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OAK rallies to claim national swim title by Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver staff 45 | Thursday, August 13, 2015 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com Sitting in third place entering the final day of the Canadian Swimming Championships, the Oakville Aquatic Club needed to make a big move in the final 10 races. The Edmonton Keyano Swim Club and the UBC Dolphins, the two clubs leading the team standings, each claimed a victory Sunday, but even though OAK didn't climb to the top step of the podium, its depth of talent carried it to the national title. A second-place finish by Tessa Cieplucha in the women's 800-metre freestyle and a bronze medal by Gamal Assaad in the men's 200-metre butterfly, leading a contingent of four Oakville swimmers to finish in the top eight, as well as top-five finishes by Marni Oldershaw and Mabel Zavaros, helped vault OAK past its rivals. But nowhere was OAK's depth more evident than in the relays. The Edmonton club may have stolen the title with its victory in the meet's final event, the men's 4x100 medley relay, except that OAK's two entries both made the final, finishing fourth and ninth to gain valuable points and seal the overall title. If there was someone who under- stands you don't necessarily have to win to benefit, it's Assaad. The 20-yearold represented Canada at last year's Commonwealth Games in Scotland and though he didn't make a final in Glasgow, Assaad came away with a better understanding of what it will take to reach the next level. "I was very happy to get that experience," he said. "Just being able to take in the whole thing and see some of the professional swimmers and see what they do to prepare -- stretching, visualization, physio, all those little details." The butterfly specialist put what he had learned to use at nationals, earning a gold and two bronze medals. Assaad claimed a bronze medal on the opening day of the four-day meet, posting a personal best of 24.54 seconds in the 50m fly. Saturday, he posted the best time in the 100m butterfly preliminaries (53.56), but was unhappy with his swim in the final. Though he failed to match his time, he touched the wall in 54.23 to finish in a dead heat with the UBC Dolphins' Coleman Allen for the gold medal. With the top three separated by less than a tenth of a second, Assaad still wasn't sure he'd earned a gold medal as he climbed out of the pool. "I wear glasses, so I couldn't see the Gamal Assaad of the Oakville Aquatic Club, shown competing at the Pan Am trials, won three medals at the Canadian Swimming Championships in Pointe Claire, Que. including a victory in the 100-metre butterfly. OAK claimed both the overall and women's titles. | photo courtesy of Swimming Canada other end," he said. "I didn't know what my time was or where I had finished." In his final individual race Sunday, Assaad took 1.18 seconds off a twoyear-old personal best to earn his third medal of the meet, taking third in the 200m fly in 2:01.20. "I hadn't done (a personal best) in a while so it was good to see one," he said. Assaad will also be happy to see a lighter course load at school this year. Going into his third year of mechanical engineering at Western University, Assaad has had as many as 28 hours of classes and labs each week, all while trying to maintain the training schedule of a high-level swimmer. "The first couple of years were a good solid wake-up call," he said. "But I think I'm over the hump. I just finished a couple of courses (over the summer) so I should have a lighter load." He carried a heavy load at nationals, also helping OAK's 4x100m freestyle and medley relay teams earn fourth-place finishes. Also taking on a busy schedule at nationals was Cieplucha, who played a key role in helping OAK win the women's title. In addition to her silver medal on the final day, she also won a bronze in the 400m individual medley and made finals in the 200m, 400m and 1,500m freestyle. She also swam two relays, finishing third with OAK's 4x200m freestyle team, which also included Alysia Leckie, Lauren Lalumiere and Alexandra FabugaisInaba. Marni Oldershaw finished ahead of Cieplucha in the 400m IM, taking the silver medal, and was fourth in the 200m IM. Oakville's Tera Van Beilen, swimming for the UBC Dolphins, earned a silver medal in the 100m breaststroke, a bronze in the 200m and was fourth in the 50m. She also helped the Dolphins take a bronze in the 4x100m medley relay. Oakville Whitecaps advance to Canadian Little League junior semifinal After a late night at the Canadian Little League junior championship banquet Sunday, Oakville Whitecaps coach Nick Rigato was a little worried about his team's preparation for Monday's early game. "We (the coaches) thought they looked sluggish and tired," Rigato said, "and we challenged them to prove us wrong." Jack Swanson's three-run double highlighted an eight-run first inning and Steven Hospital homered later in the game as the Oakville Whitecaps topped the tournament host, Lethbridge, 16-6. The win guaranteed Oakville a spot in today's (Thursday) semifinals. In Tuesday's final round-robin game, Emily Baxter, Nick Jaeggin and Graham Hamel combined to shut out Regina in a 17-0 Whitecaps win as the Whitecaps improved to 5-1. Leading the offence were Dylan Whittaker and Bernn Tabuyog, who each had three ground-rule doubles. Oakville closed Sunday's 13-1 victory over Glace Bay with eight runs in the fifth inning, capped by Swanson's home run. The Whitecaps bench was perfect on the day, going 6-for-6, including Baxter's double off the fence. Hospital pitched a complete game, allowing just one run. The Whitecaps provided their pitchers with strong defence. In the first inning of Saturday's game, the first two Medicine Hat batters reached base. The third batter singled, but Oakville's Brian Bowman threw out the runner out at the plate to start an unconventional triple play. Pitcher Dylan Whittaker settled in after that, breezing along until Medicine Hat loaded the bases with none out in the sixth. Whittaker struck out the next batter, then got a grounder back to the mound to start a double play. Meanwhile, the Whitecaps scored once in the first and added five in the second inning on their way to a 7-1 win. Oakville was edged 2-1 by Whalley, B.C. on a RBI-single with two out in the bottom of the seventh in its opener. Bowman and Whittaker each went 2-for-3 at the plate. THE GYM Convenient, clean, and friendly. NAUTILUS We're Oakville's best kept secret! Est. 1982 High quality weight training and Nautilus cardio equipment. Experienced and mature personal trainers. Carpeted, air conditioned with ample natural light from large windows. 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