By Rita Mingo

CALGARY, AB – With an important springtime of swimming coming up for many on his squad, Carl Simonson couldn’t have asked for a better weekend.

“It’s always great to bring the team together,” the head coach of the University of Calgary Swim Club said on Sunday night. “We’re a pretty big group of people so when we can come en masse to a meet like this, and when we’re really trying to swim like a team, in our home town, it’s pretty fun.”

The UCSC juggernaut was in full force at the Speedo 2023 Western Canadian Swimming Championships at the MNP Community and Sports Centre, winning the team over-all title by a substantial margin. UCSC finished with a whopping 3,176.50 points, followed by Edmonton Keyano Swim Club at 919.50 and Edmonton’s Olympian Swim Club with 754.

“There were a lot of good surprises,” Simonson admitted. “A lot of them are with the developing swimmers we have coming through. A lot of first time winners in the meet for us. It’s great to see the relays performing so well; it’s a representation of how good the team is overall.

“And then we have a lot of kids we’re still preparing for trials. Those kids are halfway through their preparation.”

The championship finished up on Sunday but there is little rest for many of these competitors, as the Canadian team trials run Mar. 28-Apr. 2 at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre.

“We were pretty light swimming the kids who are going to trials,” Simonson said. “They didn’t swim today at all. They swam a light program. We used this meet as a tune-up or as a training, really high-intensity swimming. So it’s part of the plan going in. I’m pretty pleased with where we got to here and a little more rest and preparation for trials will be right on, I think.”

On the individual side, Maxine Clark of UCSC won the high point aggregate in the female 13-15 age category. Clark collected a total of six medals – five gold and one silver.

“I’m pretty tired,” Clark said after her haul. “I’m pretty happy considering compared to how we were training into it.”

Asked what she was most pleased with, Clark, who is heading to the trials, said: “All the relay medals, obviously. I love swimming with my team; it’s so fun to swim together and push ourselves as hard as we can go.”

The other female points winners were Eleaunah Phillips of Edmonton Keyano, in the 16-and-up category, and Breanna White of Olympian in para-swimming.

In the male division, Olympian’s Tanner Cole topped the 14-16 age rankings, while his teammate Hayden Visscher took the 17-and-over points standings. Connor Bissett of Steadward Bears Para Swim Team won that category.

Second and third in the men’s 17-and-over division, UCSC’s Lorne Wigginton and Aiden Norman, both collected five gold medals. One of those was the 4×100 medley relay.

“That one hurt a lot,” admitted Wigginton, 17. “It was a bit tough; it was a good transition for the IM which I’ll be doing at trials.”

His 200m backstroke victory also stood out.

“I always kind of struggle with it,” he pointed out, “so to be able to come home pretty fast, I think it shows I’ve been training well and getting better in my weak points which I’m super happy with.”

Both youngsters are looking forward to Trials.

“I think I’m in a pretty good spot heading in,” said Norman. “This year will be a lot different, competing for junior national team, international teams.”

A total of 412 athletes from 56 clubs took part in the three-day championships.

Full results: https://results.swimming.ca/2023_Speedo_Western_Championships/