Club Warriors concluded a jam-packed winter championship season last weekend at the 2023 Speedo Eastern Canadian Championships held in Windsor over 4 full days from March 16-19th. Ten of CW’s 15 qualifiers were among the more than 500 talented age group athletes from across Eastern Canada (and beyond) competing for top prize at this highly competitive event and they did us proud!

Out of 29 total individual events, CW reached the podium 4 times to collect 2 Golds, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze, placed in the Top-10 ten times and in the Top-20 eight times. That's 76% reaching finals or making Top-20 – an incredible feat for a team with most racing on the national stage for the first time this season or ever!

This event was not only a great moment to showcase CW’s talent, but also a fantastic developmental opportunity for our young swimmers as they passed the mid-way point of the season. Our Warriors persevered through the unique challenges of this meet and held their own competing against their peers as well as older and more experienced swimmers in the prelims as well as finals. As they say, “Winners are not those who never fail, but those who never quit” and ALL our athletes walked away as true winners this weekend.

Head Coach Rush Franklin stated, "I am extremely proud of how we performed. Proud not only in the time results but also on how some of the swimmers have turned around some recent performances (disappointments) to get back on track. They showed an improvement in their mental and emotional maturity levels as well as the resiliency and drive required to 'stay in this game'."

Congratulations to our team of 10 who raced in the following age groups:

Congratulations also to these swimmers who qualified for the Easterns but did not compete:

• Evan Hodson (16)
• Luc Landry (17)
• Rodrigo Oviedo (14)
• Alex Rusu (15)
• Michael Yarusevych (16)

And now, for the daily highlights:

Day 1

Our Warriors blasted off the blocks on opening day of the Easterns! Jessica Dreghici and Willow Coburn both finished 2nd in their prelim heats and easily claimed their spot in the A-Finals of the 200m Freestyle and 200m Breaststroke events, respectively. Meanwhile, 26th-seeded Cameron Morrissey swam a strong 200m Breaststroke prelim race to earn his spot in the B-Finals. Fourteen-year-old Owen Inglis also swam in the same 200 Breaststroke heat as Cameron, making his debut into the Eastern Nationals scene after having qualified at the Ontario Youth-Juniors in February. It was a tough race and you've come so far, Owen. Well done!

Jessica Dreghici started the evening finals off with an exciting battle for 3rd with ESwim’s Bevin Toews in the 200m Freestyle. In the end, Jessica was edged out of the podium by just .43s but her time of 2:07.48 made the Canadian Junior Trials and OJI standards and also qualified her for the Summer CJCs when she ages up!

Willow Coburn followed with a close race of her own with only half a second separating her and the Bronze medal winner. Willow’s impressive prelim time of 2:44.25 reset the 15-17 Girls 200m Breaststroke LC Club Record time for a second time in only two weeks.

Next up was Cameron Morrissey who dropped his personal best time for a second time today and came within .49s of making the CJC cut in the 200m Breaststroke of the B-Finals.

Jessica Dreghici capped an exciting first day of racing in the Fastest Heat of the 800m Freestyle where she claimed Silver and CW’s first podium. Way to go!

• Jessica Dreghici – SILVER 800FR; 4th 200FR (Jr Trials, OJI, CJC)
• Willow Coburn – 4th 200BR (Club Record)
• Cameron Morrissey – 18th 200BR

CW stands in 19th place out of over 80 competing teams after Day 1.

Day 2

CW continued to impress as 5 out of 7 swimmers secured 3 spots in the A-Finals and 3 in the B-Finals on Friday.

In the prelim session, 15-year-old Elizabeth Coode, 14-year-old Quinn Logan and 17-year-old Cristian Ciorogariu swam valiantly in the 50 Fly but faced tough competition in reaching the finals — swimmers in 50 meter stroke events at this meet competed in a single age (open) category, Female 13 & Over and Male 14 & Over. 

Quinn Logan also swam in the 100m Freestyle this morning and dropped her entry time by .14s, tying for 21st and first alternate spot. She then swam the event again a short time after the 50 Fly in an exciting swim off.

Leading off in the finals again tonight was Jessica Dreghici who placed 8th in the 100m Freestyle. On the Senior Boys side, Cristian Ciorogariu improved on his prelim time and swam to a 14th place finish in the 100 Free. Cameron Morrissey then followed in the B-Finals of the 100m Breaststroke. Cameron bested this morning’s time and claimed 16th overall. 

Fifteen-year-old Willow Coburn never fails to disappoint when racing in the finals of the 400m Individual Medley and tonight was beyond exceptional! After a well-paced first 100m butterfly leg, Willow trailed in 4th place but climbed all the way up to 2nd with a fantastic backstroke swim. It was all over for the other girls after that. Willow took the lead after the first 25m of the breaststroke and then pulled away by several body lengths, bringing it home with a strong freestyle round. Willow touched the wall at an incredible lifetime best time of 5:03.18, capturing Gold and blasting past the 16-17 CJC, OJI and Junior Trials qualifying times to secure her first Canadian Senior Trials event! She also added the 15-17 Girls 400m IM Long Course Club Record to her multiple accomplishments.

The evening concluded with the Youth 14-16 Boys 400 IM. Fifteen-year-old Cameron Morrissey narrowly missed out on the podium swimming to a personal best time of 4:52.07 while Eastern Nationals first-timer, 14-year-old Connor Brown, claimed 19th place. Connor had finished 21st in the prelims and his commitment to remaining on standby as the first alternate landed him a lane in the B-Finals where he improved on his morning time. Well done, Warriors!

• Willow Coburn – GOLD 400IM (Canadian Trials, OJI, CJC, Club Record)
• Cameron Morrissey – 4th 400IM; 16th 100BR
• Jessica Dreghici – 8th 100FR
• Cristian Ciorogariu – 14th 100FR
• Connor Brown – 19th 400IM

At the end of Day 2, CW climbed to 16th place in the team standings.

Day 3 

It was another exciting day at the Windsor Aquatic Centre for CW. Four out of 6 swimmers made finals and all 4 set personal best times in at least one event.

In the prelims, Dylan Jayabahu (15) had a fast first 50m in the 100m Butterfly but finished outside the B-Finals at his first ever national event. Also making her national debut was 13-year-old Hayley Muscat, our youngest meet qualifier and the youngest competitor in the Youth 13-15 Girls 200m Backstroke. Hayley swam a strong back-half and finished 6th in her heat. Great job, Dylan and Hayley!

First up in the finals were our 400m Freestyle swimmers beginning with Jessica Dreghici who found herself in a tight battle for first with a swimmer one lane over. Jessica maintained a slight lead until the final 100m when the Sherbrooke swimmer kicked up her tempo to try to make a break for it. But Jessica hung on and out-touched her by .07s to win Gold! Her time of 4:28.35 inched Jessica closer to the Canadian Senior Trials qualifying standards.

Willow Coburn also had a strong, well-split race in the B-Finals and finished 14th overall, shaving over 1s from her entry time, while Cameron Morrissey finished 13th for the boys. Cameron led the field most of the way and set a PB at the 200m mark but could not keep up his sub-33.5s pace after that. Cameron said, "It was fun to race the 400 Free differently. Usually, I chase people down [in the last 50-100m] and this time, they chased me." It was certainly an exciting race to watch, Cam. Great effort!

The 100m Butterfly A-finals was lightning fast! After setting a PB in the prelims, Elizabeth Coode fought hard to shave another .33s off her time. She made the OJI standards with her time of 1:04.73 and finished 5th. Congrats, Elizabeth!

Willow Coburn closed the evening with the 200m Backstroke, her second B-Finals event that featured a thrilling race to the wall. Willow was out-touched by a mere .03s and finished 12th overall.

• Jessica Dreghici – GOLD 400FR
• Elizabeth Coode – 5th 100FL (OJI)
• Willow Coburn – 12th 200BK; 14th 400FR
• Cameron Morrissey – 13th 400FR

CW now sits 17th in the team standings after 3 full days of racing. 

Day 4

Club Warriors wrapped up the final day of the Eastern Nationals with incredible performances that saw all 6 athletes advance to the finals, with 5 in A and one in B!

Elizabeth Coode started the charge for CW in the prelim session of the 200m Butterfly by punching in at 2:25.92 and easily securing a lane in the A-Finals. In the evening, Elizabeth put up a good fight with a very strong first 100m and took 5th place!

Next were our 50m Freestyle athletes. Jessica and Quinn entered the prelims seeded outside the top 20 but the duo beat the odds and finished 1-2 in their heat to secure their spot in the A-Finals. Quinn Logan’s time of 27.85 cut her PB by .26s to get under the 14yo Girls CJC cut while Jessica Dreghici lowered her personal best by .13s , punching in at 27.77. The finals proved to be equally exciting. Quinn clocked another sub-28 that almost matched her prelim time and finished 10th. Meanwhile, Jessica lowered her PB again to finish 5th with a time of 27.43 that made the 15yo Girls CJC qualifying time. 

In the Senior Boys 50 Free prelims, Cristian Ciorogariu finished just .05s off his entry time to make B-Finals and went on to place 17th overall in a fast, close race to the finish.

The 200m Individual Medley prelims saw two Warriors advance into the A-Finals. Willow Coburn qualified as 7th-seed and later shaved 2.06 seconds off her PB to take 5th. Her time of 2:26.25  came under the qualifying time for the CJCs for 15yo girls. 

For Cameron Morrissey, landing a lane in the A-Finals while setting a personal best in the 200m Individual Medley came as a big relief and surprise. He was seeded outside the top 20 coming in but pushed hard to win his heat. He followed this by knocking another 3.36s off his prelim time, missing out on the podium by only half a second. His time of 2:14.56 will add the 200 IM to his CJC events and came within .01s of making the OJI standards!

Our very own distance phenom, Jessica Dreghici, closed the meet by claiming her 3rd medal in the 1500m Freestyle. Jessica’s time of 17:48.79 almost matched her PB and earned her a Bronze, completing her collection having won a Silver and Gold earlier this weekend. She will get a chance to swim the 1500 Free again at the upcoming Bell Canadian Swimming Trials at the end of the month.

• Jessica Dreghici – BRONZE 1500FR; 5th 50FR (CJC)
• Cameron Morrissey – 4th 200IM (CJC)
• Willow Coburn – 5th 200IM (CJC)
• Elizabeth Coode – 5th 200FL
• Quinn Logan – 10th 50FR (CJC)
• Cristian Ciorogariu – 17th 50FR

Club Warriors finished 15th in overall team standings. Way to go, CW!

See full results on the SwimRankings website.

A big thank you to Coach Russ and Coach Connor for doing a fantastic job in preparing our Elite and Junior Elite swimmers for this very demanding national championship event. We also cannot go without thanking ALL our coaches and CW families for their commitment in collectively supporting all our swimmers during recent championship meet weekends, including getting them through some extreme winter weather conditions and arguably the worst and longest flu season that had wreaked havoc on our training schedule and attendance over the last couple months. It takes a village and we belong to one of the best. Way to go, CW!