Lucas Punkari
While he was unable to snatch a berth into the finals of the Canadian Age Group Championships as he did a year prior in Winnipeg, local swimmer Donovan Taylor was able to come away with some valuable experience from this year’s championships in Montreal this past week.
“I was a little disappointed with how I did, but I knew going into the meet that it was going to be a little bit of a challenge … just to come away with anything,” Taylor said yesterday morning, after returning to Fort Frances on Monday night.
“I was happy with most of my swims and I was able to hold up well during the week, but the main thing that I need to work on is my endurance over the course of the meet.
“However, all of that comes from hard work,” Taylor added.
When asked what one of the eight events that he swam in during the course of the meet that he did the best in, Taylor was quick to point to his 19th place result in the 200m backstroke.
“That was the one race that I was able to get a best time in, so I was really happy with that,” Taylor enthused.
“I was really happy with how it went technique wise, and I wasn’t hitting the ropes all weekend while in the outdoor pool, so I was quite pleased about that,” Taylor added.
Taylor’s highest result came in the 200m individual medley as his time of 2:16.64 was good enough for 18th place.
In the other six races, Taylor finished in 23rd place in the 200m breaststroke, 28th in both the 100m backstroke and the 400m I.M., 30th in the 200m butterfly, 46th in the 100m butterfly and 59th in the 50m butterfly.
“I wouldn’t call it a missed opportunity for Donovan, but it was more like an unsuccessful challenge,” coach Dawnn Taylor explained.
“The positive thing that we can take from this is that this was so eye-opening for Donovan and we now know what we need to have a game plan in place for the future.
“We have got all the ingredients, but it’s just a matter of putting the recipe together and making it.
“If he can do as well as he did in Montreal, and if he can get himself into better shape going forward, we are going to slaughter them. I know it,” Dawnn stressed.
Going into the meet, Donovan knew that his endurance was going to be a factor during the course of the Nationals, and this something that he is going to be working on leading into the upcoming season, which will kick off with a meet in Fort Frances from October 23-25.
“I really am going to be focussing on my endurance coming up, and I’m actually just getting ready to go out for a run here this morning,” Donovan said yesterday.
“Starting this weekend I’ll be spending a lot of my time doing cardio work, and using the treadmill and the elliptical machines, so I’m pretty sure that when I finish up my shirt will be completely soaked from sweat by the time I finished,” Taylor joked.