TYR Pro Series Fort Lauderdale Highlights

Six UCSC swimmers swam at the TYR Pro Series in Fort Lauderdale this past weekend. The competition brought some of the world's best swimmers together for a very fast long course in-season competition.  The likes of Simone Manuel, Katie Ledecky, and Ryan Murphy, were among the long list of Olympians and Olympic Champions…

After a very long day of travel on Tuesday, athletes had one training day before kicking off the meet on Thursday. The group started out well in the first prelims of the meet. Kamryn qualified for the A final in 200 fly and raced in the final against Summer Mcintosh, who set a new World Junior record that night. She also beat out Katie Ledecky in the final of the 200 fly. Aiden punched his ticket into the C final in the 50 back with a lifetime best swim in the morning. Max challenged the ‘big girls’ in the 400 free and was just shy of her best in the very competitive C final! Lorne Wigginton swam to a 5th place finish in the Men’s 400 Free B Final and a new personal best time. Nicholas Duncan swam his seasonal first 200 butterfly and narrowly missed his personal best by 2/10th of a second. It was clear from early on that Paul Dardis’ illness was going to be an issue over the weekend, but rather than complain about it, he scratched out of the competition and went back to some easy baseline training. It was the sign of a mature athlete who knows his limits and sees the bigger picture coming up at Westerns and Trials.

Maxine started the next morning off with a very solid 200 Free narrowly missing a second swim. Aiden took the 200 back by storm with a new best time in the final and was just out touched for the podium by Jay Litherland (another USA Olympian). Lorne raced the 400 IM and pushed the Olympic 1500 Free Champion Bobby Finke hard early on in the race. Lorne placed second, breaking the 4:20 mark for the second time in his career (the first being at Junior Pan Pacs in August). Cannings won the B final of the 50 fly with an all-time best of 26.92 beating out another Olympic Gold Medalist, Simone Manuel. Nick Duncan swam the morning of the 50 Fly, narrowly missed his personal best in a field that was so deep a sub 24s swim was needed to advance to the A Final.

On the final day, Maxine and Kamryn lit up the 100 fly and both qualified for finals. Kamryn placed 5th in the A and raced Regan Smith who put up the fastest time in the world so far in the 100 fly that night. Max, at only 14 years old, raced Katie Grimes in the C final.  Max keyed on back-end speed and closed the gap between her and Grimes in the final few metres! Aiden smashed another best time in his 100 backstroke and raced his competitors in the B final. The backstroke racing outdoors gave him a bit of a challenge but by day 3 he had ironed out the kinks. Nick raced the stacked field in the 100 fly and was just shy of the final. This field was so competitive that the winner, Shaine Casas, broke Caleb Dressel’s TYR Pro Series record that night! Lorne finished off the competition with a tight B final race in the 200 IM where he touched the wall 3rd and completed his hefty schedule having swum the 800 Free (another personal best) earlier in the session. 

The intent of the competition was to fly in, race a very competitive field and return home to our final preparation into the World Championship Trials. This meet served as a look ahead to what the demands of competing on the world stage require and to build confidence when attending meets that now seem slightly ‘easier’.  

Below are the records broken throughout the competition.

Club Records
Nicholas Duncan 100 Fly 
Lorne Wigginton  400 Free, 800 Free, 400 IM 
Kamryn Cannings 200 Fly, 50 Fly, 100 Fly
Aiden Norman 50 Back, 100 Back, 200 Back, 100 Free

Provincial Records 
Kamryn Cannings 50 Fly, 100 Fly
Lorne Wigginton 400 IM