Strong Start for Calgary Swimmer Adam Sioui at Speedo West Nationals

REGINA, Canada, February 16. VETERAN Adam Sioui helped the University of Calgary to victory in the men's 800 freestyle relay and was also the top qualifier in preliminaries in two events on Thursday to open the Speedo West Nationals swimming competition.

In the 800 freestyle relay, Sioui swam lead-off for the U of C to set the pace for Chad Murray, David Woodman and Braden Maybury as they clocked 7:36.70. Calgary's Cascade Swim Club was second in 7:45.19 and the Langley Olympic Swim Club in Langley, B.C., was third in 7:45.55.

In the day's other men's final, Ryan Cochrane of Victoria won the men's 800 freestyle in 7:53.65 with his world championship team teammate David Creel in second in 8:01.34. Kier Maitland of Edmonton was third in 8:05.41.

In the women's 1500 freestyle, Savannah King of Vancouver was the winner in 16:53.43 with Shannon Garrett of Langley second in 17:07.88 and Leah Daniel of Winnipeg third in 17:26.27.

In the women's 800 freestyle relay, the Langley club won the gold in 8:19.30 with the U of C second in 8:23.13 and Vancouver's UBC Dolphins third in 8:26.75.

In prelims, Sioui qualified first for the men's 50 butterfly and 50 backstroke. Mike Brown of Calgary, a medal contender for next month's worlds in Australia, clocked the fastest in the men's 50 breaststroke prelims.

In the women's prelims, top qualifiers were Jillian Tyler of Calgary in the 50 breaststroke, Dagny Knutson of the U.S., in the 50 fly, just ahead of Tyler, and world team member Erica Morningstar of Calgary in the 50 backstroke.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use