A trip to Spain directly on the heels of the Ontario Age Group Championships might sound like a wonderful reward / holiday for 11 members of the Sudbury Laurentian Swim Club (SLSC).
Rest assured that it most certainly was not.
Organized by SLSC head coach Dean Henze, the training camp welcomed another 16 NEOR (North Eastern Ontario Region) athletes from Sault Ste Marie (nine kids), Timmins (5), Kapuskasing and North Bay.
"We swam a lot," said Henze. "It gives those guys (athletes from other clubs) to see what we do and how we do it - and they all stepped up to the plate. I could not have been more happy."
In fact, the swimmer from Kapuskasing, whose weekly training regimen is typically limited to just five hours in the pool, definitely caught the eye of the man who has worked with a boatload of national level athletes, regularly graduating a handful of teens who move on to compete at the post-secondary ranks.
"That girl was really impressive," said Henze. "She did every metre that was asked of her."
A grand total of 15 SLSC swimmers had qualified for Age Groups, a very good number for the local club, with Owen Baas standing out, qualifying for the Swim Canada Trials this summer in both the 400m IM and the 200m breaststroke.
Youngster Charlie Gatien was "really good", according to Henze, earning a pair of top ten finishes at a meet that gathers the very best in the province while Callum Duncan also "lit it up".
"He won bronze in 100m breaststroke and finalled in everything else with personal best times," said Henze. Alexander Landry, who is committed to the University of Ottawa Gee Gees in the fall - same as Owen Baas - the pair joining former SLSC'er James Bertrim, accounted for the remaining Sudbury medal at the Championships hosted in Toronto.
The remaining SLSC swimmers who qualified for Age Group Championships were Daxton Hester, Hudson Green, Noah McGregor, Brooke Herranen, Jayda Hartley, Ewan Duncan, Blake Gough, Aiden McDonald, Ever Lizotte, Poppy Horn and Lucia Raskevicius.
SLSC will be sending about 30 or so representatives to their next meet at the end of the month (Marilyn Bell Swim Classic 2026 in Etobicoke - April 23rd - 26th) and roughly the same number to another meet in the GTA a month or so later.
