Alia Atkinson, Kelly Aspinall Post Title Trifectas on Night One of Canada Cup

TORONTO, Canada, November 23. ALIA Atkinson and Kelly Aspinall put on a show tonight as both swimmers turned in title trifectas in short course meter competition at the Canada Cup in Toronto this evening.

Alia Atkinson smashed the meet record in the women's 100 breast with a swift 1:04.69. That effort downed the 1:05.52 set by Tara Kirk back in 2008. The swim pushed Atkinson to second in the world this year behind only Jessica Hardy's 1:04.58 from the Berlin stop of the World Cup tour. The performance also represents a Jamaican record, blasting Atkinson's previous mark of 1:06.05, shooting her to 10th all time in the event. Martha McCabe touched second in 1:07.19, while Tera Van Beilen wound up third in 1:07.60.

Atkinson returned later in the evening with a winning time of 2:11.71 in the women's 200 IM. Erika Hodgson Seltenreich touched second in 2:12.35, while Paige Schultz earned third in 2:15.11. Atkinson moved into the top 20 in the world this year with that performance. Atkinson continued her stellar evening with her third title, this time by way of a 25.35 in the women's 50 free. Heather MacLean placed second in 25.73, while Laura Galarza picked up third in 25.84.

Kelly Aspinall topped the men's 100 free with a time of 48.45, while Dominique Massie-Martel dropped a 48.63 to place second. Chris Manning rounded out the top three with a 49.48, while Tommy Gossland missed the podium with a fourth-place 49.66. Aspinall doubled up with a 52.60 to win the men's 100 back. That swim just missed Ryan Lochte's meet record of 52.54 set back in 2006. Daniel Ramirez took second in 54.76, while Jake Tapp placed third in 54.77. He then dropped a meet-record time of 23.46 in the men's 50 fly for his third title. Ramirez placed second in 23.99 as both dipped under Thomas Kindler's meet standard of 24.02 from 2006. Garland Sullivan touched third in 24.40. Aspinall moved to 21st in the world this year.

Noemie Thomas, 16, who earlier set the meet record in the women's 100 fly with a 58.02 came back with a 58.11 to win the finale. Her prelim time surpassed the 58.48 by Katerine Savard in 2011 and jumped Thomas to the top 10 in the world this year. Savard, meanwhile, placed second tonight in 58.26, while Alisha Harricharan touched third in 59.08. Savard moved into the top 15 this year with her performance.

Zack Chetrat blitzed his meet mark in the men's 200 fly with a winning 1:55.60. That performance crushed the 1:56.46 he set back in 2010, and beat David Sharpe's 1:57.70 by more than two seconds. Hochan Ryu earned third-place honors with a 2:00.51.

Olympian Sinead Russell proved that she's back from an arm injury that claimed her fall season at the University of Florida. Tonight, she clocked a 27.86 to touchout Kristin Steins (27.90) after posting a 27.94 in prelims in the women's 50 back. Lauren Lavigna rounded out the podium with a 28.18. Lavigna later posted a 2:08.70 to crush the field in the women's 200 back. Taylor Moore (2:11.90) and Lindsay Charles (2:12.22) took second and third. Lavigna's time pushed her to 18th in the world this year.

Olympian Alexa Komarnycky needed that extra fingernail length to top fellow Olympian Savannah King in the women's 800 free with a touchout triumph of 8:33.08 to 8:33.10 for the title. Meanwhile, Bridget Coley claimed third in 8:36.84. Olympian Heather MacLean picked up a 1:57.31 to 1:57.96 victory over fellow Olympian Samantha Cheverton in the women's 200 free, while 16-year-old Kenney Goss earned third-place honors in 1:58.62.

Dillon Perron clinched the men's 50 breast crown in 28.05, while Olympian Warren Barnes took second in 28.22. Konrad Bald wound up third in 28.33. Barnes still holds the meet record with a 27.86 from 2008. Zach Summerhayes claimed the men's 400 IM crown with a 4:16.11, while David Dimitrov touched second in 4:19.25. Hochan Ryu picked up third in 4:20.38. Barnes returned in the 200 breast to win in 2:14.27. Vito da Franca finished second in 2:14.90, while Matt Stephenson earned third in 2:15.41.

Keegan Zanatta checked in with a 3:49.82 to win the men's 400 free, while Aly Abdel-Khalik turned in a 3:52.67 for second. Frank Despond wound up third in 3:52.90. Andrew Ford clipped Jake Tapp at the wall, 55.25 to 55.30, in the men's 100 IM. Dominique Massie-Martel earned third-place honors in 56.13.

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