Canadian_Junior_Championships/

Original Article by Swimming Canada can be found here.