By David Rieder, Swimming World high school intern
MONTREAL, Canada, July 2. THE second night of long course meter racing at the Canada Cup featured strong swims by top Canadian and American swimmers. The best performance came from U.S. Olympian Elizabeth Beisel, who posted three wins.
Beisel, representing Bluefish, posted a 2:00.19 for the win in the women's 200 free. Beisel cut nearly two second off her season best of 2:01.96 from the Charlotte UltraSwim for the victory. She used a strong back half to overtake CNPPO's Barbara Jardin, who touched second in 2:00.31, while Pointe-Claire's Samantha Cheverton claimed third in 2:00.39.
Beisel returned shortly after to win the 100 back in another strong time of 1:02.28. CNPPO's Gabrielle Soucisse came in second at 1:02.79, ahead of North Coast Y's Dominique Bouchard (1:03.02). She completed the title trifecta with a convincing victory in the 200 IM, beating out SwimMAC Carolina's Justine Mueller, 2:13.56 to 2:15.96. Beisel improved to 20th in the world in the event, while Mueller finished well off her 12th-ranked time of 2:12.44 from the Charlotte UltraSwim. Nittany Lions' Corrie Clark touched out Jardin for third, 2:17.59 to 2:17.61.
SwimMAC's Nick Thoman cruised in the men's 100 back, posting a winning time of 54.49, nearly a second off his seventh-ranked time of 53.70 from May. Toronto Swim Club's Tobias Oriwol and Greater Ottawa's Matt Hawes rounded out the top three, with respective times of 56.46 and 56.58.
University of Michigan swimmers swept the men's 200 free, as Etobicoke's Hassaan Abdel-Kalik won in 1:51.67, ahead of Badger's Ryan Feeley (1:51.98), and Club Wolverine's Matt Patton (1:52.12) and Dan Madwed (1:53.24). Notably, Longhorn's Garrett Weber-Gale crushed the field in the B final with a strong time of 1:52.95.
Tucson Ford's Darian Townsend clocked a two-second victory in the men's 200 IM, clocking 2:02.27. Club Wolverine's Alex Vanderkaay took second in 2:04.24, ahead of Guleph Marlins' Andrew Ford (2:04.31), Club Wolverine's Andre Schultz (2:04.35), and Oriwol (2:04.54).
Club Wolverine's Caitlin Dauw took the women's 50 fly in 27.26, ahead of Tnt's Sandrine Mainville (27.44) and Cobra's Paige Miller (27.56). SwimMAC's Cullen Jones won the men's equivalent in 24.24, beating out Club Wolverine's Wu Peng (24.66) and Bobby Savulich (24.80).
Clark came back to touch out Etobicoke's Amanda Reason in the women's 50 breast. Clark touched at 32.22, ahead of Canadian Record-holder Reason's 32.24 and Oakville's Tera Van Beilen, who finished third in 32.89. CNPPO's Matthew Bois, meanwhile, won a tight victory in the men's 50 breast, clocking 28.91, ahead of Toronto's Warren Barnes (28.98), SwimMAC's Nelson Westby (29.00), and Longhorn's Matt Lowe (29.06).
In morning prelims, Beisel and Vanderkaay led qualifying for the women's and men's 400 IM, respectively, with times of 4:50.03 and 4:30.49. Finals for both events will be swum in Saturday's finals.
Canada Prospects' team of Tabitha Baumann, Amy Sun, Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson, and Olivia Feschuk posted the top time in the women's 800 free relay (8:37.92). Etobicoke's Abdel-Kalik, Wil Wright, Franco Petrone, and Bogdan Knezevic won the men's 800 relay, clocking a top time of 7:43.36.
In multi-disability events, Canada's Valerie Grand'Maison took the women's 100 free (S13) in 1:00.66, while USA's Lantz Lamback won the men's 100 free (S7) in 1:03.84. Island's Stephanie Dixon (S9) and USA's Justin Zook took the women's and men's 100 back, respectively, with times of 1:11.46 and 1:02.87.
In the 50 fly, France's Elodie Lorandi (S10) clocked 31.96 for first, and the Netherlands' Mike Vanderzanden (S10) won in 27.66. The Netherland's Lisa Denbraber (S8) took the women's 50 breast in 46.96, as Spain's Alejandro Sanchez Palomero (S8) took the men's race in 36.73.
Swimming World high school intern David "The Swim Geek" Rieder is a high school swimmer in Charleston, S.C. He swims for the Southern Marlins Racing Team and often negative splits his races. He can be found on the web at swimdr549.blogspot.com and twitter.com/david2swim.