When the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic swimming trials kick off Tuesday the Prince George Barracudas Swim Club will be well-represented.
In addition to Brian Yakiwchuk, who just completed his five-year career with the University of Alberta Golden Bears, Kit Moran and Katie Mann will also try to earn a spot to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. All three athletes are coming off strong swim seasons at their respective post-secondary schools.
Jerzy Partyka, swim coach for the Barracudas, said it's no surprise to see his former swimmers succeed in their future endeavours.
"When they leave the club they are ready to start training because technically they are prepared and they have very good work ethics and discipline," said Partyka. "So wherever they go, it's easy for them to swim and it's not a big challenge for them."
Moran spent the season swimming with the Dalhousie University team and in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport championship in February he had three personal-best (PB) times in four races. In the 100-metre backstroke he was 16th with a time of 55.79 seconds, while his other PBs were a seventh-place finish in the 200 backstroke in 1:59.83 and a 19th place finish in the 200 breaststroke in 2:19.57. In the 50-metre backstroke Moran was 17th in 26.41.
Meanwhile, Mann made history in her freshman year at the University of New Hampshire where she was named the Wildcats' women's most outstanding swimmer and rookie of the year - the first time a swimmer has won both awards in the same year.
At the America East Swimming and Diving championship in Boston in February, Mann swam away with three gold medals and established new meet and America East Conference records in the 200 and 400 individual medleys. Mann swam the 200 IM in 2:01.32 and the 400 IM in 4:14.10. Her other gold medal came in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:15.65.
The 4:14.10 she swam in the 400 IM qualifies as an NCAA provisional time - which means she made the NCAA B-cut to give her a chance to swim at the highly competitive NCAA championship.
Yakiwchuk said it says a lot about the Barracudas' program to see the success Moran and Mann are having.
"It's nice to have people from our program in Prince George around the country and the continent," said Yakiwchuk. "Jerzy knows what he's doing. There's some really good potential athletes in the program now and they'll be very exciting to watch, even at Olympic Trials now, they're young, but they know what they're doing."
