Taylor Ruck posted an extremely fast 400 freestyle this morning to take the second seed heading into tonight’s final. Ruck was a 4:16.30 this morning to qualify for the championship final behind Tabitha Baumann who was a 4:15.40.
That time for Ruck came dangerously close to the 13-14 Canadian age-group record in the 400 which stands at 4:14.60. That record was set back in 1976 at the Montreal Olympic Games when 14-year-old Shannon Smith took the bronze behind Shirley Babashoff.
The time for Ruck also meant that she was under the ‘priority one’ standard for the Pan Am Games qualification, meaning she has great potential to make her first senior national team tonight.
“My goal is just to drop time,” said Ruck. “I think as long as I just keep working hard and get back the last half, I’ll have a pretty good chance.
Ruck will also be attempting to make the team in the 200 backstroke. She’s the third seed heading into finals behind Hilary Caldwell and Dominique Bouchard with a time of 2:11.91.
Ruck’s Canadian age-group record in the 200 back stands at 2:10.22, but she thinks she’ll need to go under 2:10 tonight if she wants to make the team, “I think that as long as I break 2:10 I probably have a pretty good chance.”
This is Ruck’s first Canadian Trials, and so far it’s a very new experience for her, “I’m just seeing how it feels to be at a really big meet.”
She has made big drops and is now chipping away at her times. It will be nice to see her race at Pan Am games and Jr Worlds will be her chance to shine.