There won't be any Olympians in the pool. Haley Black and three other members of the Prince George Barracudas swim club could benefit from that fact.
Black, Katie Mann, Danica Ludlow and Sterling King will represent the Barracudas at the Canadian senior national championships in Edmonton this week. The competition starts on Thursday and will be devoid of some of the country's best swimmers because they'll be elsewhere, making final preparations for the Summer Games in London.
With the field a little thinner than usual at senior nationals, Black and her clubmates will have the chance to make some extra waves. Black, for example, has a real shot to qualify for the A final of the 200-metre butterfly and has set that exact goal for herself.
"I've been wanting to get [into the] A finals since Olympic trials because I only made B finals there," said the 15-year-old Black.
"It would be really exciting. I'd be full of adrenaline and it would be really intense."
The Olympic trials were held March 27 to April 1 in Montreal. There, Black posted a time of two minutes 17.95 seconds in her 200m butterfly heat, a clocking that moved her on to the eight-swimmer B final. Then she went even faster. Her time of 2:15.88 became her new personal-best result and gave her third place.
Black, ranked No. 1 in Canada for her age group in the 200 fly, said a time in the 2:12 or 2:13 range would probably be quick enough to get her a spot in the A final at senior nationals. Eight swimmers typically make the A final but because the Kinsmen Sports Centre in Edmonton has a 10-lane pool, an extra two spots will be there for the taking.
The senior national meet is the start of a busy stretch for the Barracudas' top-level athletes. When nationals end, Black and Mann will head for Calgary, site of the Canadian age group championships. In Calgary, they'll be joined by clubmates Harrison Lagzdin, Josiah Binnema, Sava Yungman, Patricia Fortier, Jessa Wing, Julie Wing, Bailey Hardy, Samantha Bleackley, Hannah Esopenko and Ethan Godden.
After the age group championships, Black and Ludlow -- members of the junior national team -- will go back to Edmonton for the North American Challenge Cup, which will bring together top young swimmers from Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.
And, while some Barracudas members are testing national waters this week, others will be at the BC Summer Games, which start Thursday in Surrey. Swimmers who will stroke for gold at the Games are Jordan Ozcan, Adrian Lamb, Samantha Agliana, Kayla Korolek, Morgan Norn, Emma Williams, Kathryn Chrobot and Brianna Pallot.
"It's a very exciting time right now," said Barracudas coach Jerzy Partyka. "There is lots of swimming. Some of them are going to go for three weeks in a row -- weekend after weekend. But, we have experience with that and every time we do something like that we swim really good. We swim every competition better and better."
