Swim BC Announces New Program Director

Swim BC is pleased to announce that Ms. Holly Brown will assume the position of Program Director, Swim BC, effective January 1st, 2000. Ms. Brown brings a broad knowledge of aquatics to the position. We are confident she will be a postive addition to our office and our association.

Jessica Deglau Wins Silver at US Open

Jessica Deglau of Vancouver took a silver in the women's 200 butterfly at the US Open held in San Antonio Texas Dec. 2-4.

Susie O'Neill of Australia took the gold medal in the race, and Deglau, the top qualifier in morning heats, was second, coming in with a time of 2:11.19. Maki Mita of Japan was third. Jennifer Button of Waterloo, Ont., placed fifth.

"The time was extremely strong for this point in the season," said Deglau, who heads to Hawaii with her Pacific Dolphins clubmates for a training camp next week. "I was especially pleased with my last 50 metres. It's a part of my race I've been really working on."

Another BC swimmer, Christin Petelski of Victoria, was fourth in the women's 200 breaststroke. Philip Weiss of Victoria, sixth in the men's 200 butterfly.

The next major meet will be the fourth stop on the World Cup circuit, held in Shanghai on Jan. 4-5.

Full US Open meet results.

Sears Swimming Skins Meet to be shown on CTV Sportsnet!

If you want to see swimming like you've never seen before in any Canadian pool, make sure you tune into the Sears Skins Meet on CTV Sportsnet (times to follow). The Sears Skins meet took place in conjunction with the recent World Cup in Edmonton. The Skins format, with $20,000.00 in prize money up for grabs, is designed with entertainment in mind. The swimmers play to the crowd, entering in wigs and costume. Between events the athletes interact with the audience. The events themselves are unconventional to say the least. Consider the 200m Mystery Medley. In this event competitors swim the four strokes according to a random draw that takes place just prior to the race. So for example, while Joanne Malar is swimming backstroke Marianne Limpert might be doing freestyle. Then there's The Eliminator, where world record holder Penny Heyns competes in a 200m broken backstroke. Not enough? See Curtis Myden, world #1 in the 400IM, take on Tom Wilkens, ranked 1st in the world in the 200IM, in a never before seen 300 IM. Is it fun? The 1200 screaming fans packed into the Lindsay Park Centre thought so. Check it out for yourself. And if you need further encouragement, you have to see the entrance Mark Versfeld makes....

New Canadian Record for Kelly Stefanyshyn

Kelly Stefanyshyn of Vancouver smashed her own Canadian short course record in the women's 200 metre backstroke, winning a gold medal at the Speedo FINA World Cup in Edmonton in the process.

Her previous record of 2:09.37 was set in February, and she broke it twice at the World Cup, first in the preliminaries with a time of 2:08.79, and then again in the final, where she swam 2:08.06 and was more than four seconds faster than the second place finisher.

"I never even thought about possibly doing this," she said after the race, "when I saw the time I was shocked. In the final it all came together and I felt strong in the water."

Kelly, 17 years old, swims with the Pacific Dolphin Swim Association with coach Tom Johnson.

Swim BC home.