McDonald, Deni make waves at Ontario Winter Festivals

McDonald, who medalled at the Age Group Nationals last summer, garnered a bronze medal in the 50m freestyle in Brantford, covering the distance in 28.64 seconds, narrowly missing a second podium finish after placing fourth in the 100m butterfly (1:08.72).

McDonald would then move on to compete at the Short-Course Jr. Provincials in London, cracking the top 10 in the 100m butterfly with a time of 1:08.81.

Also qualifying for the Winter Festivals was Joseph Deni, also 13 years old.
Deni swam in the 50m/100m freestyle, as well as the 100m/200m breaststroke, managing a 17th place finish in the 200m breaststroke in a time of 3:04.86.

Both McDonald and Deni, as well as the rest of the crew with the Nickel City Aquatics, begin the transition to long-course training in March.

Meets on the calendar over the next few months include the Fred Rams B Championships in Timmins (May 24-25) as well as the Jeno Tihanyi Regional Long-Course Championships being hosted at Laurentian University from June 6-8.