OTTAWA – The future looks bright for Swimming Canada, as its 2015 youth and junior award winners were announced today.

Headlining the list are female swimmers Emily Overholt and Taylor Ruck. Overholt was awarded Junior Female Swimmer of the Year. The 18-year-old from West Vancouver had already been recognized as the overall Female Swimmer of the Year for her breakout performances in 2015.

Overholt represented her country at both the Pan Am Games and FINA World Championships, bringing home hardware at each competition. At the Pan Ams, Overholt won three medals including gold in the 400-m freestyle, breaking the Pan Am Games record for this event. To cap it all off, at the FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia, she swam to a bronze medal in the 400-m individual medley. Overholt’s coach at the Swimming Canada High Performance Centre – Vancouver, Tom Johnson, was also recognized as Junior Coach of the Year (Female Swimmer).

Meanwhile, Ruck’s successful season was recognized with the Youth Female Swimmer of the Year award. Born in Kelowna B.C. but residing in Arizona, Ruck represented Canada at the 2015 FINA World Junior Championships in Singapore. At just 15 years of age, she swam to gold medals in the 100-m freestyle, 200-m freestyle, and 4×100-m mixed freestyle relay. Ruck also took home bronze in the 200-m backstroke and a silver and bronze in relay action for a total of six medals.

On the men’s side, Javier Acevedo of Scarborough, Ont., earned the Junior Male Swimmer of the Year, while Warren Mayer of Pickering, Ont., took the Youth Male Swimmer of the Year. Both represented Canada at the world juniors.

Swimming Canada also announced its stroke award winners. The full list of winners is found below:

Youth Male Swimmer of the Year: Warren Mayer

Youth Female Swimmer of the Year: Taylor Ruck

Youth Coach of the Year (Male Swimmer): Anne Ottenbrite-Muylaert

Junior Male Swimmer of the Year: Javier Acevedo

Junior Female Swimmer of the Year:  Emily Overholt

Junior Coach of the Year (Female Swimmer): Tom Johnson

Sprint Freestyle Swimmer of the Year (Male): Santo Condorelli

Sprint Freestyle Swimmer of the Year (Female): Chantal Van Landeghem

Distance Freestyle Swimmer of the Year (Male): Ryan Cochrane

Distance Freestyle Simmer of the Year (Female): Emily Overholt

Backstroke Swimmer of the Year (Male): Russell Wood

Backstroke Swimmer of the Year (Female): Dominique Bouchard

Breaststroke Swimmer of the Year (Male): Richard Funk

Breaststroke Swimmer of the Year (Female): Kierra Smith

Butterfly Swimmer of the Year (Male): Santo Condorelli

Butterfly Swimmer of the Year (Female): Katerine Savard

Individual Medley Swimmer of the Year (Male): Luke Reilly

Individual Medley Swimmer of the Year (Female): Emily Overholt