Canadian Olympic Trials Day 2 Recap

UVic-PCS continued their roll on day two of the Canadian Olympic Swimming Trials with some great swims from some of the team’s youngest members.  “The first timers (at Canadian Olympic Trials) learned a lot and are looking forward to gaining more experience as the week progresses,” said Pacific Coast Swimming Director of Athlete Development Rod Barratt.  “It has been a very exciting beginning to the meet with so many Canadian records falling over the first two days.  The energy in the building is amazing, and the Pan Am Games Aquatic Centre is a world class facility.” 

Women’s 100 Back

Day two was highlighted by two big swims from sixteen-year old Lauren Crisp in the 100 back.  Crisp opened the day up by recording a best time of 1:03.09 in prelims, and earning the last berth (20^th place) into the B Final of the event.  She backed that up at night under the lights, with an impressive back half of the race, to post her second personal best of the day in the event.  Racing against international swimmers* from Latvia, New Zealand and the United States in the final, Crisp’s posted a blazing time of 1:02.74, placing her 2^nd in her swim and 12^th overall in the event.  Her finals time set a new UVPCS 15-17 year old 100 back record, a UVPCS Open Category 100 back record, as well as a Vancouver Island Regional 15-17 year old 100 back record.

* (International swimmers are permitted to swim at the Canadian Olympic Swimming Trials, but cannot compete in the A Final of events.  This is so they do not take a lane away from a Canadian swimmer that could potentially qualify for the Olympic Games in the A Final.)

Men’s 100 Back

Third year UVic Vike Evan Letkeman swam to a time of 58.91 in the men’s 100 back preliminaries.  Letkeman was just over his best time, but his splitting in the race sets him up well, as he now turns his focus onto his last event of the meet, the 200 back.

Getting his first taste of a Canadian trials meet, Buzz Mallender posted a time of 59.53 in the men's 100 back.  The second year Vike has two days off now before hitting the water again in the men’s 200 back on Saturday at Olympic Trials. 

Men’s 200 Fly

Sixteen-year old Lucas Tyler dropped two full seconds in preliminaries of the men’s 200 fly to secure a position in the B Final of the event.  The youngest competitor in the field, Tyler beat out forty older swimmers to clinch his finals lane in a time of 2:03.79.  The time was 0.3 seconds off the UVPCS record, held by teammate Jon McKay.  In the B Final, Tyler swam to an 8^th place finish, and an overall placing of 18^th, in a time of 2:05.35.  With his impressive showing in his first event of the 2016 Canadian Olympic Swimming Trials, Tyler now has two days off to prepare for his 100 fly on Saturday.