Winnipeg — In an exciting finish, Gabe Mastromatteo of Kenora Swimming Sharks won the men’s 16 to 18 100-metre breaststroke by more than two seconds.

By Liam Harrap

“It was pretty good. I mean being unrested, I felt pretty good in the water. All I was really looking for,” said Mastromatteo.

He is going to the Junior Pan Pacific Championships this August in Fiji.

“Swim. Swim a lot. Get ready to race outside more and more. Hopefully, get use to different conditions not so much racing indoors all the time,” said Mastromatteo when asked how he will train for the Championships.

This isn’t the first time he has rocked the breaststroke.  Last year, Mastromatteo won a gold medal at the FINA Would Junior Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana. He swam the breaststroke leg of mixed 4×100-metre medley relay.

In a nail biting competition, Kyla Gage of the Pointe-Claire Swim Club from Quebec swam to gold in the women’s 13 to 14 1500-metre freestyle at 17:41.56. She managed to just squeak past Gabrielle Dunn of Triton Swimming in the last couple laps.

“It felt pretty rough because I was just trying to catch-up to the girl that was in first for a really long time. Then on the last two lengths I just took off,” said Gage.

It was a new personal best for Gage.

“I’m pretty happy with it,” said Gage.

Dunn was just behind her at 17:42.73.

Ashley McMillan of the KISU Swim Club won the women’s 13 to 14 100-metre breaststroke at 1:13.24. It was a new personal best for McMillan.

“Ya! By like two seconds,” said McMillan.

She is competing again later this weekend in the 100-metre backstroke and 200-metre breaststroke.

“Swim pretty much as fast as I can. Try and take off some time. We’ll see how it goes,” said McMillan when asked what some of her goals are for the rest of the competition.

Simonne Barbeau from Neptune Natation came second at 1:13.73.

Dmitriy Lim of Simon Fraser Aquatics took gold in the men’s 200-metre fly at 2:03.49. He said he was happy with his performance.

“It was good. Not as good as Trials. But I’m still feeling it a little bit.”

Lim is hoping for even better and stronger swims in the upcoming 400-metre free and 100-metre backstroke. However, he’s still recovering from Trials.

“Try to improve from last week. Last week was rough,” said Lim.

Another impressive race was by Lora Willar from the Point-Claire Swim Club. She won the women’s 15 to 17 200-metre butterfly in a time of 2:15.51.

The RBC Canadian Junior Championships continue through to Sunday at the Winnipeg Pan Am Pool and is being webcast at http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1274889283829.

For full results from the competition: https://results.swimming.ca/2018_Canadian_Junior_Championships/.

Here is a complete list of medal winners from tonight’s action.

Girls 1500-m freestyle

• 13-14

o            Gold: Kyla Gage, PCSC

o            Silver: Gabrielle Dunn, TRIT

o            Bronze: Naeva Scott Boris, UVPCS

• 15-17

o            Gold: Emma O’Croinin, EKSC

o            Silver: Kyla Ross, ISC

o            Bronze: Chantel Jeffrey, ISC

Girls 100-m Breaststroke

• 13-14

o            Gold: Ashley McMillan, KISU

o            Silver: Simonne Barbeau, NN

o            Bronze: Blake Currie, VPSC

• 15-17

o            Gold: Emma Myburgh, ISC

o            Silver: Olivia Starzomski, SSAT

o            Bronze: Asia Minnes, NN

Boys 100-m Breaststroke

• 14-16

o            Gold: Aiden Luykenaar, UCSC

o            Silver: Ramy Ghaziri, LBN

o            Bronze: Michael Schmidt, UVPCS

• 17-18

o            Gold: Gabe Mastromatteo, KSS

o            Silver: Alexander Milanovich, ESWIM

o            Bronze: Graeme Aylward, MMST

Girls 200-m Butterfly

• 13-14

o            Gold: Catherine Minic, GPP

o            Silver: Isabelle Brunoro, SFA

o            Bronze: Katrina Bellio, ESWIM

• 15-17

o            Gold: Lora Willar, PCSC

o            Silver: Victoria Kwan, MAC

o            Bronze: Avery Willis, CW

Boys 200-m Butterfly

• 14-16

o            Gold: Michael Sava, RAMAC

o            Silver: Cole Pratt, CASC

o            Bronze: Joshua Liendo, NYAC

• 17-18

o            Gold: Dmitriy Lim, SFA

o            Silver: Raben Dommann, CHENA

o            Bronze: Ray Yang, ESWIM

Open 4×100-m mixed medley relay

• Gold: Etobicoke Swim Club

o            Richie Stokes

o            Alexander Milanovich

o            Caroline Carruthers

o            Hanna Henderson

• Silver: Pointe-Claire Swim Club

o            Kyle Douglas

o            Neil Simpson

o            Jeanne Dahmen

o            Alexia Ferguson

• Bronze: Cascade Swim Club

o            Sebastian Somerset

o            Isabelle Roth

o            Cole Pratt

o            Ava Free