A single second kept Thunderbolts swimmer Madison Taylor from qualifying for the Western Canadian Championships.
The 16-year-old has swam with the Thunder Bay Thunderbolts Swim Club for the past five years and competed in the Northwestern Ontario Regional Championships over the weekend. The three-day meet, which started on Friday, had seven teams compete at the Canada Games Complex.
Madison took home four silver medals in the 100 metre, 400 metre and 800 metre freestyle and 400 metre IM.
She also placed third in the Women’s 15 and over 50 metre freestyle, 100 metre and 200 metre butterfly.
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Although she came in second and third, she wasn’t able to qualify for the Western Canadian Championships. She missed the qualification time by a second.
Madison remained confident that she would make up that second and she said it was just a matter of time.
“I know I’m going to get it so now I’m going to work even harder,” Madison said. “You can qualify at any meet you have been in but this was the last chance. I wasn’t swimming one of my best events so I didn’t have a chance to qualify. For a lot of races it’s just getting to that state of mind and going fast.”
Thunderbolts head coach Stu McLean said the weekend was going well with lots of good competition. He said it’s encouraging to see this level of competition in the region.
“The kids that are here are a lot more completive than what we’ve had in the past few years,” McLean said. “We have a few kids that are repairing for some competitions. Each team comes into these meets with different focuses. Some people are in a heavy training cycle, aren’t rested, and stuff like that. I think overall, we always like to do better but we have some good improvements on time and some good placing and some kids really stepping up.”
Following the competition three regional swimmers will be participating at the Olympic Game trials in Montreal. Takara Martin from the Northwest Narwhal Swim Club, Donovan Taylor from the Fort Frances Aquanauts Swim Team and Michelle Balcaen from the Kenora Swimming Sharks will be heading down to Quebec at the end of March.
Follow Jeff Labine on Twitter @Labine_reporter
