A pair of recent meets, at opposite ends of the province, kept the Nickel City Aquatics crew busy earlier this month, as swimmers of all ages and levels looked to continue their in-season improvements.
A total of 24 swimmers, many of them younger, took part in the Northeastern Ontario Region Developmental Meet No. 3 in Elliot Lake, with the NCA reps accumulating no less than 23 personal best times.
While all who competed were deserving of mention, club highlights included:
-Keegan Thompson (nine years old): two first-place finishes along with a second-place finish showcased the tremendous technical improvement and his renewed competitive fire.
-Tommaso Deni (11 years old): his extra attention to technical execution and physical effort resulted in a second-place finish and two third-place ribbons.
-Matt Clapham: another strong showing, as he combined a second-place finish with a third-place finish in a separate event.
While this group was racing in Northern Ontario, six other NCA representatives were in Markham, at the newly renovated Pan Am Center, site of the MAC Winter Invitational.
While the setting presented some challenges to the NCA crew, head coach Alain Delorme felt his athletes walked away much better prepared for future elite events, showing marked improvement just between their performances on Saturday and Sunday.
“They simply needed to unwind and relieve some of the tension,” said Delorme. “The more they raced, the better things got.”
The Markham grouping included Joshua Jenveau, Joseph Deni, Sidney Musicco, Gavin Staalstra, Tanner Lachance and Joshua Clapham, with Musicco performing exceptionally well in both her 50m and 200m butterfly events, earning an eighth-place finish in the latter.
