Ontario has felt the Sting!
More news coverage from Canada’s largest newspapers…. this time the Toronto Star (see original article here)
Canadian roster adds a Stingray
Newmarket’s Seemann overpowering en route to earning Olympic spot
Apr 07, 2008 04:30 AM
Randy Starkman
Sports Reporter
MONTREAL–Note to the principal at Newmarket High School: Don’t expect Lindsay Seemann in class today. But don’t worry, she has a pretty good excuse.
The 15-year-old swimmer will be busy going through orientation as the newest member of Canada’s Olympic team heading to Beijing in August. She earned her spot by churning out a wire-to-wire victory in the 200-metre backstroke in 2:12.06.
The pride of the Newmarket Stingrays was gobsmacked afterward when asked whether it had sunk in she was going to China.
“Not even close,” said Seemann.
The only sour note was that her school pals, who’d made the trip to Montreal to cheer her on, missed their classmate’s big moment because they had to get back home in time for school today.
“It kind of sucks they missed that, but that’s okay,” she said.
Seemann took control of the race from the get-go and kept building her lead throughout. No one got close, and she won by nearly two seconds.
“I was just amazed,” she said. “I knew I was on track. I could see everyone behind me. I was so thrilled the entire way.”
Joining her in the thrilled category was the men’s 4×100-metre medley relay team of Jake Tapp (backstroke) of Langley, B.C., Mathieu Bois of Montreal, Joe Bartoch of London (butterfly) and Joel Greenshields (freestyle) of Airdrie, Alta. Wearing the new Speedo Lazer Racer suit that has taken the swim world by storm, the foursome combined to slash nearly three seconds off the Canadian record with a time of 3:34.99.
It’s the second fastest time in the world this year and could help them qualify for the event for Beijing. It’s the only relay in which Canada hasn’t yet earned a spot.
The swimmers were pretty revved up about getting to try out the new suits, which weren’t allowed in any of the other races because there weren’t enough for everyone. But organizers yesterday permitted them for the relay since there were no other teams entered.
“Because the rest of the world gets these suits and the rest of the world’s moving forward, there has to be four of us who step up together and be competitive if we want to race for the medals at Beijing,” said Greenshields, who swam a sizzling 47.90 seconds in the freestyle portion. “The biggest thing is it stabilizes your core so that more of your power and more of your strength is going into the actual motion.”
Also, Montreal’s Victoria Poon set a national mark in the 50 freestyle in 25.47 seconds.
