Ryan Cochrane Closes Out Distance Sweep In Final Night in Canada

VICTORIA, Canada, April 6. OLYMPIC silver and bronze medalist Ryan Cochrane closed out a strong meet at the Canadian World Championship Trials with his third title of the week.

Cochrane reinforced his dominance in the distance freestyle events in Canada as he threw down a 14:59.73 to win the men's 1500-meter free this evening. That was his third title of the meet, having already won the 400 and 800 freestyles earlier in Victoria. Cochrane's Island Swimming also swept the top three positions in the timed final as Will Brothers (15:02.48) and Eric Hedlin (15:03.64) completed the podium sweep in the metric mile.

Savannah King clinched the women's 800-meter free title in 8:33.49, while Alexa Komarnycky touched a bit behind for second in 8:34.17. Tabitha Baumann wound up third overall in the distance free event with an 8:41.13.

Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson turned in a 2:13.29 to win the women's 200-meter IM finale, while Komarnycky completed a remarkably tough double with her second straight runner-up finish with a 2:14.28 to complete 1000 meters of racing back-to-back. Paige Schultz earned third in 2:15.78.

Andrew Ford followed with a meet mark in the men's 200-meter IM. He dominated the championship finale with a time of 2:00.03. That swim beat Travis Nederpelt's 2010 record of 2:00.44, and came just a second away from Keith Beavers' Canadian record of 1:59.19 from 2008. Evan White garnered second-place honors in 2:02.38, while Alec Page picked up third in 2:02.46.

Chantal Van Landeghem rocketed to victory in the women's 50-meter free with a time of 25.19, while Canadian-record holder Victoria Poon took second in the splash-and-dash with a 25.24. Sandrine Mainville completed the podium with a third-place effort of 25.44.

In nearly the closest finish of the evening, Chris Manning touched out Luke Peddie by the slimmest of margins, 22.71 to 22.72, in the men's 50-meter freestyle event. Kelly Aspinall rounded out the top three with a time of 22.78, just behind the top two finishers.

Tera Van Beilen turned in a 2:25.84 to win the women's 200-meer breaststroke by more than a second, while Martha McCabe won a hard-fought second with a 2:27.35. Ashley McGregor finished just behind with a third-place effort of 2:27.55.

Just minutes after the fans witnessed a fun contest in the men's 50-meter free, that came down to the touch, the crowd oowed and awwed following a tie in the men's 200-meter breaststroke. Richard Funk matched Ashton Baumann in the longer distance breaststroke with 2:14.84s, while James Guest claimed third-place honors in 2:15.87.

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