TORONTO, Ontario, Canada, March 13. THE Canadian record book continued to get blasted on the third night of swimming after first standing up to a few challenges early in the evening at the Canadian Short Course Championships.
Hanna Kubas just missed the national record in the women's 50 back with a time of 27.46. The swim came up just short of the 27.26 record set by Jennifer Carroll back in 2002. Carroll claimed second in 27.58, while Danielle Carty joined the top two under 28 with a 27.84.
Matt Rose also had a national-record miss in the men's 50 back when he raced to a 23.95 for the win. The time missed Riley Janes' 2003 national record of 23.90 by .05 seconds. Alex Johnson placed second in 24.65, while Dan Langlois took third in 24.73.
After being torched the first few nights, Canada's record book proved to be more resilient tonight as Tanya Hunks posted a 4:04.71 in the women's 400 free to come up shy of the 4:03.61 set by Brittany Reimer in 2003. Savannah King pocketed second in 4:05.46, while Barbara Jardin finished third in 4:07.63.
Ryan Cochrane joined Rick Say in the 3:41 club in the men's 400 free as Cochrane cleared Say's 2002 national record of 3:41.99 with a winning effort of 3:41.99. Hassaan Abdel-Khalik placed second in 3:45.65, while Ray Betuzzi finished third in 3:45.83.
Kendra Chernoff added a second national record for the night when she edged the women's 100 fly standard with a 58.26. Audrey Lacroix previously owned the record with a 58.29 set back in 2007. Lacroix placed second in 58.68, while Brenna Maclean touched third in 59.50.
Joe Bartoch nearly added another national record to his resume this week, but wound up with a winning time of 51.75 in the men's 100 fly. Mike Mintenko's 2002 standard of 51.45 withstood the charge. Rory Biskupski touched second in 52.90, while Nicolas Murray claimed third in 52.95.
After setting the national record in prelims with a 2:06.81, Katy Murdoch just missed lowering the standard again with a winning time of 2:06.91 in the women's 200 back. Gabrielle Soucisse finished second in 2:07.71, while Jessika Craig touched third in 2:07.91. Notably, Genevieve Cantin won the consolation heat in 2:07.56, which would have placed second in the championship finale.
Matt Hawes touched out Keith Beavers, 1:54.69 to 1:54.83, to win the men's 200 back, while Matthew Swanston completed the top three in 1:55.83. Chris Renaud's national record of 1:54.01 set back in 1997 remained on the books.
In the relay portion of the evening, CNPPO's Victoria Poon, Jardin, Sonia Wiechec and Genevieve Saumur won the women's 400 free relay with a time of 3:37.78. The effort beat the former standard of 3:38.74 set by the University of Calgary last month. Meanwhile, the UBC Dolphin squad of Brent Hayden, Tommy Gossland, Biskupski and Brian Johns demolished the field in the men's 400 free relay with a time of 3:10.99. The effort knocked four second off the national record of 3:15.42 set last month by UBC's college team. Notably, Hayden challenged his national record in the 100 free with a 46.39 leadoff. He set the record last night with a 46.27 to win the individual title.