In the News

Mortimer and Thomas golden at Para Pan Pac swimming championships

11 August 2011

August, 10, 2011

EDMONTON – Amber Thomas of Drayton Valley, Alta., won two gold medals and Summer Mortimer of Ancaster, Ont., added a victory to highlight a great start for Canada at the 14-country Para Pan Pacific swimming championships.

Canadian team collected three gold, four silver and five bronze in the individual races on the first day of the five-day event.

Benoit Huot, Valerie Grand’Maison and Brian Hill of Montreal, Kirsti Kasko of High River, Alta., Brianna Nelson of Victoria, Morgan Bird of Calgary, Katarina Roxon of Stephenville, N.L., and Justine Morrier and Aurélie Rivard, both of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., also reached the podium for Canada.

Thomas earned her victories in the 50 freestyle and 400 freestyle in the S11 disability category for the visually impaired.

‘’I was a little worried after the preliminaries because my times were subpar,’’ said Thomas, 19. ‘’Obviously tonight was a lot better. It’s definitely nice to have so many people from my hometown here which made it even more exciting. It’s a really good set up a year out of the Paralympics.’’

Also in the 400 freestyles, Rivard took the bronze in the S10 race with Brianna Jennett-McNeill of Russell, Ont., fourth; Cynthia Berringer of Mississauga, Ont., and Stephanie McDougall of Maple Ridge, B.C., were fourth in the S6 and S7 races; Bird, Sarah Mailhot of Quebec City and Camille Bérubé of Gatineau, Que., were fourth, fifth, sixth in the S8 event and Roxon fifth in the S9.

In the women’s 50 freestyle in the S10 disability category, Mortimer clocked 28.70 for the win. Rivard was fifth and Megyn Coughlan of Ottawa sixth.

‘’I would have liked to have gone faster,’’ said Mortimer, 18, the reigning world champion in the event. ‘’It’s really exciting to be here, a great feeling and atmosphere. The Canadian team is swimming really well and we are going to have a really good competition.’’

Other Canadian medallists in the 50 freestyle were Grand’Maison with silver in the S13 race with Rhea Schmidt of Winnipeg fifth; Morrier also took the silver in the S14 class while Nelson was third in S7 with Sarah Mehain of Vernon, B.C., fourth. Bird was third in the S8 and Roxon third in S9 with Jenna Skieneh of Windsor, Ont., seventh.

In the men’s 100 butterfly in the S10 disability category Andre Brasil of Brazil won the gold medal clocking 57.17 seconds with Huot, a three-time Paralympic champion, second in 59.04, the second fastest time of his career. Isaac Bouckley of Port Hope, Ont., was eighth.

‘’I’m satisfied with that performance,’’ said Huot, fourth in the event at the world championships last year. ‘’It’s an event I always race internationally but not always the one I train for the most. So to come within a tenth of my best time in this race augurs well for the rest of the competition.’’

In the 100 freestyle in the S12 division for visually impaired, Charl Bouwer of South Africa was the winner in 59.50 with Tucker Dupree of the U.S., second in 1:00.00 and Hill third in 1:02.54.

In the 200 freestyle S14 class for intellectually challenged, Kasko took the silver in 2:30.86 with Justine Morrier of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., fifth.

Valerie Drapeau of Montreal was seventh in the women’s S5 200 freestyle

Other men’s finalists were Danial Murphy of Bedford, N.S., fourth in the S5 100 butterfly; Jean-Michel Lavalliere of Quebec City and Scott Patterson of North Vancouver sixth and ninth in the S7 50 butterfly and Michael Qing of Regina, Maxime Rouselle of St-Alexandre, Que., and Magnus Batara of Richmond, B.C., fifth, seventh and eighth in the S14 100 butterfly.

Full results: https://swimming.ca/liveresults/2011parapanpacs/

Canadian team list with hometowns:https://www.swimming.ca/PanPacificParaSwimmingTeam.aspx

Results:

Women 200 LC Meter Freestyle Multi-Disability S1,S2,S3,S4:
1. Valle Patricia, MEX, 4:18.45; 2. Miranda, Nely, MEX, 3:56.12; 3. Garcia Edenia, BRA, 4:08.28;

Women 200 LC Meter Freestyle Multi-Disability S5:
1. Silva, Joana Maria, BRA, 3:15.06; 2. Kawamura, Yuka, JPN, 3:39.64; 3. Goh, Theresa Rui, SIN, 3:42.79

Women 200 LC Meter Freestyle Multi-Disability S14:
1. Clarke, Kayla, AUS, 2:21.19; 2. Kasko, Kirstie, CAN, 2:30.86; 3. Dela Vega Parra, Mariana Diaz, MEX, 2:34.89; 3. Resendiz Garcia, Beatriz, MEX, 2:34.89;

Women 400 LC Meter Freestyle Multi-Disability S6:
1. Trejo, Vianney, MEX, 6:08.21; 2. Domingo, Karina, MEX, 6:21.49; 3. Huebner, Tanya, AUS, 6:49.89

Women 400 LC Meter Freestyle Multi-Disability S7:
1. Weggemann, Mallory, USA, 5:12.66; 2. Dubber, Rebecca, NZL, 5:26.26; 3. Jordan , Cortney, USA, 5:26.61

Women 400 LC Meter Freestyle Multi-Disability S8:
1. Long, Jessica, USA, 4:44.92; 2. Freney, Jacqueline, AUS, 5:04.92; 3. Ribeiro, Susana, BRA, 5:37.30

Women 400 LC Meter Freestyle Multi-Disability S9:
1. Cole, Ellie, AUS, 4:43.50; 2. Stone, Elizabeth, USA, 4:54.04; 3. Gray, Emily, RSA, 4:54.69

Women 400 LC Meter Freestyle Multi-Disability S10:
1. Scott, Suzanne, USA, 4:38.61; 2. Pascoe, Sophie, NZL, 4:49.57; 3. Rivard, Aurelie, CAN, 4:54.27

Women 400 LC Meter Freestyle Multi-Disability S11:
1. Thomas, Amber, CAN, 5:44.86; 2. Kelly-Costello, Aine, NZL, 6:00.71; 3. Bloem, Renette, RSA, 6:49.06.

Women 400 LC Meter Freestyle Multi-Disability S12,S13:
1. von Roosmalen, Teigan, AUS, 5:02.64; 2. Fisher, Mary, NZL, 5:25.95; 3. Naude, Marike, RSA, J5:21.81

Men 50 LC Meter Butterfly Multi-Disability S1,S2,S3,S4:
1. Reyes, Juan, MEX, 48.37; 2. Doungkaew, Somchai, THA, 49.01; 3. Castorena, Arnulfo, MEX, 56.48

Men 50 LC Meter Butterfly Multi-Disability S5:
1. Perkins Jr., Roy, USA, 35.78; 2. Dias, Daniel, BRA, 35.88; 3. Silva, Clodoaldo, BRA, 46.33

Men 50 LC Meter Butterfly Multi-Disability S6:
1. Amaro, Jeferson, BRA, 36.89; 2. Wickens, Reagan, AUS, 39.16; 3. Payungsakul, Boonyarit, THA, 40.74

Men 50 LC Meter Butterfly Multi-Disability S7:
1. Levy, Matthew, AUS, 32.41; 2. Ejima, Daisuke, JPN, 33.13; 3. Lamback, Lantz, USA, 33.20

Men 100 LC Meter Butterfly Multi-Disability S8:
1. Andrade, Luis, MEX, 1:09.37; 2. Garcia-Tolson , Rudy, USA, 1:10.84; 3. Ara, Chikara, JPN, 1:13.30

Men 100 LC Meter Butterfly Multi-Disability S9:
1. Cowdrey, Matthew, AUS, 1:00.55; 2. Hall, Brendan, AUS, 1:02.57; 3. Yamada, Takuro, JPN, 1:05.60;

Men 100 LC Meter Butterfly Multi-Disability S10:
1. Brazil, Andre, BRA, 57.17; 2. Huot, Benoit, CAN, 59.04; 3. Pasterfield, Andrew, AUS, 59.29

Men 100 LC Meter Butterfly Multi-Disability S12,S13:
1. Bouwer, Charles, RSA, 59.59; 2. Dupree, Tucker, USA, 1:00.00; 3. Hill, Brian, CAN, 1:02.54

Men 100 LC Meter Butterfly Multi-Disability S14:
1. Groenewald, Craig, RSA, 1:03.14; 2. Miyazaki, Satoru, JPN, 1:03.33; 3. Nagao, Tomoyuki, JPN, 1:03.63;

Women 50 LC Meter Freestyle Multi-Disability S1,S2,S3,S4:
1. Miranda, Nely, MEX, 52.31; 1. Yip, Pin Xiu, SIN, J1:04.46; 3. Garcia, Edenia, BRA, J54.65

Women 50 LC Meter Freestyle Multi-Disability S5:
1. Silva, Joana Maria, BRA, 38.68; 2. Goh, Theresa Rui, SIN, 46.76; 3. Kawamura, Yuka, JPN, 48.28

Women 50 LC Meter Freestyle Multi-Disability S6:
1. Nara, Erika, JPN, 38.80; 2. Huebner, Tanya, AUS, 39.38; 3. Johnson, Liz, GBR, 40.09

Women 50 LC Meter Freestyle Multi-Disability S7:
1. Weggemann, Mallory, USA, 32.11; 2. Jordan, Cortney, USA, 34.53; 3. Nelson, Brianna, CAN, 36.10

Women 50 LC Meter Freestyle Multi-Disability S8:
1. Long, Jessica, USA, 31.90; 2. Freney, Jacqueline, AUS, 32.69; 3. Bird, Morgan, CAN, 33.51

Women 50 LC Meter Freestyle Multi-Disability S9:
1. Cole, Ellie, AUS, 30.72; 2. Stone, Elizabeth, USA, 30.93; 3. Roxon, Katarina, CAN, 31.58

Women 50 LC Meter Freestyle Multi-Disability S10:
1. Mortimer, Summer, CAN, 28.70; 2. Pascoe, Sophie, NZL, 29.27; 3. Scott, Suzanne, USA, 29.58

Women 50 LC Meter Freestyle Multi-Disability S11:
1. Thomas, Amber, CAN, 34.72; 2. Kelly-Costello, Aine, NZL, 35.09; 3. Bloem, Renette, RSA, 38.93.

Women 50 LC Meter Freestyle Multi-Disability S12,S13:
1. Becherer, Kelley, USA, 27.84; 2. Grand'Maison, Valerie, CAN, 28.12; 3. Watt, Prudence, AUS, 28.25

Women 50 LC Meter Freestyle Multi-Disability S14:
1. Dela Vega Parra, Mariana Diaz, MEX, 32.31; 2. Morrier, Justine, CAN, 32.84; 3. Herrera Suarez, Stephanie Monserrat, MEX, 33.49