Liendo Breaks Meet, Age Group Records In 50 Free On Day 2 Of OJI

2018 ONTARIO JUNIOR INTERNATIONAL

• December 14-16, 2018
• Toronto, Ontario
• Toronto Pan American Sports Centre
• SCM (25m)
• Live Results
• Day 1 Recap

Day 2 of the Ontario Junior International meet in Toronto saw plenty of fast swims go down, highlighted by an incredible performance from North York’s Joshua Liendo in the men’s 50 freestyle.

Liendo, 16, came into the meet with a best time of 22.75 in the 50 free. After dropping 0.65 in the heats in 22.10, he exploded for a 21.67 in the final, breaking Michael Andrew‘s 2015 meet record of 21.69.

In addition to the meet record, he also broke the Canadian 15-17 age group record of 22.17 in the prelims, and then dropped another four-tenths off it in the final. That old mark was set by Etobicoke’s Hassaan Abdel-Khalik back in 2009. Coming into the meet as the 71st fastest Canadian in history, Liendo is now 3rd all-time behind Olympians Brent Hayden (21.34) and Yuri Kisil (21.50).

This swim came after Liendo clocked a new personal best earlier in the session the 200 fly, where he went 1:56.77 to take 2nd to Great Britain’s Jacob Peters. Peters, who dropped over two seconds in the heats in 1:56.07, went 1:55.34 for the victory, while Liendo finished just .08 off of Evan White‘s 15-17 age group record of 1:56.69.

At the end of the session, Liendo led off his North York team in 48.32 on the 400 free relay, getting under his best time by a full second, as they won in a time of 3:21.05 to miss the meet record by just half a second.

Peters picked up another win towards the end of the session in the 50 fly. He torched the meet record in the prelims in 23.08, taking out the old mark of 24.26, and followed up with the win in the final in 23.13.

Cole Pratt of Cascade, who won the 400 IM last night, was 3rd in the 200 fly in a best of 1:57.33, and he also took 2nd in the 100 back in a PB of 52.71. Loic St-Martin of FNQ won in 51.95, not far off Javier Acevedo‘s meet record of 51.63, and Pratt’s 52.71 was almost three seconds faster than his best coming into the meet (55.50). Finlay Knox also went a best of 52.78 for 3rd. St-Martin also took 2nd to Peters in the 50 fly in 24.07.

Another standout on the day was Great Britain’s Freya Anderson, who followed up her 200 free win on night 1 with victories in both the 50 and 400 tonight.

She won the 400 in 4:04.83, going under her best time of 4:05.69 set at this meet in 2016, and Elizabeth Harris (4:08.24) of England and Sophie Smith (4:09.03) of Scotland took 2nd and 3rd.

In the very next event, Anderson went another best to win the 50 free in 24.75, just 0.13 shy of Penny Oleksiak‘s meet record. Anderson had also gone a best in the heats in 24.80, which improved the 24.83 she went just last weekend.

Kyla Leibel of Team BC was the runner-up in 25.14, and she also came out on top in the 50 fly (26.88) where she broke 27 seconds for the first time after cracking 28 for the first time in the prelims.

OTHER EVENTS

• 15-year-old Genevieve Sasseville of the Chatham Y Pool Sharks won the women’s 200 fly in 2:12.04, doing so out of lane 1 while dropping three seconds from the best time she set in prelims. Aryanna Fernandes, the top seed from prelims in 2:12.84, was disqualified in the final.
• Sasseville’s teammate Madison Broad followed up her 50 back win on day 1 with another in the 100 tonight, touching in 59.12 after going a PB of 59.00 in the heats. 14-year-old Regan Rathwell (1:00.24) was also just off her best from the morning (1:00.19) for 2nd.
• David Quirie of the Nepean Kanata Barracudas followed up his 800 win with a definitive victory in the men’s 400 free, clocking 3:50.99 in the final to finish over seven seconds under his best time entering the meet.
• Lily Booker (2:25.12) of England and Katie Robertson (2:25.75) went 1-2 in the women’s 200 breast, both in personal best times. Booker won the 400 IM on day 1.
• Greg Butler of Great Britain won the men’s 200 breast in 2:09.10, a new best time, with Knox 2nd in 2:10.86.
• The Team BC women won their second straight relay in the 4×100 free, clocking 3:43.51 with a 54.73 lead-off from Leibel.