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Another night, another record for Angela Marina

2017 World Para Swimming World Series, News, Para-swimming –

INDIANAPOLIS – Angela Marina of Brantford (Ont.) Aquatic Club set her second Canadian record in as many nights at the World Para Swimming World Series in Indianapolis Saturday.

Marina, 18, won the SM14 200-m individual medley in two minutes, 42.44 seconds, to establish a new national mark. She also won the S14 100-m backstroke in a time of 1:16.63, one night after setting a Canadian record of 2:21.77 in the S14 200-m freestyle.

“I was excited,” Marina said. “It’s special.”

Marina credited her improvement to skills she worked on at two recent Swimming Canada NextGen camps.

“I think I improved all my strokes, maybe my freestyle really improved the most,” she said. “On my freestyle I’ve been improving with my hands and elbows. On the backstroke I’ve been improving moving my hands past my hip, I’ve been sweeping in on my breaststroke and on the fly improving my breathing position.

“I’ve also been activating a lot which probably helped me swim well. I was more calm at this meet because of stuff I learned at the camps.”

Most of the U.S. national team and a strong Australian contingent are in action at the meet, along with several Canadians, including three as part of Swimming Canada’s NextGen Train and Race Camp.

Senior Coach Paralympic Program Vince Mikuska is leading the team, which has been training in Indianapolis since Tuesday. He is supported by Claude Picard of Neptune Natation. Selected swimmers are Michelle Tovizi of North York Aquatic Club, Riley McLean of KISU Swim Club (Vernon, B.C.) and Paralympian Danielle Dorris of Club de natation Bleu et Or (Moncton, NB).

McLean completed his medal collection with a gold in the S4 men’s 50-m backstroke. His time of 56.84 was good for the win on the heels of silver and bronze medals Friday. He then added silver in the 50-m freestyle (56.47) and gold in the SM4 150-m IM in a personal best 3:35.10 to make it a five-medal weekend.

Tovizi took silver in the S7 women’s 100-m backstroke in a time of 1:49.50. She also finished fourth in the SM7 200-m IM in 4:24.64, taking more than three seconds off her personal best. Dorris earned bronze in the S8 women’s 50-m freestyle in 36.28.

“They raced hard again tonight,” Mikuska said. “It was a solid night for efforts. They each had four swims yesterday and six today. Some of them are running out of gas a bit but Riley’s swim was really good. That was his 10th swim in two days and he took almost 10 seconds off his best time. That’s why we came was to race hard.”

Alexander Sharpe earned silver in the S7 men’s 100-m backstroke. The 15-year-old from Calgary’s Nose Creek Swimming Association set a personal best of 1:33.26 on the heels of gold in the 400-m freestyle Friday. Gordie Michie of the St. Thomas (Ont.) Jumbo Jets came second in the S14 men’s 100-m backstroke with a time of 1:05.81 and also took silver in the SM14 200-m IM in 2:23.37. It was the fourth medal of the meet for Michie, who earned gold and silver Friday.

Several High Performance Centre – Quebec swimmers reached the podium again Saturday.

Tammy Cunnington got off the blocks on Day 2 and the 41-year-old Paralympian from Red Deer, Alta., grabbed gold in the S4 50-m freestyle in 54.45 after earlier earning silver in the S4 50-m backstroke in a time of 1:14.27.

Tess Routliffe of Caledon, Ont., came second in the SM7 200-m IM. The silver medallist from the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games came second in 3:06.96 behind a new challenger, Tiffany Thomas Kane of Australia, who won in 3:06.43. Kane won four Paralympic medals as an S6 in Rio but was recently reclassified.

In other HPC-QUE results, two-time Paralympian Camille Berube of Gatineau, Que., grabbed a silver, and her second bronze of the meet. She came second in the SM8 200-m IM in 3:08.80 and third in the S8 100-m backstroke in 1:25.83. Zach Zona of Waterford, Ont., came second in the SM8 men’s 200-m IM in 2:48.28. Hicham Boufekane of Montreal picked up a bronze in the S8 men’s 100-m backstroke in 1:19.32. Paralympian Jean-Michel Lavalliere, also from Montreal, earned bronze in the S7 men’s 50-m freestyle in 31.96 and the SM7 200-m IM in 2:56.40.

Meanwhile, Paralympic gold medallist Katarina Roxon of St. John’s, N.L., took silver in the SM9 women’s 200-m IM in 2:42.56.

The three-day meet runs through Sunday. Full results are available at http://www.teamusa.org/US-Paralympics/Sports/Swimming/Results