Nations Cup: Canada Defeats Australia in Two-Day Meet

By David Rieder

VICTORIA, British Columbia, August 7. TEAMS of swimmers from Canada, Australia, France, and Brazil competed in a two-day meet in Victoria August 6-7. Australia had the most individual wins, but small team size proved their undoing, and Canada narrowly won the meet. The top individual performance came from Aussie Travis Nederpelt, who took four individual wins over the course of the meet.

Nederpelt, a two-time Olympian for Australia, won the men's 400 IM with a 4:20.04, and then returned later on day one to win the 400 free in 3:54.41. He returned to win the 1500 free on day two in 15:28.26, before completing the meet with a 200 IM win in 2:02.24. Nederpelt also joined teammates Luke Kerswell, Kirk Palmer, and Matthew Abood to win the 800 free relay in 7:28.68.

Abood also had a strong individual performance at the meet, winning the 100 free in 50 free in 22.87 and the 100 free in 49.67. However, he clocked faster times in both leading off relays. He clocked 22.53 leading off Australia's second-place 200 free relay, and then a 48.91 leading off the 400 free relay, which again took second. The time moves him to 15th in the world, as well as second fastest Australia, behind Eamon Sullivan's 48.52 from March.

Three more swimmers took two individual wins over the course of the two-day meet. Australia's Merindah Dingjan won the women's 200 free in 2:00.30, then returned to win the 100 free on day two in 55.67. Teammate Amy Smith won both the women's 100 fly (1:00.26) and women's 200 fly (2:12.77). Brazil's Fernando Santos claimed the title of backstroke king, with wins in the 100 (55.98) and 200 (2:01.48) distances.

The Canadian women took five wins on day one. Brittany MacLean won the women's 800 free (8:44.73), while teammate Jennifer Beckberger took the 50 free, clocking 25.85. Tess Simpson won the 200 back in 2:12.38, Tera Van Beilen won the 100 breast in 1:09.87, and Paige Schultz defeated the field in the 200 IM in a time of 2:16.81. Australia's Belinda Parslow, Jade Neilsen, Ellen Fullerton, and Dingjan took the 400 free relay in 3:44.01, but the Canadian women continued their strong day with a 400 medley relay win in 4:08.44. Swimmers included MacLean, Van Beilen, Kendra Chernoff, and Beckberger.

On the men's side, Australia's Grant Irvine took the 200 fly in 1:59.04, before teammate Craig Tucker ended up victorious in the 200 breast (2:16.31). Brazil's squad of Frederico Castro, Andre Daudt, Guilherme Dos Santos, and Santos finished victorious in the 200 free relay in 1:30.82.

The Australian women added three more individual victories on day two, with Fullerton in the 400 IM (4:48.50), Parslow in the 400 free (4:12.70), and Rachel Goh in the 100 back (1:01.43). Australia also won the 800 free relay in 8:10.61. Canada's Haylee Johnson won the 200 breast in 2:29.81, while her teammates won the 200 free relay in 1:43.21.

Canada's Jeremy Bagshaw dominated the men's 200 free, with a winning time of 1:50.62. Australia's Lachlan Staples won the men's 100 fly. A member of Australia's world championships team in 2009, Staples posted a 54.03. France earned their only victory of the competition when Giacamo Perez Dortona won the men's 100 breast in 1:02.69. Brazil's Santos, Daudt, Castro, and Dos Santos won another relay, posting a 3:20.34 to win the 400 free relay. The Aussies completed the competition with a win in the 500 medley relay in 3:34.18.

Canada ended up winning by just ten points ahead of Australia, with 339 points, compared to 329 for the Aussies. Brazil finished third with 253 points, while France ended up fourth in 199 points.

Swimming World high school intern David "The Swim Geek" Rieder is a high school swimmer in Charleston, S.C. He swims for the Southern Marlins Racing Team and often negative splits his races. He can be found on the web at swimdr549.blogspot.com and twitter.com/david2swim.

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