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The top swim team in Sudbury remains Laurentian Masters.
Once again, the team went to provincial championships March
20-22 and came home with a load of medals and personal best
times.
Masters’ swimming never occurs in isolation. We do
it alongside all our other commitments, responsibilities
and stresses. At the meet, every masters swimmer had his
or her story. And so there is much to say about the awesome
team that represented Sudbury at the Ontario Masters Swimming
Championships in Nepean. There were our rookies, Sandie
Grelier and Michelle Laurence swimming like veterans, not
stressing in the crowded warm-up lanes, and pulling off
amazing personal best times. There were the distance junkies
of great lung capacity: Lawrie Oliphant, Bob Jeffrey, Hugh
Ferguson putting in the mileage in the 400, 800 and 1,500-metre
events. There was this author, Laura Young, wondering why
she is addicted to individual medley, while hating the backstroke
end of the IM. Then there’s Fred Mens, George Gavrel
and Maureen Moustgaard, our veteran masters who get faster
each time out. And then there’s our Josee Theriault,
dominating in the breaststroke and tackling the 800-metre
freestyle.
We were all thrilled with the historical aspect of the
meet as it marked the return to competitive swimming of
1984 Olympic champion Alex Baumann after a 22-year absence.
Now representing Technosport in Ottawa, the smooth-swimming
Baumann set a world record in the men’s 45-49 age
group 200-metre individual medley, and shattered Canadian
records in his other events.
Laurentian Masters would like to acknowledge head coach
Ali Ferguson’s attention to detail in the weeks leading
up to provincials and for her enthusiastic support during
the entire championships. We would also like thank our assistant
coaches: Darren Pacione, Mike Allain, and Blair Smith. And
some of us would really like to thank our respective massage
and physiotherapists for much-needed TLC during the hard
training leading up to provincials!
Medals-wise: Hugh Ferguson led the way with provincial
titles in the 400-metre and 1,500-metre freestyle; Lawrie
Oliphant clinched the men’s 800-m freestyle, Josee
Theriault won the 100-m breaststroke, and Laura Young won
the women’s 200-metre individual medley. Other medallists
included Lawrie, bronze in the 1,500-m freestyle, Josee,
silver in the 200-m breaststroke and bronze in the 100-m
individual medley, Fred, silver in the 100-metre backstroke;
Maureen, silver in 100-metre backstroke; and Laura, a silver
in the 400-metre individual medley. Other team members scoring
points through individual results and relays were Bob, George,
Sandie, Michelle, and Fred. Overall, Laurentian finished
16th of 54 teams, with 10 swimmers all counting in the points
tally.
Team results:
Men’s 4x50-m freestyle relay: Lawrie Oliphant, Bob
Jeffrey; Hugh Ferguson, George Gavrel: 3.
Women’s 4x100-m freestyle relay: Laura Young, Sandie
Grelier, Michelle Laurence and Josee Theriault: 5.
Mixed 4x50-m medley relay: Lawrie Oliphant, Josee Theriault,
Bob Jeffrey, and Sandie Grelier: 6.
Individual results:
Hugh Ferguson: men’s 70-74: 1. 1,500-m free; 1. 400-m
free; 4. 50-m free
George Gavrel: men’s 55-59: 6. 200-m breaststroke;
12. 50-m free; 13; 100-m free; 12. 50-m breast
Sandie Grelier: women’s 25-29: 7. 200-m free; 18.
100-m free;
Bob Jeffrey: men’s 50-54 4. 1,500-m free.
Michelle Laurence: women’s 35-39: 14. 50-m free;
19. 100-m free
Fred Mens: men’s 55-59: 2. 100-m back; 5. 50-m free;
7. 100m free; 12 50-m breast
Maureen Moustgaard: women’s 60-64: 2. 100-m back;
4. 200-m free; 6. 50-m free 7. 100-m free
Lawrie Oliphant: men’s 50-54: 1. 800-m free; 3. 1,500-m
free; 13. 50-m free; 50-m back
Josee Theriault: women’s 40-44: 1.) 100-m breaststroke;
2. 200-m breaststroke; 3. 100-m IM; 4. 800-m free; 5. 50-m
free;
Laura Young: women’s 45-49: 1. 200-m IM, 2. 400-m
IM; 4. 100-m fly; 7.) 100-m IM , 7. 100-m breaststroke.
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