Lucas Punkari
It was another successful appearance at the Ontario junior provincial short-course championships in Nepean for Donovan Taylor and Adam Stromberg as both Fort Frances Aquanaut swimmers came away with medals.
Taylor, 17, competing in his final junior provincials before enrolling at Indiana University this fall, repeated his gold-medal showing from a year ago in the 200m individual medley, which he won Saturday in a time of 2:05.60.
“That was a really exciting race,” Taylor recalled.
“I knew going into that race that I had to bring up my game in the first half of the race and hold that up the rest of the way, and that was what I was able to do.
“I also had a buddy of mine [David Riley of Toronto] who kept right up with me until the end, and that kind of scared me a little bit,” he laughed.
Taylor also earned a pair of second-place showings on Friday in the 100m butterfly (56.45) and the 200m backstroke (2:04.80).
“I was actually kind of shocked with how I did in the backstroke,” Taylor admitted.
“When I came in and touched the wall at the end, I looked up to the scoreboard where they had all the times set up, and I had to do a double-take and check what lane I was swimming in because I couldn’t believe that I went that quick.
“I haven’t swam that fast in that race in a very long time, so I was really proud about that one,” he added.
Meanwhile, Stromberg finished second in the 50m freestyle (25.87) on Friday, then was runner-up in the 100m freestyle (56.59) on Saturday.
“I was able to do exactly what I wanted to do going into the provincials,” the 13-year-old said.
“It was another fun experience, especially with this being Donovan’s last provincials, as well,” he added.
Of his two silver-medal swims, Stromberg was more impressed by his run in the 100m free.
“I didn’t think I was going to able to take off as much time as I did there,” he admitted.
“But when I saw that I took off about a full two seconds from my personal best time, I was pretty excited.”
Also pleased by their performances was Aquanauts’ head coach Dawnn Taylor, who watched both swimmers over the course of the meet.
“They both came out this weekend and were ready to fight the fight,” she enthused.
“Adam came back with two fantastic times in the freestyle events on his way to getting second-place finishes, and that really showed to me that all of the hard training that we have been doing with him has been paying off,” she noted.
“Donovan exceeded my exceptions with the 200m backstroke that he finished second in, and to also come into his last provincials and repeat as a gold medalist in the 200m I.M. was pretty remarkable, as well.”
Donovan Taylor was back in the pool yesterday at the OFSAA championships in Milton, where he swam in the 100m butterfly.
The he’ll try to repeat his gold medal-winning performance for the black-and-gold in the 200m I.M. today.
As for Stromberg, he’ll be resting up a bit before preparing for his next competition, which will be at a meet in Kenora next month.
