The OFSAA Swimming Championships are more than a month away and not all of the local OFSAA berths have been finalized, but with NOSSA hosting their first local meet in three years, many a swimmer was happy to simply be back in their element again.

Marymount Academy junior Anna Oberthier is no stranger to the Howard Armstrong Sports Complex pool, the venue which hosted the NOSSA meet just over a week ago.

The 15 year-old was a member of the Valley East Waves from the age of six to 12 or so but admitted to last having raced in this pool well before Covid. "I am comfortable with the pool and I like the high ceilings, so I kind of figure that it does give me a bit of an advantage," said Oberthier, who qualified for provincials by capturing both the 200m freestyle (2:57.31) and the 100m individual medley.

Being away from regular club swimming for a few years now, Oberthier and others in the same boat are able to swim in the "High-School" category, a grouping that is separate from those who are still training regularly with either the Waves, Nickel City Aquatics or Sudbury Laurentian Swim Club (SLSC).

"I thought I would be racing against people that were doing competitive swimming every single day," stated Oberthier. "I wasn't really sure about the categories. When I realized about the different categories, that's when I got more confident."

And though she wasn't expecting to feel exactly the same as where she left off some three years back, the young lady who helped the Marymount Regals (499 points) to a second place finish behind the Lockerby Vikings (992) was pleased to see that it certainly wasn't as though she was starting from scratch.

"I think everything came back pretty quickly," said Oberthier. "I mean I used to do it a lot - and I am pretty good at remembering things. I didn't really forget how to do anything."

Adan Lindfield is kind of caught in the middle. Though still a member of the SLSC, the 16 year old native of Hamilton and senior at St Benedict Catholic Secondary School has been sidelined for medical reasons at times in recent years - though on this day, he's more than a little anxious to go toe to toe with his club teammate Ben Schell (St Charles College) in the 100m freestyle final.

"This is different than our club meets, just more fun," said Lindfield, who took gold by less than a quarter of a second over Schell, with Ethan Handy of Lo-Ellen less than a full stroke back. "You get to meet new people, stuff like that."

"I have friends here from my swim club that I am going to be racing, so that will be fun. I am not going to hold back."

For his part, Schell would take first in the 100m backstroke (1:04.51), comfortably qualifying for OFSAA. For a number of the club swimmers, there is something special about almost serving as a coach for those schoolmates who do not have thousands of hundreds of hours of training under their belt.

"I don't actually swim much in practice," said Linfield. "I usually just do demonstrations and help people. It's really fun to try and get people into the sport."

The 2023 OFSAA Swimming Championships are set for February 28th to March 1st in Windsor, with the following first place finishers assured of a spot should they choose to go:

Junior Girls - Races
50m freestyle - Emilie Ladouceur (Sacré Coeur) - 33.31
100m freestyle - Tia Kingshott (Marymount) - 1:20.84
50m backstroke - Sophie Boucher (Notre-Dame) - 42.53
50m breaststroke - Jenna Deveau Peddie (BAC) - 45.70
50m butterfly - Maxine Lafleur (Notre-Dame) - 38.09
100m individual medley - Anna Oberthier - 1:32.84
200m freestyle relay - Marymount - Tia Kingshott/Katie Polishuk/Catherine Villa-MacVeigh/Anna Oberthier
200m medley relay - Lockerby - Ava Pagnutti/Charlotte Sagle/Alyssa Shallow/Lily Whitney

Junior Boys - Races
50m freestyle - Salomon Beristain (Lo-Ellen) - 29.21
100m freestyle - Pierre Toupin (ESMC) - 1:21.31
50m backstroke - Finn Michaud (Notre-Dame) - 37.38
50m breaststroke - Theo Parsons (Elliot Lake) - 37.53
50m butterfly - Salomon Beristain (Lo-Ellen) - 31.82

Senior Girls - Races
50m freestyle - Norah Morrissey (Lockerby) - 28.89
100m freestyle - Norah Morrissey (Lockerby) - 1:06.45
200m freestyle - Anna Oberthier (Marymount) - 2:57.31
100m backstroke - Ameilie Bradley (Notre-Dame) - 1:28.04
100m breaststroke - Alison Nordquist (Horizon) - 1:27.47
50m butterfly - Keyna Munro (Lockerby) - 35.88
100m individual medley - Alison Nordquist (Horizon) - 1:19.03
200m freestyle relay - Lockerby - Lauren Pineau/Emilia Reitze/Keyna Munro/Michaela Antonioni
200m medley relay - Lockerby - Emilia Reitze/Michaela Antonioni/Keyna Munro/Norah Morrissey

Senior Boys - Races
50m freestyle - Owen Parsons (Elliot Lake) - 28.32
100m freestyle - Keegan Lepage (St Benedict) - 59.98
200m freestyle - Liam Binks (Lockerby) - 3:39.65
100m backstroke - Callum Baron (Lockerby) - 1:30.80
100m breaststroke - Liam Michaud (Notre-Dame) - 1:20.37
50m butterfly - Liam Michaud (Notre-Dame) - 31.16
100m individual medley - Keegan Lepage (St Benedict) - 1:09.52
200m freestyle relay - St Benedict CSS - Andreas Bedoya/Quentin Emley/Keegan Lepage/Connor Woods
200m medley relay - St Charles College - Ethan Lamothe/Tanner Rollins/Griffin Whorley/Austin Schnarr

Open Girls - Races
50m freestyle - Barbara Ceccon (Marymount) - 29.84
100m freestyle - Georgia Lepage (St Benedict) - 1:02.88
200m freestyle - Georgia Lepage (St Benedict) - 2:16.28
100m backstroke - Emma Young (Elliot Lake) - 1:10.63
100m breaststroke - Ava St Martin (Lockerby) - 1:25.15
100m butterfly - Grace Thomas (Lo-Ellen) - 1:08.02
100m individual medley - Ava Young (Elliot Lake) - 1:14.00
200m individual medley - Grace Thomas (Lo-Ellen) - 2:36.90
400m freestyle relay - Elliot Lake SS - Kendra Beaulieu/Avery Stirling/Ava Young/Emma Young
200m medley relay - Lockerby - Ava St Martin/Ivy Schulte-Hostedde/Bella Pandolfo/Keena Richard

Open Boys - Races
50m freestyle - Noah Rioux (St Charles) - 26.44
100m freestyle - Adan Lindfield (St Benedict) - 59.00
200m freestyle - James Bertrim (Lockerby) - 1:57.00
100m backstroke - Ben Schell (St Charles) - 1:04.51
100m breaststroke - James Bertrim (Lockerby) - 1:07.08
100m butterfly - Noah Rioux (St Charles) - 1:05.75
100m individual medley - Jacob Guillet (Sacré-Coeur) - 1:13.21
200m individual medley - Evan Hull (Confederation) - 2:35.73
400m freestyle relay - Lo-Ellen Park - Matthew Abbott/Salomon Beristain/James Mongeon/Ethan Handy
200m medley relay - Lockerby - Jack Anderson/Gavan Buckley/James Bertrim/Corbin Caron