News from the Deck...
MSSAC has busy weekend with meets in Toronto, Etobicoke, and Hamilton
Mississauga Aquatic Club raced this past weekend at the NYAC Performance, TOP Cup, and the Jack McCormack swim meets.
The NYAC Performance Meet hosted the 13&over swimmers from our Silver and Gold Groups as well as the 11&over swimmers from Wave 3. MSSAC placed third at the meet just ahead of the Toronto Swim Club in what is always a great meet. U of T is a pool that is very fast and is greatly under used for Toronto area swim meets. Madison Moore was among our top performers with big improvements recognizing the hard work put in over a number of months. Deniz Selcuk and Kassandra Espinola were also very strong in their performances. Caela Fenton also showed some good improvement with best times in many events. David Bacchus, Nicholas Lisowski, and Gregory Matthieu Surnois showed that there are some up and coming boys in MSSAC with some great swims in the boys 11 year old category. Francisco Juarez Miranda and Pierre Haroun both had outstanding breastroke swims with some breakthrough results. Andrew Blakely continued to show improvement in free and back events and Chinmay Patil had a seven second drop in the 100 fly and twelve seconds in the 200 fly. Karl Janiec and Petr Miletic moved closer to breaking a minute in the 100 free. Congratulations to all swimmers on a great meet.
The TOP CUP has been a ten and under focus for many years now and this is always and exciting competition. MSSAC finished in third place ahead of Etobicoke and North York, behind Toronto and Point-Claire. MSSAC won 13 gold, 11 silver, and 9 bronze medals lead by Angela Pan. Angela was the top performer of the weekend winning the high point trophy for her age group and earning 10 gold medals, congratulations! Kirsten Alejandro, Maggie Copland, Ray Yang, and Pierre Truong also son medals and provided the team with many points. The medal winners were supported by a number of top eight Rachel Chan, Lindsay Hillis, Karissa Shieh, Conger Zhang, Colin Wang, Amy Li, Albert Nguyen, and Matthew Babits. These young swimmers as well as everyone else at the meet showed that MSSAC has some great swimmers coming up and the future is going to be exciting. Great swimming and great job!
The Jack McCormack Invitational is a meet that MSSAC has supported for a number of years and this year we send the 11&over Bronze swimmers. The Friday session started with the distance events, a huge pat on the back for those that came out and stayed from 10 am until the early evening so they could swim the 400 IM, 200 IM, and 800 FR. Your dedication and perseverance shone like the brightest star when two of your teammates collided during the 800FR, kept going and still went best times! Saturday and Sunday saw good efforts in all events, even with the delayed start, MSSAC was first in the water for warm up, and most of their heats! According to the meet package, heats were swum with all ages and genders combined. This is great when you consider that Julia, Victor, Sabrina, Christine, Paige, Abdullah, Pavel, Marcelina, Neil, Rodrigo, Peter, Jessica, Mitchell, and so on had to race 15 + year old swimmers. Most won their heats or beat the older guys. Special mention goes out to Peter Lin, Sabrina Tam, and Stephanie MacDonald who stood out because they were on fire. Keep eating your rocket fuel for breakfast folks!
MSSAC at Hicken, May 2010
From Head Coach Mike Rutledge:The Mississauga Aquatic Club hosted another successful hicken meet this year. Thanks to the many volunteers that made this event possible and helped create the opportunity for Mississauga Swimmers and swimmers in the southern Ontario community.
The Mississauga had some great success and ended up with the total individual medal count being 28 gold, 32 silver, and 19 bronze. There were also new club records set as well as swimmers qualifying for the Provincial and National Championships.
Gold medal winners included Angela Pan, Tiara Higuchi, Stephanie McDonald, Megan Vuong, Melanie McDonald, Alexandra Jozwiak, Jessie Hickey, Isabella Olivares, Vanessa Treasure, Matthew Babits, Pierre Truong, Din Selmonovic, Victor Truong, and Austin Rockett.
Silver medal winners included Angela Pan, Tiara Higuchi, Julia Matuszczak, Wennie Zhang, Megan Vuong, Melanie McDonald, Stephanie Ly, Alexandra Jowiak, Isabella Olivares, Vanessa Treasure, Matthew Babits, Ray Yang, Pierre Truong, Din Selmonovic, Abdullah Ahmad, and Victor Truong.
Bronze medal winners included Maggie Copland, Paige Hillis, Julia Matuszczak, Wennie Zhang, Megan Vuong, Stephanie Ly, Jessie Hickey, Rachel Sehn, Nicolette Goncalves, Ray Yang, Pierre Truong, Albert Nguyen, Din Selmonovic and Rodrigo Villalobos.
The club is very pleased with the results from the meet the success of our volunteers and their efforts and we look forward to the rest of the summer season. Congratulations Swimmers, Parents and families! Swim Fast!
Mississauga Aquatic Club 5th at Team Champs , April 2010
The 2010 Ontario Division I Team Champs was another great event. Each year this meet provides a fun and exciting atmosphere and this year was no exception. There were many highlights to this meet and the most exciting part is usually the beginning of the finals session when the 12&under relays get the opportunity to perform in front of everyone. This is also possibly the loudest portion of the meet. I would like to congratulate all our 12&under swimmers as you all made Mississauga proud. The senior swimmers also performed very well with multiple finals and top performances. We were very happy to begin the next portion of our swim season with great success and look forward to the coming months. Great Job Team Champs Team!
Provincial Championships , Feb 2010
The Mississauga Aquatic Club won a total of 31 medals of which 16 were gold, 8 were silver, and 7 were bronze. Gold Medal winners included Megan Vuong(1), Angela Pan(4), Austin Rockett(6), and Din Selmanovic(1) in individual events and then the dominant relay 11&under boys relay team made up of 4 of the six boys including Din Selmanovic, Terry Li, Abdullah Ahmad, Rodrigo Villalobos, Andrew Nguyen, and Sasha Svitak. We also had a number of club records at the meet. Megan Vuong broke the 13&14 Girls 100 fly, Janica Lee broke the 15-17 Girls 100 breast held by her older sister Joanna, and Angela Pan broke the 10 & under Girls 50 free and 200 free records. Relay Records included 4 set by the girls 10&under including Angela Pan, Kate Trudeau, Paige Hillis, and Maggie Copland. Silver medal winners included Maggie Copland, Paige Hillis, Megan Vuong, Melanie McDonald, and Din Selmanovic. Bronze medals were won by Maggie Copland, Tiara Higuchi, Paige Hillis, and Rodrigo Villalobos. Other highlights include Melanie McDonald qualifying for Eastern Canadian Championships, Isabella Olivares going all best times and making finals in 5 of 7 events in her new age group as her birthday fell on the first day of the meet, first time age group national qualifiers Tiara Higuchi, Julia Matuszczak, and Wennie Zheng. Alexandra Jozwiak finishing the girls 13&14 relays in 26.6 for 50 free, and Austin Rockett breaking the meet record in the 800 on the last day after swimming the 200 fly and 200 back prior to the 800. Congratulations Swimmers!
New Club Record for Angela Pan
Congratulations to Angela Pan for breaking the club record in the girls 10 & under 1500 freestyle. Angela swam the 1500 in 21:05.63 beating the old record of 21:58.32 held by Megan Vuong.
Eastern Canadian Championships, Feb 2010
Six Swimmers represented the Mississauga Aquatic Club at the Eastern Canadian Championship this year as many swimmers stayed home to prepare for the Provincials. Austin Rockett, Vanessa Treasure, Janica Lee, Nicolette Goncalves, Megan Vuong, and Taylor Anderson were those athletes. The meet was highlighted by Medal winning performance including gold in the 400 IM and 800 free for Austin Rockett, Silver for Vanessa Treasure in the 400 IM and Austin Rockett in the 400 free and 1500 free. Janica Lee and Nicolette Goncalves were among our finalists in the breastroke for Janica and the fly for Nicolette. Megan Vuong and Taylor Anderson competed very well with Megan gaining valuable experience in her first senior championship meet and Taylor swimming season best times in back and breast. Well Done Swimmers!
Central Region Championships, Feb 4-7, 2010
The Mississauga Aquatic Club was very successful at the Central Region Championships. MSSAC put up some outstanding results and eight new swimmers qualified for the Provincial Championships. Congratulations to Elise Patterson, Laura Xu, Sofia Carnevale, Jessica Stoyen, Georgia Hamilton, Jessie Hickey, Alex Albanese, and Kassandra Espinola on joining the Mississauga Provincial Squad. Congratulations also to Andrew Nguyen who qualified for the Provincial Championships a few weeks ago. Din Selmanovic was winner of the high point trophy with an outstanding 2 gold, 2 silver, and a bronze. Well done Din! Megan Vuong now owns the club record in the 11&12 girls 100 fly breaking a long standing record of Christina Kubacki. Great Job! Individual event champions included Paige Hillis, Tiara Higuchi, Elise Patterson, Jessie Hickey, Alexandra Jozwiak, Jackie Chan, and Din Selmanovic. Silver medal winners include Michael Decsey, Alex Albanese, Peter Lin, Victor Truong, Din Selmanovic, Kate Trudeau, Sofia Carnevale, Julia Matuszczak, Alexandra Jozwiak, Deniz Selcuk. Bronze medal winners include Din Selmanovic, Sasha Svitak, Victor Truong, JC Smith, Michael Borsk, Alex Albanese, Joaquin Rabsiun, Michael Decsey, Andrew Vo, Maggie Copland, Julia Matuszczak, Jessie Hickey, and Georgia Hamilton. In addition, there were some great really results, best times, and great racing. We are moving forward to the Winter Team Champs, Eastern Canadian Championships, Provincial Championships, and the Muskoka Invitational. We are looking forward to great swims in the coming weeks. Swim Fast!
Great Early Season Racing At Ontario Cup; Jan 15-17, 2010
Ontario Cup is a
great opportunity for the senior swimmers to race for the
first time since the holiday season.
Most of the athletes at this meet are under heavy
workload and this can make it tough to go fast but the value
of good racing is still there.
Vanessa Treasure and Austin Rockett both finished
with impressive 2nd place finishes, Vanessa in
the 200 fly and
This meet was a great two day opportunity to race and help prepare for February championship season.
MSSAC Success in London; Jan 16-17, 2010
This past weekend in London was a great success for the Mississauga Aquatic Club. By far, we were the team with the most points, thanks to a great performance by our swimmers that brought home tons of medals and best times. The “superstar” of this weekend was Tyler Chung who broke 6 meet records in the 8 year old boys category and of course, came back home with 6 gold medals!! He can pair with Yang Ray who, in the 9 years old boys’ category, won all the three events in which he was entered. Two very young boys who are keeping alive the tradition of fast boy swimmers that our Club has build in the last few years. Also in the other boy’s age category, the MSSAC supremacy was evident. The 10 year olds were dominated by Sasha Svitak with four gold’s and silver, while Abdullah Ahmad had 4 gold’s and 2 silvers in the 11 year olds category. In the same category, Rodrigo Villalobos got three more gold medals and Din Selmanovic finished first, twice and Andrew Nguyen was the fastest in the 50 fly. But MSSAC is not only boys. In fact several girls battled hard as well. Tiara Higuchi won four races and finished second in the other two. In the same category, 11 year old girls, Stephanie McDonald finished first in the 200 Bk and 400 free, while Jessica Stoyan was the fastest in the 50 free. Paige Hillis dominated the 10 year olds category with 3 gold’s, two silver and a bronze. Julia Matuszczak was the fastest in the 100 br, while our very young Monica Luc bit everybody in the 100 bk eight year olds category. Overall, the meet was a great success and it was nice to see so many kids had improved in all the basic skills we were working on the past 3 months. Only 5 DQ out of more than 400 races, long underwater, faster starts and more efficient strokes are great news for a Club that has always put a lot of effort and attention in developing his younger swimmers. Here is the list of swimmers that finished top three in London: Abdullah Ahmad, Kirsten Alejandrino, Matthew Babits, Rachel Chan, Brian Chung, Tyler Chung, Maggie Copland, Scott Earle, Tiara Higuchi, Lindsay Hillis, Paige Hillis, Simon Huria, Francisco Juarez Miranda, Peter Lin, Alyna Liu, Monica Luc, Julia Matuszczak, Stephanie McDonald, Andrew Nguyen, Elise Patterson, Vanessa Patterson, Din Selmanovic, Karissa Shieh, Jessica Stoyan, Gregory Surnois, Sasha Svitak, Connor Tenaschuk, Alexander Trudeau, Kathryn Trudeau, Pierre Truong, Victor Truong, Rodrigo Villalobos, Laura Xu, Ray Yang. Great job swimmers! Congratulations to the staff of Andrea Pittis, Jorgina Lee, Lucy Wu, Erin Paton and Misa Vujaklija who all did a great job during the two days meet.
MSSAC Distance Time Trial, Dec 12, 2009
From Head Coach, Mike Rutledge
The MSSAC Distance Time Trial was a great success and an event that caters primarily to the Bronze level of swimming with some Silver participation as well. The purpose of this event is to give those swimmers that need, the opportunity to swim their prerequisite events. The Bronze swimmers, because of their age, typically have less opportunity to swim these events and therefore the opportunity has been created by the club to fill this gap in opportunity. It was really fun and exciting to watch our swimmers perform and I was impressed by the improvements that our swimmers are showing. Swimmers are developing better and better skill and there has been a noticeable improvement in body alignment while swimming. In competitive swimming we are always concerned with body position in the water because we are trying to create a fast swimming vehicle. In freestyle swimming we are looking for the head to be still unless breathing and the eyes focus downward so that the swimmer appears to be leading with the top of their head. Observing our swimmers during Saturday's distance time trial I notice more and more swimmers achieving success on the proper body and head position. Melanie McDonald, one of our best young 12 & under swimmers is a great example of proper body position in the water and this is ultimately a big part of why she is successful. In addition, I say many other swimmers doing the same and the trend was that swimmers who were swimming faster had better body position. Swimmers, please continue to work on proper body position and listen to your coach!
Thanks to all the volunteers, it was great to see so many new faces out helping run a MSSAC event. Remember that the parents of the 12&unders will soon be responsible for running MSSAC meets and without you we will not be able to hold such events. Thanks!
A True Success Camp, Dec 2009
From Head Coach, Mike Rutledge
More than a hundred swimmers from the Mississauga Aquatic Club and Toronto Swim Club participates in the first 'TRUE BLUE CAMP'. It was four hours of teaching, playing and socializing at the UTM pool on Saturday December 5, 2009. The camp that was designed for the best swimmers 12 years old and under of the two Clubs was a great success. The first group of swimmers arrived at the UTM pool at 5:45am and by 6am, the activation set was already in progress. All the participants were divided in a Provincial Group, a Regional Group and a D-Group. Alternatively all the swimmers went through a session of dryland and specific drills for all four strokes conducted by Toronto Development Coach, Victor Delac and his assistants Ashley Bradbury and Leslie Macumber, and by Mississauga Aquatic Club Age Group Coach Andrea Pittis and his assistants, Jorgina Lee, Erin Paton and Meghan McDonnell. After the first two hours of core strength exercises and stroke improvement drills, all swimmers were divided in 8 teams that competed in relays and water polo games before finishing with cheers and Christmas wishes. The camp goals of having fun, learning and working together were achieved with great success. We are looking forward to offer this opportunity again to more and more swimmers of the two Clubs.
Youth Cup, Dec 2009
From Head Coach, Mike RutledgeMegan Vuong, Melanie McDonald, Alexandra Jozwiak, and Austin Rockett combined for 21 of the total 23 Gold Medals. Megan Vuong earned gold in the 800free, 100free, 100 fly 200free, 50free, and 50 fly. Melanie won the 400IM, 50,100, and 200breast, and the 200IM. Ola dominated the freestyle events with gold in the 50, 100, 200, and 400 free, and Austin won the 200, 800, and 1500 free, as well as the 400IM, 200back, and 200fly. Vanessa Treasure picked up the other two gold medals with wins in the 50 and 200 fly.
Silver medal winners included Stephanie Ly, Austin Rockett, Vanessa Treasure, and Melanie McDonald. Stephanie was second in the 100 breast, Austin in the 400 free, Vanessa in the 400 IM and 800 free, and Melanie was second in the 50 free.
Bronze medal winners include Megan Vuong, Nicolette Goncalves, Janica Lee, Alexandra Jozwiak, Kim Nguyen, and Stephanie Ly. Megan in 200IM, Nicolette in the 50 and 100 fly, Janica Lee in the 100 breast, Alexandra (Ola) in the 50 fly, Kim in the 50 back, and Stephanie in the 50 breast. In addition to our medal winners we had many top 8 performers including Rachel Sehn, Jessie Hickey, Isabella Olivares, Andrew Vo, and Joe Rabsiun.
Some additional highlights include new qualifiers to the Provincial championships in Michael Decsey and Joe Rabsiun, Michael in the 100 back and Joe in the 100 back and 50 free. Relays are also a very fun and exciting part of the meet and we had some great relay swims. Isabella Olivares, Melanie McDonald, Megan Vuong, and Ola Jozwiak combined for some great relay success in the 13&14 girls with the help of Breastroker Stepanie Ly. Isabella had a gruelling schedule as she continued to swim up on the senior girls relay almost every day creating a very busy meet. The 4x100 medley relay of Isabella, Janica Lee, Nicolette Goncalves, and Rachel Sehn pulled off a bronze medal with and outstanding finishing leg by Rachel Sehn who finished with a 59.5 freestyle split.
Some additional swims that deserve recognition include Taylor Anderson 200 IM, Taylor was best time by three seconds. JC Smith in dropped 4 seconds in the 200 back. Michael Borsk has been developing as an up and coming MSSAC breastroker and performed well in the breastroke events. Jackie Chan was also strong in the breastroke events along with the sprint freestyle.
In addition to the great success in placing and times we continue to work and develop the skills required for fast swimming. The coaching staff continue to focus and evaluate performances not only on time but skill and execution of proper technique. It is important to swim well today to go fast tomorrow. MSSAC continues to make underwater skill off walls a focus and the practice of maintaining speed off the wall. Swimmers travel their fastest immediately following the dives and turns and after that we are trying to maintain speed. The winner is usually the one that slows down the least. Many people believe that swimming long course and practicing long course is so important but that is not true for many reasons one of which is the need to practice quality turns, push offs, and breakouts. At a recent clinic in Toronto one of our most successful national coaches said he would choose short course over long course every day because it leads to faster training. This is why the Americans are so fast, they grow up training 25 yards. We sometimes think we are at a disadvantage swimming 25 meters and not 50, this is wrong, we are actually at an advantage because we practice twice as many turns. Swimmers can become fast in any pool provided they commit to quality practices.
Mega City, Dec 2009
From Head Coach, Mike Rutledge
The Mississauga Aquatic Club performed extremely well at the Mega City meet with a huge number of heat winners and best times. The improvement in these swimmers over the first three months of the year has been significant. The underwater skill development and focus on technique continues to show in our race performances. It is obvious that the swimmers are making more of an effort to improve skills and allowing the improvement of skill to be the number one factor in race performance and improvement of times. Watching our swimmers at the Mega City meet there were two things that really stood out. First, was again the improvement of the underwater and speed off the wall skill, and second was that our swimmers were improving times more than the competition reflected in how they placed in their heats. Heat wins are always a sign of good swimming and we had many. Many of the swimmers at the Mega City meet are showing real potential and the fact that they are now able to execute skills required for fast swimming in a competition is great. We are very excited about the next few weeks into the MSSAC OPEN and look forward to a very successful swim season.
Canada Cup, Nov 2009
From Head Coach, Mike Rutledge
The Canada Cup offers the opportunity to compete against some of the best swimmers in Canada and this year was very interesting with swimmers no longer allowed to wear the performance enhancing bathing suits. It quickly is becoming obvious the impact that the bathing suits has had on swimming over the past few years. Austin Rockett lead the team with a fifth place finish in the 800 free, sixth in the 1500 free, and winning the consolation final in the 400 free. Vanessa Treasure was top 16 in both the 400 IM and 200 fly. Janica Lee finished with best time in the 100 breast and 100 IM. Nicolette Goncalves raced well in the fly events with strong performances in the 50 and 100 as well as the 100 free. Jeremy Ramshaw and Kim Fleming were both up from University of Connecticut for the American Thanksgiving and both swimmers have had great starts to the season.
MSSAC swimmers raced extremely well and we were very happy with the improved placing over the competition and that was one of the main goals. We are now looking forward to the Youth Cup and the MSSAC OPEN as we head into December.
Nothers Invitational, Nov 2009
From Head Coach, Mike Rutledge
On November 28 and 29 the swimmers travelled to London, Ontario for the Nothers Invitational. The 13 and over swimmers arrived Saturday morning tired and stiff from an early morning drive, but they still rose to the challenge. Most races resulted in best times for the swimmers and we had dozens of swims qualify for finals at night. The energy was high at finals and nearly every swimmer reacted by swimming much faster than in the morning. The highlight of both finals session was the 13 year old Girls 100 Fly, with MSSAC swimmers taking the top 6 spaces – Ola Jozwiak won the race, followed by Stephanie Ly, Victoria Gardiner, Alexandra Derenzis, Kassandra Espinola and Gillian Wu.
The 12 and under swimmers swam in the afternoon and they also performed very well. There were several first-time Provincial qualifiers at this meet, including: Andrew Nguyen, Kate Trudeau, Paige Hillis, Din Selmanovic, Terry Li and Sasha Svitak. Dozens of medals were won and the coaches were very pleased by the improvements of all who participated.
Overall, the coaches were very pleased not only by the results but also by the underwater skills demonstrated by all swimmers, young and old. We noticed a very significant difference in the amount of underwater streamlined swimming by MSSAC swimmers compared to the rest of the clubs. This continues to be a skill area that MSSAC staff is committed to developing and this hard work will pay off huge in the future.
MSSAC Tri-Star Meet
From Head Coach, Mike Rutledge
For the majority of swimmers this was their first meet against other clubs in a competitive age group setting. The meet started off on the right foot. Swimmers were at the pool at least 30 minutes before the start of warm up. Everyone was ready to participate in team stretch on time. We moved on deck for our team cheer where swimmers were nice and loud. Great team spirit!
Things only got better. Everyone completed their warm up and got at least 2 practice starts in before our time was up. Being a meet that consists of only 50s the pace of the meet was very quick. Swimmers need to know where they were supposed to be and what they were supposed to be doing, and they did! Great heads up swimming!
As a club, our emphasis has been on proper turns and under water push offs. The timing of free flip turns and open turns (fly and breast) were executed very well. Be sure to practice back flip turns in meet warm ups to time turns properly. Although the flags in every meter pool are 5 meters from the wall, each pool appears to be a little different. Make sure to complete turns at race pace (faster speed) to obtain an accurate stroke count. For most of the MSSAC swimmers underwater pull outs and streamlined underwater dolphin kicks were either to the flags or past. Keep working on your turns and underwater push offs in practice MSSAC. That fastest part of your race should be at the walls, pull your momentum from each length through your turns and into your push off.
Congratulations to all Wave 3 swimmers for an awesome start to the tri-star trilogy. We have 2 more meets in the series. Let’s rule the pool in Brampton! Great work and team effort at UTM MSSAC!
Harvest/Autumn Meet a Great Success for MSSAC Swimmers
From Head Coach, Mike Rutledge
The Mississauga Aquatic Club’s annual fall meet was a great success with many outstanding early season performances from swimmers across all levels of the club. There were some new provincial qualifiers at the Bronze level that continues to show the impact of the increased quality of the bronze programs. Success continued at the Silver level with improvement to racing skills and quality around technique. Gold swimmers were also very strong and showed good early season form. It has been a focus of the coaching staff over the past three weeks to make a very intentional improvement on underwater kicking and the distance swimmers are travelling underwater off each wall. Swimmers were evaluated on their ability to achieve specific distances off the wall underwater prior to the head breaking the surface. This skill is becoming the 5th stroke in swimming and one that we are committed to improving. The improvement from the Oakville invitational to the Harvest/Autumn swim meets was significant. Swimmers averaged 1.5 meters further off the wall than just three weeks ago. The other significant improvement came in swimmers ability to maintain the distance travelled off wall throughout the race so that the last wall is as good as the first. Once again there was noticeable improvement across all levels Gold, Silver, and Bronze as a result of a three week goal. Moving forward to the coaching staff seeks to continue the focus of underwater skill at the beginning of each length improving push off quality, streamline ability, and underwater skill. We also look to improve turning skill and breathing control over the next three to six weeks. Coaching will be spending time within the context of their practices teaching and refining turning skills as well as breathing control because both are factors in successful fast swimming.
In addition to the success in the pool the coaching staff would like to thank all the volunteers as the opportunity does not exist without your support!
Great Swims at Canadian Age Group Championships to finish the Championships Season, July 2009
The Mississauga Aquatic Club performances were lead by Club Record Breakers Olivia Bellio, Vanessa Treasure, Austin Rockett, and Paolina Carnevale. Mississauga won 5 individual medals with Alexandra Jozwiak winning silver in the 50 free. Bronze medal winners included Olivia Bellio in the 50 free (who also achieved her first senior national time), Vanessa Treasure in the 400 IM, going under 5 minutes for the first time long course, Paolina Carnevale in the 200 fly, and Alexandra Jozwiak in the 100 free. Individuals achieving top 10 performances included Megan Vuong, Melanie McDonald, Isabella Olivares, Kim Fleming, Nicolette Goncalves, Janica Lee, Austin Rockett, Martin Matuszczak, and Rachel Sehn. Sixty five percent of the MSSAC team scored in the top 10. Some other notable highlights from the meet included the successful comeback from injury for Jeremy Ramshaw who is not quite in race form but narrowly missed the second swims and was very close to best times. Georgia Hamilton also made some great process toward becoming a top ten swimmer narrowly missing a couple finals. Alex Vo showed his best form of the year and produced best times in all fly events. Michael Decsey looked great on his free and fly events. Taylor Anderson had great morning swim in the back and breast events. Julia Boron was strong in the free and back events, and Jackie Chan swam best times in breast and fly. The girls 14&under 400 free relay swam to a bronze medal in a great performance by Isabella Olivares, Alexandra Jozwiak, Megan Vuong, and Olivia Bellio. Great job swimmers!
Great performances at the AGI and Senior Provincials, July 2009
The AGI & Senior Provincial Meet presented a great opportunity to race some of the best swimmers in the local area while still under the stress of quality training. There were many great performances this weekend highlighted by the club records by Olivia Bellio, Nicolette Goncalves, and Abdullah Ahmad. Olivia broke her own record in the 200 free, Nicolette also broke her own existing record in the 100 fly, and Abdullah broke the record for the 10&under boys 200 fly by over 15 seconds.
Wave 1 & 2, Fun Meet on May 31st
Congratulations to all of the swimmers for some great races! And thanks to all of the volunteers for making this a successful meet!
Masters News; May 15-18, 2009
Congratulations to Head Coach Mike Rutledge for breaking the Canadian Record in the men’s 800 Free as well as the Ontario Record for the men’s 400 Freestyle in the 35-39 age group at the Canadian Masters Swimming Championships. Other MSSAC coaches competing bin the meet were: Coach Jorgina Lee also competed as well as Coach Scott Kowalczewski both from the (UTM Masters) Other MSSAC Parents competing in the meet were: Jackie Hickey (UTM Masters) George Babits (UTM masters) Louie Goncalves (Mississauga Masters) Wendy Babits (Trillium Y Masters)
Masters swimming is a great way to stay healthy and to have fun!
National Junior Coach Visits Mississauga
Ken McKinnon, Swimming Canada’s National Junior Coach, was in Mississauga this week and took the time to come by the Gold I and Silver I practices. It is always exciting to have staff from our National team come to visit our program and this was no exception. Ken had an opportunity to interact with the swimmers and coaches on deck and the swimmers felt eager to perform. During the two practice sessions that Ken attended, there was some great swimming and it was nice to see the swimmers rising to the challenges of the day. We had numerous best workout times and it was a lot of fun. We look forward to the next opportunity for Ken to stop by. Thanks Ken!
Top Cup 2009, MSSAC is the Best 10 & Under Club in Ontario
From Coach Andrea...
What a fantastic weekend at the Olympium for the Mississauga Aquatic Club. At the TOP CUP meet, MSSAC was the best 10 and under Club in Ontario, second only to Quebec powerhouse Point Claire. To lead MSSAC’s success, was Abdullah Ahmad won the High Point Trophy for 10 year old boys, bringing home an impressive 12 individual gold medals, 2 silver and 2 bronze. Abdullah got also 4 gold medals with the 10 year old boys relays and lowered his own Club record for the 100 fly with a very fast time of 1:18.77. This young athlete displayed excellent swimming skills all year long and with his great work ethic, is becoming the leader of the young group of boys that will dominate the Canadian swim field for the years to come.
Medals from Italy, May 2009
From an international competition in Italy as a member of a Canadian team Jessie Hickey and Alexandra Derenzis came back in Mississauga with medals. The team included the best Canadian swimmers with an Italian heritage born in 1995 and 1996. Jessie Hickey finished third overall in the 50 backstroke and with Alexandra Derenzis was part of the Canadian relay that finished second behind the Brazilian team. Isaac Crowe the third member of the Mississauga Aquatic Club selected in the Canadian team finished 10th in the 50 backstroke and Alexandra Derenzis finished 12th in the 50 breaststroke. The competition included 14 teams from all over the world and Canada, coached by Mississauga Aquatic Club member Andrea Pittis, finished third overall behind Brazil and Venezuela.
Records Break at Hicken 2009!
Olivia Bellio lead the team this weekend at the Dr. Ralph Hicken Invitational with some great early season performances including club records in the 100 and 200 free as well as a number of solid 50 free performances. Olivia is quickly closing in on the Senior National Standard.
MSSAC Goes Green at Team Champs!
The Mississauga Aquatic Club was showing off its past colours at the 2009 Ontario Team Championships. There were many successful moments over the weekend and the great part about the team champs meet is it is about team and having fun. Congratulations to all swimmers that were a part of this years team champs team. Great Job!
MSSAC 12 & Under Club Champs, April 19th
This past Sunday the club’s 12 and under swimmers gathered at UTM for this year’s Club Champs. Everyone involved raced hard and had fun. Congratulations to the following swimmers for being the top point earners in their age category: Jessica Stoyan from Wave 3, Alyna Liu, Ray Yang, Maggie Copland, Cameron Ouelette and Din Selmanovic from Bronze 3, Pierre Truong, Julia Matuszczak, Alyssa Bellio, Alexandra Derenzis and Yasha Sinitski from Bronze 1 and Alexander Trudeau from Silver 2. Congratulations to all other participating swimmers, and many thanks to all the officials and parent volunteers.New Club Record!
Congratulations to Abdullah Ahmad who broke the boys 10&under long course 100 fly club record at the Pentathlon. Previous record held by Scott Rowe set in 1986.
Short Course Provincials 2009
From Head Coach Mike Rutledge
New records were set, swimmers qualified for Age Group Nationals!
Click here for the full story...
MSSAC Central Region Winter Team Champs!
On the weekend of February 21st MSSAC repeated as Central Region Winter Team Champs. The Club was represented by swimmers in Wave 3, Bronze 1 & 2, Silver 1 & 2 and Gold 2 & 3.
MSSAC Brings Home 12 Medals From Westerns!
It was a very exciting meet with many medals, club records, and all time top ten performances.Click here for details...
MSSAC Swims Great at Regional Championships! Feb 5-8, 2009
MSSAC takes fourth place in the team rankings. Julia Boron and Jackie Chan win the high point awards for their groups. More swimmers qualify for Provincials.
Click here for the full story....
COBRA Tri-Star Meet, Jan 31, 2009
Congratulations to all MSSAC swimmers that attended the Tri-Star meet in Brampton. It was a huge success for our club.
The Oakville Invitational Jan23-25, 2009
Congratulations to all MSSAC swimmers on their great weekend!!! The pool was surrounded by the sea of blue uniforms and the roar of the team as we cheered on our athletes to personal bests, heat wins, and finals wins!Click here for details...
London 12 and Under Celebration - Jan 2009
MSSAC won high point again this year, and this is the 3rd year in a row that we have succeeded so well. Winning high point was only one of the highlights of the weekend. There were many more that took place in order for us to win high point. First off we as a team had 59 first place finishes, 55 second place finishes and 37 third place finishes.
Austin Rockett at Australian Olympic Youth Festival
Swimming
Canada has proudly included MSSAC’s Austin Rockett on a team
of Olympic hopefuls that competed at the Australian
Youth Olympic Festival in January 2009.
Mississauga Open Meet-UTM, Dec. 12-14, 2008
Read all about it, from "The Mississauga News"...
Thanks to all of the coaches, athletes & officials that participated in our first ever major meet in Mississauga. We look forward to a repeat performance next year.
For results, please refer to Swim Canada's website https://www.swimming.ca/MeetList.aspx
MSSAC has great showing at Youth Cup!
Records broken, medals won, best times achieved...Great swimming at the fall meets and we look forward to the championship season!
Jeremy Ramshaw Signs National Letter Of Intent to University Of Connecticut!
The Mississauga Aquatic Club would like to congratulate Jeremy Ramshaw on signing his National Letter of Intent to the University of Connecticut. Jeremy has worked hard over the past few years to create the opportunity to compete in the NCAA system at a well respected university. We look forward to having Jeremy finish his senior year of high school very well and wish him well at the University of Connecticut.
Ramshaw leads MSSAC at Canada Cup with Four Club records!
The Mississauga Aquatic Club had seven athletes at the Canada Cup this past weekend and the team was lead by Jeremy Ramshaw. Jeremy, who just this past week signed his national letter of intent to attend University of Connecticut, broke four club records, one in the 200 back, one in the 200 IM, and two in the 100 back. The 200 back and 200 IM records were both previously held by Chuck Sayao. The 100 backstroke was already held by Jeremy. Austin Rockett also had a strong weekend finishing fourth in the 800 free, top sixteen in the 400 free, and adding the 200 back to his list of national qualifying events. Nicolette Goncalves broke the minute for the first time in the 100 free and was a best in the 100 fly by one second and improved her 200 fly by four seconds. Kim Fleming, Vanessa Treasure, and Janica Lee all put in strong performances with Kim having her best race of the weekend in the 50 and 100 back, Vanessa broke the minute for the first time in the 100 free while finishing very strong in the 200 fly as well. Janica Lee was strong in all three breastroke races as well as the 50 fly. We are looking forward to more exciting swimming this coming weekend at the Youth Cup.
Great Performances for MSSAC at Nothers! Nov 2008
Congratulations MSSAC swimmers on your great performances
in London. The Mississauga Aquatic Club performed extremely
well in the Nothers meet in London this past weekend. This
meet represented a great opportunity for many of our
swimmers to get up make finals, get medals, and win. In
addition to a great racing opportunity the club bonding was
great.
2008 MSSAC Tri-Star, Nov 22nd
Well done swimmers!
Thank you volunteer officials!
For official results, see the Swimming Canada website...
MSSAC Completes First Round of Under Water Video Sessions!
The Mississauga Aquatic Club coaching staff completed the first round of underwater video sessions and we were very excited about the outcome. The Gold I, Silver I, and Gold II groups had the opportunity to participate in their sessions on October 9th and the Silver II, Gold III, Bronze I, Bronze II, and Bronze III participated on October 25th. The feedback from these sessions has been outstanding. I have had comments from coaches, parents, and swimmers reflecting the success of just one session. Coaches generally found this to be very educational and this is important as we are constantly looking to increase the knowledge of our staff as well as make sure that the skills are being tough properly. Swimmers' comments generally reflected and increased understanding of the particular skill that they were being asked to perform. Many parents were also very positive with feedback either on the day or in email since. Thank you parents for your support, this is the first time we have tried this as part of the season plan and we are expecting positive results.
MSSAC 13&14 Girls Relay Team Breaks Two Club Records at Harvest! Nov 2008
The
MSSAC girls 13&14 relay team of Isabella Olivares, Janica Lee,
Nicolette Goncalves, and Olivia Bellio broke both the 4x50 free and
4x50 medley club records.
Ashley Mogg, Joanna Lee, Cynthia Pearce, and Jackie Chan previously held the 4x50 free and 4x50 medley relays.
The senior boys team made up of Jeremy Ramshaw, Martin Matuszczak, Alex Vo, and Austin Rockett also broke a long time record in the 4x50 medley relay previously held by Miguel Munoz, Scott Wassmer, Eric Weible, and Dean Kondziolka.
Jeremy Ramshaw also broke his own individual club record in the 100 backstroke.
Click here for all the details...
Mississauga Aquatic Club shows good early season form in Oakville! Oct 2008
The Mississauga Aquatic Club had over 100 athletes compete at the Brad Townsend Invitational in Oakville. This meet was the first sanctioned opportunity of the season and swimmers would be trying to practice the many skills being developed in their practice environment. Many swimmers have not been on the blocks since June or July of last year so becoming familiar with racing again is important with a number of important meets just around the corner. MSSAC has been starting their season with this meet for the past four years and it seems to cater very well to the needs of the club at this time of year. We are excited about the year and how the club is progressing, the results from the weekend were very good and we look to improve over the November and December months into our December focus meets. For full results, go to the Team Manager Database Online at the MSSAC website.
Looking forward we are getting ready for the November meets including the MSSAC hosted Harvest and Autumn meets as well as the Nothers Invitational, Tristar Invitational, and Canada Cup.
Olivares Selected To Provincial Training Camp
Hard work and dedication have always been words that can easily be associated with Isabella Olivares. She was the recipient of MSSAC’s highest club award last year when she won the “Swimmer of the year” award. Her tenacious dedication and perseverance towards her goals are one of her best characteristics. As we all know, the road to the top can be full of obstacles and road blocks. This past summer at the Age Group Nationals in Calgary Isabella came face to face with some of these obstacles as she failed to meet some of her personal goals. Winning a Gold medal at the Age group Nationals was one of them. However, she stayed focused and never gave up and swam to some personal best times and was an integral part of the 13-14 girls relay team that nearly upset the heavy favourites from Oakville (OAK).
Isabella’s hard work has now earned her a selection to participate in Swim Ontario’s “Train to Compete” Provincial Camp to be held April 3-4, 2009 at McMaster University. The Camp is the first in a series that identifies the best young Ontario swimmers. The camps will follow the direction of Canada’s Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) model.
Isabella will not be alone on her trip. Accompanying her will be her coach Darren Ward.
Congratulations Isabella!!!
Rockett Sweeps Distance Events at Age Group Nationals!
Jozwiak and Ramshaw win first ever titles, Treasure back on top
Calgary, Alberta. Mississauga Aquatic Club’s Austin Rockett won all three distance events over the course of the four day meet. The 1500, 400, and 800 freestyle events were owned by Rockett showing that he is one of the dominant distance swimmers in the county. Jeremy Bagshaw of Island Swimming and David Dimitrov of Calgary created a great race on the 2nd day in the 400 in what would be a last 50 battle to the finish.
Four Canadian Records for Berringer at CAN-AM SWAD International
And Langill wins bronze!
Victoria, BC. Cynthia Berringer and Nydia Langill represented the Mississauga Aquatic Club at the Can-Am SWAD International. Cynthia finished her 2007/08 season with four national records in what has proven to be a great season in her first year with the Mississauga Aquatic Club. The 200 free and 800 free records that already belonged to Cynthia were lowered while she added the 50 breast and 400 free breaking each record twice from morning prelims to evening finals. Nydia Langill swam to a bronze medal in the 200 back.
2008 Long Course Jr. Provincials - July 3-6, 2008
MSSAC was well represented by the 17 swimmers that participated at the long course Provincials in Thunder Bay at the beginning of July. Fifteen medals, one Club record and an impressive 92% best times are excellent numbers in a tough competition such as the Provincial Championship.
MSSAC places third at Central Region Championships! June 12-15, 2008
The Mississauga Aquatic Club performed extremely well
this weekend at the Central Region Championships earning a team total of
10 gold, 15 silver, and 11 bronze medals.
Leading the team performance was Kim Fleming with 3 gold, and 2 silver
winning both the fly events and the 50 free as well as coming second in
the 100 free and 400 IM. Additional MSSAC Gold medalists include
Kassandra Espinola (200 fly), Joaquin Rabsium (100 free and 100 back),
Darian Petrov (200 breast), Georgia Hamilton (50 free), as well the
girls 13&14 free relay (Georgia Hamilton, Taylor Anderson, Michelle
Hughes, and Emilia Henriques), and the 15&over girls free relay (Liana
Bulte, Kim Fleming, Kim Nguyen, and Alexandra Kalman).
Silver medal winners included Matthew Dmytrenko (800
free), Jessie Hickey (100 back and 400 IM), Andrew Illmann (200 free),
Kim Nguyen (200 back), Georgia Hamilton (100 free), Michael Decsey (100
back), Jackie Chan (400 IM), Andrew Vo (400 IM), Abdullah Ahmad (50
fly), Victor Truong (200 back), Eric Xiao (50 free), and the 11&under
boys medley relay (Victor Truong, Sasha Svitak, Michael Kalman, and
Abdullah Ahmad).
Bronze medal winners included Michael Kalman (400 free), Michael Decsey
(400 free), Jessie Hickey (200 IM), Yasha Sinitski (200 IM), Andrew Vo
(100 fly and 200 fly), Chinmay Patil (100 fly), Eric Xiao (200 back),
Karen Zhao (50 free), Georgia Hamilton (200 free), and Jackie Chan (100
breast).
There were many great performances to be proud of this weekend, congratulations MSSAC Central Region Swimmers!