Lucas Punkari
Even though he failed to make the finals in his first-ever appearance at the Canada Cup swim meet in Etobicoke over the weekend, Fort Frances Aquanauts’ swimmer Donovan Taylor still came away with some strong performances.
The 17-year-old set personal best times in the 50m fly (25.92—38th place) and 100m fly (57.18—31st place), as well as in the 50m backstroke (27.75—30th).
“For someone who is in an event like the Canada Cup for the first time, to come back with one personal best and not shooting yourself in the foot is a big thing,” Aquanauts’ head coach Dawnn Taylor noted.
“But to come back with three personal bests is something that I’m really happy about, and it’s nice to see your swimmer continue to progress, especially at that level.
“I think that this meet is also a really great tune-up for the rest of year,” she added. “As by setting personal bests this early in the season, it shows that he is on the right track.”
Donovan Taylor also had a 33rd-place result in the 200m individual medley (2:08.86), finished 37th in the 400m I.M. (4:39.74), and placed 38th in the 200m backstroke (2:06.69) over the weekend.
Instead of the usual age groups he competes in, Taylor was in the open category at the Canada Cup, meaning the teen was up against some rather unique competition than what he’d normally face.
“In his 200m I.M. race, he was in the centre lane as a 17-year-old, and to either side of him you had guys who were 21 years of age or older,” Dawnn Taylor noted.
“You had teams that came all the way from Australia and Great
Britain just to compete at that event, so you had some of the best of the best taking part in Etobicoke this weekend,” she stressed.
There won’t be much rest for Donovan Taylor, however, as he and five of his Aquanaut teammates (Adam Stromberg, Levi Rittau, Kaela Lowey, Regan Danylchuk, and Lyndsi Jo Wilson) are off to Winnipeg tomorrow morning for the annual Prairie Winter Invitational meet.
“For the six swimmers that are going to be out there, all that I’m looking for is for each of them to have a strong performance and come out of there with some personal best times to show for it,” Dawnn Taylor remarked.
“Adam, Lyndsi, and Regan have all moved up into that 13-14 years of age category, so I’m hoping to see them get some second swims and some consolation finals.
“Those fields there are going to be tough, though, as you are going to have some of the top swimmers from Alberta and Saskatchewan there, along with the members from the University of Manitoba swim team,” she noted.
The meet gets underway tomorrow afternoon and runs through Sunday.
