Just a week before the FINA World Aquatic Championships in China, young aspiring Canadian divers were competing at the Speedo Junior Nationals in Pointe Claire Quebec. With 10 divers from KWDC, Rob led his largest team ever to a national competition and came away with some impressive results.
For Raine, Aniko and Gabriel, this was their very first attendance at a Junior National event. With scores that exceeded national standards, both Raine and Aniko placed in the top 12 and are now qualified to attend the international CAMO meet in December. Gabriel finished an impressive 14th on 1m in a strong Boys C competition where the top 15 achieved national qualifying scores.
Kevin dove beautifully on platform and was awarded not only a 5th place finish but also an international standard on that board. Kevin will also be representing our club at CAMO.
Nate, Andy and Ali also achieved national standards in Pointe Claire, which can be difficult when the competition includes 27 other divers. Nate placed in the top 10 on all three boards, exceeding the international standards on both 1m and 3m, and will also be at CAMO. Andy and Ali maintained top 20 placements in their first year at the C level.
For the first time as a B diver, Mohamed was required to compete in preliminaries and finals. He maintained national qualifying scores on both boards, scored a 12th place finish on 3m and is eligible for CAMO.
For the A divers, competing twice in one day – first in preliminaries and then in finals – is nothing new but it still takes a lot of control to dive a full list and then come back for another run at optionals. CJ not only took 4th place on platform he also achieved international standards on the tower and 3m board. Brett made national standards on all 3 boards and will be joining CJ to represent KWDC at CAMO.
Out of 29 competing teams, KWDC placed 13th overall. For most of our divers, the Pointe Claire meet represented either a first time ever at Junior Nationals or a first year at Nationals in their age group. There was a fair amount of pressure on this young team and they all came away as winners. The diving family is particularly grateful to Rob for all the time spent in nurturing such terrific divers. A special thank you to Emily who coached alongside Rob and kept the group focused in Pointe Claire. And a big thank you to parents who ensured that their divers made practice, ate properly, slept sufficiently, and who ultimately spent much of their own free time poolside. There has been a tremendous amount of positive growth in the club this year and we can all claim some responsibility in having made that happen.
Way to go Team!
