As predicted the women’s 100 freestyle was an incredible race with only 38 one-hundredths of a second separating first from fifth. PPO’s Victoria Poon lead the race from start to finish, winning by the narrowest of margins. Poon, her PPO teammate Sandrine Mainville and Chantal Vanlandeghem were all in on a race where any of the three could have taken the top spot.
Poon finished in a time of 55.31 followed by Mainville who touched in a time of 55.32 with Vanlandeghem finishing third in a time of 55.36.
That was not the end of the excitement in the race, Pointe Claire’s Samantha Cheverton, who turned in seventh at the 50, stormed back to qualify for the final spot on the 4 x 100 freestyle relay, out touching Paige Schultz of the Toronto Swim Club by two one-hundredths of a second.
Cherverton finished in a time of 55.67 with Schultz posting a time of 55.69.
2008 Olympian Joel Greenshields found himself in a spot that for the last decade was the home of Olympic bronze medalist Brent Hayden, the top of the podium in the 100 freestyle. Greenshields, who now swims for the Cascade Swim Club, stormed back in the last 50 meters to win the race in a time of 50.36.
UBC Dolphins/Vancouver National Swim Centre’s Tommy Gossland finished second in a time of 50.50 followed closely by ESWIM’s Hassan Abdel-Khalik, who was part of the Michigan Wolverines team that won the men’s NCAA title, finished third posting a time of 50.57.
Grabbing the final spot on the 4 x 100 freestyle relay was Luke Peddie of the UBC Dolphins/Vancouver National Swim Centre who finished fourth in a time of 50.62.
The women’s 100 breaststroke had three 2012 Olympians vying for their birth on to the World Championships team. Tera Van Beilen, who is represents her home team Oakville Aquatic Club while training with breaststroke guru Joszef Nagy at the Vancouver National Swim Centre, lead the race from beginning to end.
Van Beilen was the only swimmer to swim the first 50 in under 32 seconds splitting 31.89, eventually winning the race in a time of 1:08.15, which is under the FINA A standard of 1:08.63.
The battle for second was an exciting one between Langley Olympians and University of Arizona’s Chelsey Salli and Cascade’s Jillian Tyler. At the 50 turn the two swimmers were separated by only three one-hundredths of a second with Salli splitting a 32.35 and Tyler splitting a 32.38. The two swam the second 50 in the same fashion with Salli finishing second in a time of 1:08.95 followed by Tyler who finished third in a time of 1:08.99.
After finishing third in the 100 yard breaststroke and helping the Michigan Wolverines win the NCAA men’s title last weekend Richard Funk, who is representing the Edmonton Keyano Swim Club, took top spot in the men’s 100 breaststroke winning the event by over a second in a time of 1:00.87.
Jason Block of the University of Calgary Swim Club finished second in a time of 1:01.91 followed by Warren Barnes of the Toronto Swim Club who finished third touching in a time of 1:02.37.
The women’s 400 IM turned out to be one of the most exciting races of the night with Island Swimming’s Alexa Komarnycky and Go Kingfish’s Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson trading leads throughout the race. Komarnycky had a slight lead over Marni Oldershaw of the Oakville Aquatic Club heading into the breaststroke, but had a second and a half lead over Seltenreich-Hodgson.
Seltenreich-Hodgson had a breaststroke split of 1:18.47 and led Komarnycky by almost a second heading into the last 50 where Komarnycky took the lead back out swimming Seltenreich-Hodgson by a full two seconds to win the race in a time of 4:41.65.
Seltenreich-Hodgson finished second in a time of 4:42.71, qualifying for the team since her time was faster than the FINA A standard of 4:44.53.
Marni Oldershaw finished third in a time of 4:47.29.
Island Swimming’s Alec Page, who swam the 400 IM in London, will be swimming it again in Barcelona. Page won the event in a time of 4:18.06, which is faster than the 4:19.17 that he posted at the Olympics this summer.
UBC Dolphins’ Luke Reilly finished second in a time of 4:22.36 followed by Island Swimming’s Will Brothers who finished third touching in a time of 4:23.66.
Sinead Russell of Dolphins Swimming, who qualified for the team in the 100 backstroke on the first night of competition, won the 50 backstroke in a time of 28.27. Cobra’s Paige Miller finished second in a time of 28.65 followed by Russell’s teammate on both the World Championships team and Dolphins Swimming Kristin Steins who finished third posting a time of 29.34.
PPO’s Charles Francis followed up his win in the 100 backstroke on the first night of competition by winning the 50 backstroke in a time of 26.08 on the second evening.
Francis was followed by two 18 year olds, Cascade’s Russell Wood who finished second in a time of 26.12 and New Market Stingrays’ Jeffrey Swanston who finished third in a time of 26.14.
The nine swimmers who were added to the World Championships team on the second night included:
Victoria Poon, 100 freestyle and 4 x 100 freestyle relay
Sandrine Mainville, 4 x 100 freestyle relay
Chantal Vanlandeghem, 4 x 100 freestyle relay
Joel Greenshields, 100 freestyle and 4 x 100 freestyle relay
Tommy Gossland, 4 x 100 freestyle relay
Luke Peddie, 4 x 100 freestyle relay
Tera Van Beilen, 100 breaststroke
Richard Funk, 100 breaststroke
Alexa Komarnycky, 400 IM
Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson, 400 IM
Alec Page added the 400 IM to his event schedule while Samantha Cheverton added the 4 x 100 freestyle relay to her event list in Barcelona.