Canadian Short Course Championships: Savannah King Demolishes Oldest Canadian Record, Several Other National Records Fall

TORONTO, Ontario, Canada, March 11. SAVANNAH King put together an incredible swim in the women's 1500 freestyle at the Canadian Short Course Championships as she crushed the oldest Canadian record in the books.

King completed the short course metric mile in 16:00.68 to smash the 16:09.32 set by Debbie Wurzburger during the 1989 Canadian Short Course Nationals held in Montreal. King swam the race pretty much alone as Zsofi Balazs clinched second with a time of 16:22.10. King, who is 16, broke a record set three years before she was born.

Amanda Reason became the first Canadian female under 30 seconds in the women's 50 breast with a sterling time of 29.96. The effort cleared her previous record of 30.48 set at the Speedo Western Championships last month. Notably, Annamay Pierse also cleared the previous record with a second-place 30.32.

The men's 50 breast featured a preliminary national record of 27.51 set by Scott Dickens as he clipped his Canadian record of 27.53 set at the Canadian Interuniversity Championships (CIS) in February. Dickens returned at night to obliterate his newly-minted standard with a swift time of 27.04 for the win. Mathieu Bois nearly dipped under the record heading into the day with a second-place 27.56.

Stephanie Horner came within half-a-second of the national record with a winning time of 1:56.48 to win the women's 200 free. Erica Morningstar's 1:56.11 national record set at the CIS meet remained intact. Preliminary top-seed Heather MacLean joined her under 1:57 with a second-place time of 1:56.72.

Under world-record pace at the 150 free with a 1:15.91 split, Brent Hayden could not hold it through the final 50 as he settled for a Canadian record with a 1:42.35. The performance knocked nearly a second from Colin Russell's national record of 1:43.31 set at the CIS meet last month. Russell also shattered his personal best with a second-place time of 1:42.87. The world record of Germany's Paul Biedermann withstood the charge as set with a 1:40.83 last November. Biedermann finished the 150 with a 1:15.93, but brought it home in 24.90.

Katy Murdoch won the women's 100 back in 58.98, but came up short of her national record of 58.67 set at the CIS meet. She actually nearly beat her Canadian record during prelims with a time of 58.68. Three swimmers finished in the 59s behind her with Gabrielle Soucisse (59.49), Sinead Russell (59.70) and Hanna Kubas (59.85) taking second through fourth.

Matt Hawes walked away with the men's 100 back title in 53.02. David Sharpe finished second in 53.59, while Nick Karpov took third in 54.13.

Audrey Lacroix eased through the women's 200 fly with a winning effort of 2:05.76. The swim finished well off her national record of 2:04.53 set during the 2007 FINA World Cup circuit. Tanya Hunks placed well behind her in second with a 2:08.04.

Stefan Hirniak snatched the men's 200 fly title in 1:55.54 as he held off a scrappy Zack Chetrat, who finished second in 1:55.83. Tim Ruse completed the top three in 1:56.86.

In 200 free relay action, CNPPO's Victoria Poon grabbed the 50 free national record with a quick time of 24.56 as the team's leadoff. The swim smashed the 24.84 set by Erica Morningstar at the Paul Bergen Jr. Invitational back in 2007. Meanwhile, the quartet of Poon, Genevieve Saumur, Sonia Wiechec and Barbara Jardin claimed the women's title in 1:42.06.

Hayden continued his strong first day with a relay leadoff Canadian record in the men's heats when he clocked a time of 21.83. The swim lowered his standard of 21.91 set at the Bell Grand Prix back in 2006. His UBC Dolphin team finished what he started with a national record in the men's 200 free relay as Hayden, Rory Biskupski, Dickens and Tommy Gossland posted a time of 1:27.11 to cut two seconds from the previous record of 1:29.61 set by the Dolphins in 2003. Toronto Swim Club's Martyn Forde, Terrence Haynes, Minkwang Shu and Jeffrey Sudbury cleared the old record as well with a second-place 1:27.74.

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