A local swimmer is making great lengths in the pool and taking her skills to the next level.
When Ayiana Gagne started at the University of Victoria (UVic), she didn’t make the swim team, but she was invited to join the school’s development team, and after a lot of hard work she made the varsity squad, and in early March went to the national University swimming championships.
“My coaches really went out on a limb taking me, because I was nowhere near varsity level coming into university. I was ok, but definitely not good enough to make the team,” Gagne said of her initial tryout in her first year at UVic.
“I didn’t make the varsity team, but I did get lucky enough to make the development team, and a few people in my year did get cut, which I think was crazy.”
According to Uvic, the developmental team is for swimmers to build up their abilities before they compete on a national level.
Gagne’s coaches saw potential in her and a strong work ethic, which was what she’d need to get better. On the development squad, she didn’t train with other team members and was primarily racing against the clock.
As previously reported in the Times, Gagne was a member of Team Ontario at the North American Indigenous Games in the summer of 2023, where she won six medals, two silver and four bronze.
Upon returning to UVic after that summer she was elevated to the junior-varsity swim team.
“I was training with the national level high schoolers in Victoria which is incredibly humbling,” she said.
“But they were really fast so it was nice.”
In an interview with the UVic Vikes, Gagne said being with different swimmers helped her improve a lot.
“I improved so much just by training with a different group,” she said.
“Being surrounded by teammates who were way faster than me gave me something to chase. It pushed me to get better.”
Now in her third year pursuing a major in Indigenous Studies and a minor in Psychology, Gagne has been elevated to the varsity swim squad.
In November, Gagne swam a personal best in the 800m freestyle event at a meet, which beat her former time by over 30 seconds and helped confirm her spot at the U Sport Nationals.
She swam in the 400m Freestyle, 200m Freestyle and 400m individual medley.
At the championships Gagne said she was surprised by her own performance.
“[It went] shockingly well,” she said.
“It was my first one. I haven’t reached this level before so it was really intimidating. But it did go great, better than I expected for sure.”
Gagne was very pleased with her performance, as she did well in all four of her races.
“I made finals in every one of my races, which does not normally happen,” she said.
“I thought that was super exciting. I think the lowest place I got was 24th in the 200 freestyle, which was pretty cool. I got 21st in the 400 IM, I came 14th in the 400 freestyle, and I came seventh in the 800 freestyle. That one’s a big one. That one was super out of the blue too, like, I was seeded 17th, so I was not expected to place that high. So it was really, really shocking, really rewarding to be in the top 10 university swimming.”
After she wraps up the school swimming season, Gagne will keep training to stay in shape, as she has qualified for the Canadian Olympic Swimming Trials. The Trials will run in Victoria from June 7 – 12, 2025. Gagne has qualified for the trials in the 1500m freestyle.
–With files from the University of Victoria Vikes.
