News & Articles

Masse and Wog top the podium on final night of U.S. Nationals

Features –

GREENSBORO, North Carolina – Kylie Masse and Kelsey Wog struck gold on the final day of the U.S. Winter National Championships at the Greensboro Aquatic Centre in North Carolina.

Masse won the 200-metre backstroke touching in at 2 minutes, 9.92 seconds.

“I just wanted to put together a good race and see where I’m at,” said Masse, 22. “I would have liked to have been a bit faster tonight, but my coach reiterated to me that I didn’t really start focusing on this race until after the Olympics. I’m still learning how to swim it and I try to learn something every time I do.”

It was Masse’s second gold medal of the championships. The Windsor, Ont., native won the 100-m backstroke on Friday.

“Training for the 200 helps my 100 and vice versa. I’m still getting more comfortable ever time I swim the event.”

Wog, of the University of Manitoba, captured her third medal of the meet, this time a gold, with a 2:26.40 in the 200-m breaststroke.

“I was just thinking about a good technical race, I was surprised to win,” said the 20-year-old. “I’m slowly building my confidence and this race was a big boost. I’m still learning tactics of the race and how to attack it and swim it well.”

Markus Thormeyer of the High Performance Centre – Vancouver picked up his second and third bronze medals of the championships. Thormeyer, of Delta, B.C., secured his third-place finishes with a 1:59.10 in the 200-m backstroke and a 49.71 in the 100-m freestyle.

On Friday, Thormeyer captured his first bronze medal of the meet after finishing third in the 100-m backstroke.

Five other Canadians were finalists on the last day of competition.

Carson Olafson of HPC – Vancouver finished fifth in the 100-m freestyle in 50.04. Eli Wall was fifth in the 200-m breaststroke in 2:14.04. Mabel Zavaros of Oakville, Ont., was fifth in the 200-m backstroke and eighth in the 200-m butterfly. Rebecca Smith of Red Deer, Alta., finished seventh in the 100-m freestyle and Kennedy Goss was seventh in the 200-m backstroke.

Full results from the U.S. Winter National Championships are available here.