A teenage rampage swept the CN Olympic trials this week, forcing the twenty-somethings to fight for seats on the Beijing plane. Many teens won't make China, but staked their claim for London 2012 in a great week of fast swimming.
Notable big-time swims from future stars included:
On Wednesday, the 15 year old Savannah King held everything together for 400 metres of freestyle, touching the wall in second place after 4 minutes 10.28 seconds. The UBCD teen swimmer will be swimming in Beijing in August.
Barbara Jardin (CNPPO) completed a 4:50.14 5th place in the 400IM, a great finish at just 16 years of age, with a perfect peak performance age for London 2012 in the offing.
16y old Paige Schultz of Toronto Swim Club, after a 10th place 4:54.89 in 400IM on Tuesday evening pulled out a 2:19.50 in the 200IM on Friday, taking 6th place and finishing more than a second off her PB.
Kendra Chernoff came to Montreal with the Goldfins and blew away that Saskatoon winter with her 4th place 1:00.92 in a 100Fly that placed the 16y old just 1.5 seconds behind the in-form Audrey Lacroix.
Anders McIntyre (VKSC) showed that its not impossible for teens to get amongst the men. 4:00.34 saw the 15 year old BC bullet snatch 6th place in the 400Free, and later in the week a 2:03.99 gained the 200Back 6th place one quarter second behind Newmarket's Matthew Swanston (17y).
Curtis Lutsch (UCSC) finished 7th in the 100Fly in 54.65 seconds.
At 15 years old, Lindsay Seemann was keeping the Newmarket Stingrays on the map with an impressive 4th place 1:02.77 in the 100Back on Wednesday evening. By Saturday she lifted the sell-out Montreal crowd to their feet in the climax of the 800Free, beating her fellow Age Groupers 15 year old Savannah King (UBCD) and 16 year old Barbara Jardin (CNPPO), taking 2nd place in 8:37.98, just outside the qualifying time for Beijing.
When a 14 year old makes an Olympic qualifying final, there's something special afoot. Amanda Reason continued her rise to stardom with a 5th place in the 100Breast, 1:09.93, and the Windsor/Essex Swim Team will be looking forward with great confidence to four years from now.
Hillary Bell took the 200Free 7th place, and TSC teammate Zsofi Balzs finished 4th in the 200Fly and, after leading the early stages, held on for an impressive 5th place in the 800Free, followed by 15 years young Julie Harrison from Scarborough in 8th.
The 200Breast saw three young swimmers in the 6-7-8 positions, Chelsey Salli (16y, LOSC, 2:31.59), Helen Pitchik (17y, TSC, 2:32.29) and Ashley McGregor (15y, PCSC, 2:33.21).
