One Last Outing For Canadians
2008-07-08
Canada’s Olympic swimming team, including world champion Brent Hayden of Mission, B.C., and Beijing Trials star Julia Wilkinson of Stratford, Ont., headline the Summer Nationals set for July 16-20 at the Pan Am Pool in Winnipeg

Canada’s Olympic swimming team, including world champion Brent Hayden of Mission, B.C., and Beijing Trials star Julia Wilkinson of Stratford, Ont., headline the Summer Nationals set for July 16-20 at the Pan Am Pool in Winnipeg.

The competition is the last opportunity for Canadian swimming fans to see their Olympians on home soil before departure for Asia. It is also the last competitive opportunity for the swimmers. Their next official races after Winnipeg are in Beijing at the Olympic Games scheduled for August 8-24.

'It’s an excellent opportunity to get off the blocks in a quality level of competition,' said Tom Johnson of Vancouver, head coach of the Canadian Olympic swim team. 'It reinforces the fact that these nationals are an integral part of the preparation for our Olympic team.'

The Olympic team nominees are for the men (15) are: Adam Sioui of Trenton, Ont., (100 and 200 butterfly, 4X200 freestyle relay), Andrew Hurd of Toronto (4X200 freestyle relay), Brent Hayden of Mission, B.C., (100 and 200 freestyle), Brian Johns of Richmond, B.C. (200 and 400 IM and 4X200 freestyle relay), Colin Russell of Oakville, Ontario ( 200 freestyle and 4X100 freestyle relay), Jake Tapp of Langley, B.C., (100 backstroke), Joe Bartoch of London, Ont., (100 butterfly), Joel Greenshields of Airdrie, Alta. (100 freestyle), Keith Beavers of Orangeville, Ont., ( 200 backstroke and 400 IM), Mathieu Bois of Montreal (100 and 200 breaststroke), Mike Brown of Perth, Ont., (100 and 200 breaststroke), Richard Hortness of Medicine Hat, (50 freestyle and 4X100 freestyle), Rick Say of Salmon Arm, B.C., (4X100 freestyle), Ryan Cochrane of Victoria (400 and 1,500 freestyle), and Tobias Oriwol of Pointe-Claire, Que., (200 backstroke).

For the women (12): Alexa Komarnycky of Toronto (400 IM), Annamay Pierse of Edmonton (100 and 200 breaststroke), Audrey Lacroix of Pont-Rouge, Que., (100 and 200 butterfly and 4X100 freestyle relay), Erica Morningstar of Calgary (100 freestyle, 200 IM, 4X200 freestyle relay), Geneviève Saumur of Montreal (200 freestyle), Jillian Tyler of Calgary (100 breaststroke), Julia Wilkinson of Stratford, Ont., ( 200 freestyle, 200 IM, 100 backstroke, 4X100 freestyle relay), Lindsay Seeman of Newmarket, Ont., (200 backstroke), Savannah King of Vernon, B.C., (400 freestyle), Stephanie Horner of Beaconsfield, Que., (400 freestyle and 4X200 freestyle), Tanya Hunks of Vancouver (400 IM and 800 freestyle) and Victoria Poon of Montreal (50 freestyle and 4X100 freestyle relay).

In conjunction with the Olympic schedule, preliminaries will be held in the evening and finals in the morning.

The competition is also a selection meet for the 2009 Australian Olympic Festival and 2009 Junior Pan Pacific Championships.

Competition starts Wednesday July 16 at 5 p.m. (all times local) with a set of preliminaries then on July 17-18-19 finals are at 10 a.m. and prelims at 5 p.m. then on Sunday July 20 the last finals at 10 a.m. close out the meet.

The summer nationals will also be the point of assembly for the Olympic swimmers. Following the competition they will head for a preparation camp for 12 days in Singapore before flying in to Beijing for the Olympic Games.