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Harvey’s 200 IM win caps Canada’s 15-medal effort at Junior Pan Pacs

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MAUI, HAWAII – Mary-Sophie Harvey saved her best for last, winning the 200-metre individual medley to help wrap Canada’s 15-medal performance at the Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships.

Harvey put down a winning 2:12.39 swim in the first event of the night at Kihel Aquatic Center, completing the other half of an IM double to go with Sarah Darcel’s 400-m win on Thursday. The early gold spurred Canada to collect three more silvers – Kelsey Wog in 200-m breaststroke, Olivia Anderson in 1,500-m freestyle and the 4×100-m medley relay, which actually went under the previous meet record

With two golds, seven silvers and six bronzes, Canada placed third in the team standings with 257 points. Both tallies are an improvement over 13 medals (0G-4S-9B) and fourth overall at the 2014 Junior Pan Pacs.

Harvey, 17, was third in going into the freestyle leg, but had a 30.36-second closing split to shade Americans Alex Walsh (2:13.14, silver), Margaret Ardesty (2:13.23, bronze) and Darcel (2:13.40). In her first three races of the meet, Harvey had one bronze and two fourths.

“This week I dropped a lot of time in the 200 and 400 freestyle, and I think that gave me confidence for the 200 IM,” said Harvey, a Saint-Jerome, Que., native who is part of the Intensive Training Program – Montreal. “I knew I could come back really fast. It was my last race on any junior team and I wanted to get a gold, because I’ve never got a gold. I was like, ‘this is it.’ At the switch from breast to free I saw the leader [Walsh] and was like, ‘I’m good.

“Last year at world junior I came second and two years ago at this meet I came second. I didn’t want second again … it’s not my best time, but just winning for Canada, for me, my family and my coach [Tom Rushton], is awesome.

“Last year at world junior I came second and two years ago at this meet I came second. I didn’t want second again … it’s not my best time, but just winning for Canada, for me, my family and my coach [Tom Rushton], is awesome.

“Ending the season that way, putting Canada on the table, was an amazing feeling,” Harvey added. “The whole team, everyone has represented Canada so well this week.

The medley relay was a reprise of Friday’s duel in 4×200-m relay. The Americans, with closer Isabel Ivey, won in a meet-record 4:02.82.  Danielle Hanus, Wog, Rebecca Smith and Darcel blazed home in 4:03.42, below the old standard of 4:03.44. The performance secured Smith’s fifth silver of the week.

“The energy was super high and considering what our girls had done in Rio [two Olympic relay bronzes], it just amped us up,” said Darcel, who finished as a triple medallist. “We all sat in a circle beforehand and all said something positive.

“I usually never swim freestyle so I thought it was really special that I got to anchor a freestyle relay [the 4×200-m on Friday,” the Victoria native added. “Everyone had really, really fast splits even though all four of us had a double [a relay and an individual final]. We put it all in and it was one of the best relays I have been on, just went for one last one – last one, fast one.”

Darcel, who is joining the Swimming Canada High Performance Centre – Victoria next season, added that her week brought a feeling of redemption.

“This meet went a lot better than I was expecting. My nationals [Canadian Swimming Championships] did not go as well as I was hoping. My coach [Brad Dingey] and I got right back to work right away on making it better for Junior Pan Pacs.

“This is my second junior team. Junior worlds was not too good for me and I wanted to make this meet count. For my 400 IM, I knew what was possible for me and I went all in for that. I’m really looking forward to training with the centre [HPC-Victoria] and [coach] Ryan Mallette and seeing where we go from there.”

Wog, who is joining her hometown Manitoba Bisons next month, had a silver-medal 2:26.51 swim to finish between Americans Zoe Bartel (2:25.46, gold) and Allie Raab (2:26.83, bronze).

“The positive energy of the whole team, with it being the last day, made it exciting to race,” Wog said. “I knew the Americans were going to go fast and it would be a good race. It was a good experience for me and I am excited to go off to school and get back to training.”

Bartel broke the meet record that had been held by Kierra Smith, who made her Canadian Olympic debut in Rio.

Anderson came in at 16:18.66 in 1,500-m, claiming the silver by a 10-second margin. The distance swimmer also earned the 800-m bronze on Wednesday.

Canadian finalists on Saturday:

Women’s 200-m individual medley: Mary-Sophie Harvey, ITP – Montreal, gold, 2:12.39; Sarah Darcel, CSI Pacific NextGen Program, fourth, 2:13.40.

Men’s 200-m individual medley: Josh Zakala, CSI Pacific NextGen Program, sixth, 2:04.77.

Women’s 50-m freestyle: Rebecca Smith, Cascade Swim Club, fourth, 25.46; Kayla Sanchez, Markham Aquatic Club, eighth, 26.11.

Men’s 50-m freestyle: Mehdi Ayoubi, Club Aquatic Montreal, fifth, 22.85; Tai Long Singh, ITP – Montreal, sixth, 23.45.

Women’s 200-m breaststroke: Kelsey Wog, University of Manitoba Bisons Swim Club, silver, 2:26.51; Faith Knelson, Ladysmith Chemainus Swim Club, seventh, 2:35.26.

Men’s 200-m breaststroke: Ryan Telford, MAC, seventh, 2:15.03.

Women’s 1,500-m freestyle: Olivia Anderson, Etobicoke Swimming Club, silver, 16:18.66.

Men’s 800-m freestyle: Colin Gilbert, Kamloops Classic Swimming, sixth, 8:10.05; Josh Zakala, CSI Pacific NextGen Program, seventh, 8:12.42.

Women’s 4×100-m medley relay: Canada (Hanus, Wog, Smith, Darcel), silver, 4:03.84.

Men’s 4×100-m medley relay: Canada (Tai Long Singh, Warren Mayer, Alex Perreault, Stephen Calkins), fourth, 3:43.38.

Full results:

http://www.swmeets.com/Realtime/Jr%20PanPacs/2016/