A transitional month brought about a 10-medal showing for a DeWintonite.
Edison School student Justin Lisoway put in a banner showing at the Speedo Western Championships April 20-23 at Calgary’s Repsol Sports Centre on the heels of weeks of preparation for the world championship trials earlier in the month.
“We did a huge taper which leads up to trials (World Championship trials) which was two weeks ago,” said Lisoway, a new member of the Cascades Swim Club in Calgary. “And then it’s this odd latency period between trials and westerns where you still want to get back into training, but you want to rest yourself.
“It’s not supposed to be a super high performance meet, but it’s still nice to have those good performances.”
Lisoway, 16, claimed individual gold in the 100m backstroke and added a pair of relay first-place finishes in both the 4x100m freestyle and 4x100m medley in which he swam the breaststroke.
He added silver in the 200m IM, 200m backstroke, 100m butterfly and in the 4x200m freestyle relay and 4x100m mixed medley relay as well as bronze in the 100m freestyle and 50m backstroke.
A new member of the Cascades after spending years with the Foothills Stingrays, relay has taken on added significance since making the switch.
“When I’m part of a larger club the relays are a big deal because they’re actually medal contending relays and can earn points,” he said.
“It’s a new experience for me being on a fast relay.
“I was really trying to focus on the longer distance events, the 200m backstroke and 200m IM and really trying to push the last bit of each race because I’m training differently. It’s more metres and less speed.”
Fresh off competing at the world championship trials in Victoria, Lisoway has a new appreciation for what it takes to make the next step in competition.
“Huge eye opener because when I’m competing age group it’s so focused and I know exactly who my competitors are,” he said. “It’s such a small scale compared to when you go to a world championship trials meet and everything is open age category and you’re racing the fastest people in the country.”
One of those swift racers is a former teammate in Stingrays ace Finlay Knox.
The Grade 10 Foothills Composite student claimed all three gold medal performances for the medium sized club at westerns.
He edged out Lisoway for gold in the 200m IM and 100m breaststroke while adding a first-place finish in the 200m breaststroke.
The 400 IM, typically one of the top races for the decorated athlete, ended in a disqualification.
Elsewhere, Kennedy Loewen qualified for three finals, Alycia Weber earned two second swims highlighted by an eighth place finish in the 50m backstroke and Emilia Hesterman nabbed a 14th place showing in the 100m breaststroke.
For full results from the meet go to swimming.ca
