Valley swimmers thrilled with return trip to competition

Neither Justin Watson nor Alex Landry minded seeing history repeat itself.

The local swimmers, both representing the Valley East Waves, were thrilled to make a return trip to the 2015 Ontario Winter Festival last month in Etobicoke.

The meet is, more or less, the provincial short-course championships for athletes aged 13 years old and younger, with swimmers needing to qualify by reaching standards in the various strokes, and also achieving the standard in a pair of pre-requisite events - a distance freestyle swim, and an individual medley.

"I definitely was more comfortable going the second time to Winter Festival, because I knew more what was going on," said Watson, currently 13 years old, but celebrating his 14th birthday the day prior to long-course provincials.

"But the second time was more difficult because not all of my friends were there. They had aged out."

As it turned out, Watson and Landry represented the only two members of the VESC that qualified for the top-end competition, which doesn't always follow the same format as many of the swim meets that they had already attended.

"At Festival, it was timed finals, so you have to swim in the morning," explained Watson. "I'm not the best of swimmers in the morning. I prefer afternoon finals, like at the Dave Kensit Meet, because my body is warmed up."

Watson made his qualifying time in the 200m breaststroke very early in the fall, adding the 100m breaststroke in November, and capping things off by reaching his 50m freestyle time in December.

"The breaststroke is easier for me because of the kick," he said. "The kick really drives it. It comes naturally to me, versus the butterfly kick."

With his birthday falling at the worst possible time - Watson will need to qualify based on 14-year-old standards, since swimming regulates eligibility based on a swimmer's age on the first day of a meet - he still believes that the breaststroke is achievable.

"But I need the prerequisite time for the 800m freestyle, which is tougher for me, since I'm more of a sprinter," Watson noted. "I find it harder because you have to try and pace yourself and maintain a good speed. I always tend to sprint the first 50m, and then I sometimes forget my lap count."

Just 11 years of age, Landry enjoyed a breakthrough meet in his second appearance at Winter Festival, posting personal best times in every events, and earning very respectable 12th, 14th and 19th place finishes in a competition that gathers the very best from all corners of the province.

"My coach just kept telling me to be calm," said Landry with a smile. Like Watson, he tends to excel in the breaststroke, hitting the standard in both the 100m and 200m distances.

"My friend was filming me in the 200m in Elliot Lake, which was pretty cool," said Landry. "I was in a race with guys that were older than me, so they were pretty fast."

He credits the pace of that race in helping him achieve his goal, though there are other variables at play when it comes to reaching a peak performance on race day.

"If the pool is warmer, you tend to go slower," he said. "But if the pool is colder, you want to get out faster."

Training with the same club that produced CIS breaststroker Ian Blechta of McMaster, Landry admits that there is likely a predisposition to that stroke that exists in the Valley.

"Our coach (Sharon Leger) trains us a lot for breaststroke, and it's fun," said Landry. "The 400m free (the prerequisite at his age) is the challenge for me, because it's a bit longer."

As such, it also presents the biggest challenge in terms of finding creative ways to occupy the mind. "Sometimes, I think about NASCAR," said Landry, citing Kyle Busch as his favourite driver.

"I know that at the end, they go faster. That's what I try and do at the end of a swimming race."