Summer McIntosh, Joshua Liendo Win 2022 ACA Awards
Summer McIntosh and Joshua Liendo were named the Female and Male Athletes of the Year in the 2022 Aquatics Canada Aquatiques (ACA) Awards released Tuesday.
The ACA Awards recognize the top contributors in a variety of disciplines in Canadian swimming, including coaches, teams, officials and volunteers.
McIntosh was a clear standout on the women’s side, even among the deep Canadian team. She won four medals at the FINA World Championships in Budapest in the summer of 2022, including gold in the 200 butterfly and 400 individual medley. She set three World Junior records there, including off the front of the 800 freestyle relay that won bronze.
Liendo took home three medals from Budapest, including bronze in the 100 free and 100 butterfly. He was part of a silver-winning 400 mixed freestyle relay. He added gold in the 100 fly at the Commonwealth Games, at meet at which he won four total medals.
Divers Rylan Wiens and Nathan Zsombor-Murray were named the team of the year after winning bronze in the men’s 10-meter synchro at Worlds. It’s the first Canadian medal at a World Championships in that event and the highest ever point tally for a Canadian duo in international competition in that event. Wiens and Zsombor-Murray also won silver at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Ryan Mallette was named the coach of the year. Among his charges at Worlds were McIntosh, Liendo and double-medalist Kylie Masse. Canada also won four relay medals (three women’s, one mixed).
The next three 2022 ACA Awards went to standouts in artistic swimming. Official Lianna Sottile won the Officials Award of Excellence. She has served six years on the National Officials Committee, including four as its chair. She was one of the judges at Worlds in Budapest and has been selected to train new officials as one of FINA’s new Officials Schools Leaders.
Judi Enns-Bradette is the 2022 Volunteer of the Year. She has served on the ACA board of directors for seven years and as the head of Canada Artistic Swimming’s board for four years. She served in both capacities during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dot Padget was named to the ACA’s President’s Honor Roll. She has been an administrator in artistic swimming since 1971, serving as an athlete, judge and administrator. She has served since 2000 on the FINA (now Pan-Am Aquatics) Masters technical committee, writing training manuals and evaluating judges. She has judged at over 50 international competitions in 20 countries as a recognized FINA judge.
The Sport Tourism Award went to Tourism Calgary for its support of Diving Plongeon Canada. It hosted three FINA Grand Prix events in the province last year, including the 2022 Canada Cup.
Diver Kathy Seaman was nominated for the hall of fame. The 1972 Olympian has been involved in the sport for a half-century, as an board member and president of Canadian diving. A member of the FINA Technical Diving Committee since 1996, she served two terms as a committee chairperson and two as its secretary. She also worked extensively with Pan-Am Aquatics, as a member of its technical diving committee and its executive committee, and judged or refereed at three Olympics, three World Championships, three Commonwealth Games and two Pan American Games.
Full bios for the 2022 ACA Awards are here.