Laurentian Swim teams set to make a splash at OUA Swim Championships

SUDBURY, Ont. - February 10th through the 12th the Olympic Gold Pool at Laurentian University will alive with action as the Laurentian Voyageurs are set to the host the 2006 OUA Swim Championships.

The Laurentian Voyageurs swim teams are preparing for their final test of the season and are poised to make a splash.

Both the men and women's swim teams have had some great performances in all of the previous meets and will be counting on some key performers this coming weekend.

On the men's side, veteran Ryan Smith (Almic Harbour, Ont.) will be the one to watch as he will be heading into many of his races with a top 6 seed time. Rookies Blair Smith (Coburg, Ont.) and Buddy Green (Garson, Ont.) will also be ranked high in the mid to distance freestyle events.

Other vets including Dave Cheung (Toronto) and Brent Poulsen (Orillia, Ont.), along with rookies Mike Allain (Port Elgin, Ont.), Erik Donald (Oakville, Ont.), Alain Delorme (Sudbury, Ont.), Graham Ford (Carleton place, Ont.) and Matt Moskal (Ingersoll, Ont.) will look to help a small but powerful Vees squad mount their attack on the rest of the OUA swim teams.

On the women's side, third year swimmer Stephanie Kuhn (Timmins, Ont.) will be ranked high in many of her individual events along with team mates Lauren Coughtry (Waverly, N.S.), Courtney Hicks (Burlington, Ont.) and Erin O'Neill (Sudbury).

Rookie Amanda Long (Mount Brydges, Ont.) will be looking to surprise many swimmers in her first OUA Championship as she too will head into the weekend with many top 16 rankings.

The Lady Vees are rounded out by veterans Amanda Burchert (Kemptville, Ont), Alicia Kaye (Pickering, Ont.), Ashley Nardella (Brampton, Ont.) and Jaimie Scobie (Newmarket, Ont.), along with rookies Kelly Cook (Lyndhurst, Ont.), Alix Cronk (Kingston, Ont.), Cassandra Kawiuk (Oakville, Ont.), Laurene Merlaud (St. Jriest, France), and Erin Sulpher (Almonte, Ont.). These individuals will be looking to turn in strong performances this weekend in aims at keeping the Lady Vees a dominant force in the OUA rankings.

Head Coach Phil Parker is excited for the Conference Championships and feels the swimmers, although small in number this year, will make a solid impact this weekend here in our own house.

"They have worked very hard in training all year long and are getting more and more mentally prepared for the final task at hand. They have a great deal of confidence in one another and it is quite inspiring for a coach to see the teams coming together just at the right time."

Meet times for this upcoming weekend are as follows; Friday February 10th and Saturday February 11th preliminary races run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Finals are at 6 p.m. (on both days). Sunday preliminaries are run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Finals start at 4 p.m.

- VOYAGEURS -