No less than 14 athletes and three coaches representing the Sudbury Synchro Club will be heading to the 2018 Ontario Winter Games in Orillia, March 1 - 4, as the annual Lisa Alexander Figure Meet in Etobicoke served as an OWG qualifier this year.
But that was only part of the great news coming out of the event, from a Sudbury perspective.
In what has become an annual tradition, the local crew were honoured as the top fundraising club through the Burning Bright for Breast Cancer Campaign, organized in conjunction with Syncho Ontario.
The Sudbury Club, which raised more than $18,000 this past fall, were also recognized with the best photo of the campaign, one that is near and dear to the hearts of the Northern Ontario group. A long-time volunteer with the club, Myra Gerow, was instrumental in building a foundation for this fundraising effort, before losing her battle with breast cancer in 2011.
The Sudbury girls were equally as prominent in garnering the spotlight in the pool, with the 13-15 team leading the way. The team, which included Bronwyn Ashley, Emily Binks, Maeve Caddel, Madison Hood, Sarah Ieropoli, Stacie Kohan, Amy Lacelle, Georgia Speck and Gillian Franklin, placed third in a field of 25 teams.
With a championship score of 62.9802, the Sudbury nonet trailed only Durham Synchro (65.6202) and Nepean Synchro (63.4488), all while distancing themselves nicely from the Kawartha Trent Synchro Club (60.6036) in fourth place. The team is coached by Chelsea Wandziak, with Lindsay Wandziak serving as an assistant coach.
Joining that ensemble at the Winter Games will be the 11-12 year old quintet of Lily Burns, Chloe Cholette, Emilie Ladouceur, Maxine Lafleur and Lana Squires, along with head coach Candice Larochelle.
Ranked 14th in a field of 19 teams, the Sudbury Synchro team, one of two which competed in this age bracket (a very young grouping finished 17th), earned the right to represent the region when the very best from across the province come together in March.
Individual highlights included a fifth place finish (out of 197 swimmers) for Stacie Kohan in the figures competition, posting a score of 65.003, just ahead of teammate Emily Binks, in ninth at 64.5835.
Rounding out the 13-15 figure scores, on a local basis, were:
- Georgia Speck - 64.4165 - 12th (exhibition*)
- Amy Lacelle - 63.5002 - 12th
- Madison Hood - 61.9168 - 28th
- Sarah Ieropoli - 60.9168 - 37th
- Bronwyn Ashley - 60.6668 - 46th (exhibition*)
- Maeve Caddel - 54.4165 - 123rd
- Gillian Franklin - 42.4165 - 173rd (exhibition*)
*Because team ages are calculated based on "average age per team", swimmers that are older than the category can compete as part of a team, especially for some of the smaller clubs. Because these swimmers are 16+, their figure scores in the 13-15 division are actually shown as purely "exhibition" in the overall rankings
Eight of the eleven Sudbury girls taking part in 11-12 figures were competing in this age bracket for the very first time, with more than half the team cracking the top half in the final results:
- Lana Squires - 56.8335 - 45th
- Heidi Fink - 56.0833 - 59th
- Maxine Lafleur - 54.5830 - 81st
- Lily Burns - 53.5835 - 101st
- Emilie Ladouceur - 53.5833 - 102nd
- Sophia Flabiano - 53.3335 - 106th
- Amy Seguin - 51.9165 - 129th
- Rachelle Prevost - 50.8335 - 147th
- Chloe Cholette - 50.335 - 155th
- Julianne Crittenden - 49.4165 - 170th
- Jessica Huggett - 44.0835 - 212th
- * 217 total competitors
Competing in a non Ontario Winter Games games age bracket, the entire five person Sudbury team were showcasing their skills for the first ever time in an open meet, with two of the locals managing to crack through into the top half of their division:
- Eva Jessup - 51.4165 - 53rd
- Sarah Crittenden - 51.3332 - 54th
- Olivia Burke - 49.333 - 71st
- Lilliana Macisaac - 49.08354 - 75th
- Justine Perron-Zathureczky - 43.9998 - 109th (the youngest Sudbury swimmer, at age seven)
- * 123 total competitors
The team is back on the road this coming weekend, taking part at the Waterloo Invitational, being hosted at Wilfrid Laurier University.
