HONOLULU, Hawaii – Canada wrapped up the third night of the 2022 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships with the team’s second medal of the meet in the women’s 4×100-m freestyle relay.

Elan Daley of Toronto led off the relay in a flat-start time of 55.71 followed by Ella Jansen of Burlington, Ont. in 55.59. Kamryn Cannings of Calgary and Christey Liang of Edmonton both dipped under the 55-second mark on their relay legs, splitting 54.87 and 54.73.

After the women’s team placed fourth in the 4×200-m freestyle relay, the swimmers were particularly excited about their podium finish.

“It means a lot,” Liang said. “It’s so amazing to be able to represent Canada internationally and to be able to do it with some of the girls I’ve been racing for so long has been really special. To be able to work together as a team and work through yesterday’s fourth place finish is special.”

Daley attributes the team’s success to their ability to move together.

“I try to move with the team as one,” Daley said. “Get in and out of warmup at the same time. Change into our racing suits at the same time. We also tried to sit together on the bus and just be together throughout the day. I think we did a good job of doing that today.”

Prior to the 4×100-m freestyle relay, Jansen finished fifth in the women’s 100-m butterfly in 59.40 and Cannings sixth in 1:00.11.

On the men’s side, Filip Senc-Samardzic of Toronto placed fifth in 53.82. Bill Dongfang of Victoria, B.C. touched eighth in 54.49.

Senc-Samardzic, Victor Dagenais of Montreal, Adam Wu of Surrey, B.C. and Paul Dardis of Calgary touched in fourth after Japan in the men’s 4×100-m freestyle relay in 3:21.99. The U.S. took gold in 3:!5.79 and Australia silver in 3:18.06.

Earlier in the session, Wu placed fourth in the 400-m freestyle in 3:53.62. Joshua Staples of Australia won in 3:48.36. Rex Maurer of the U.S. captured silver in 3:49.86 and teammate Alex Enyeart bronze in 3:51.07.

“The race went pretty well overall,” Wu said. “I tried to set myself up well in prelims but still ended up in a side lane. I raced as well as I could. I dropped a second to come fourth. I think ideally I could have tried to finish the 400 off a bit faster in the last 100, but overall it was a great race.”

Benjamin Loewen of Toronto also swam to a new personal best time in the men’s 200-m backstroke. After dropping a second in his morning swim, Loewen dropped another second to place fourth in 2:00.33.

Teammate Aiden Norman of Calgary finished sixth in 2:02.38.

Loewen did two warmups in preparation for his 200. He used the first one to loosen up and practice swimming backstroke outdoors. He did his second warmup in his racing suit to get in the right mindset for the final.

“After a really solid morning swim, my only goal was to go out faster,” Loewen said. “I wanted to be out under a minute, and I did that. I was super happy with myself. I’d like my third 50 to be a bit faster, but that’s something to improve on in the future.”

The coaching staff were impressed by the team’s energy after three days of competition. Women’s team head coach Robert Novak explained what he saw the athletes doing well to prepare for their races.

“The team stepped up, showed consistency, passion and pride,” Novak said. “We went into the morning with positivity and collaboration and that transferred over to the finals session. The women’s A and B relays did fantastic with the A relay achieving the bronze medal. We’re very proud of that process and how the coaches and swimmers worked together.”

Other finalists include: Kathryn Hazle seventh in the women’s 400-m freestyle in 4:18.18 and Naomi Slee of Edmonton eighth in 4:18.59, Lorne Wigginton of Calgary seventh in the men’s 400-m freestyle in 3:56.32, Regan Rathwell of Ottawa/High Performance Centre – Ontario fifth in the 200-m backstroke in 2:12.47 and Jordan Greber of Grande Prairie, Alta., seventh in 2:15.73.

Full results: http://www.swmeets.com/Realtime/Jr%20PanPacs/2022/

Livestream: https://www.usaswimming.org/utility/landing-pages/streaming