July 9, 2010

Shane Miszkiel

WINNIPEG – Shane Miszkiel of Victoria and Pamela Ware of Montreal are both two-thirds of the way to completing gold medal sweeps in the 16-18 age group at the 2010 Speedo Junior Nationals diving competition.

On men's one-metre, Miszkiel earned a Canadian junior record 526.08 points to break the previous mark of 517.18 set by Cam McLean of Winnipeg in 2008. Nicholas Beaupré of Montreal was second at 503.65 and Samuel Parent of Montreal third at 478.40.

''Last year I missed the record by just over a point so I really wanted to get it this time,'' said Miszkiel, the three-metre winner on Thursday. ''Consistency was the key to my success today. I hit my optional and compulsory dives.''

On women's three-metre, Ware took the title with 522.75 points. Jo-Annie Dubois of Quebec City was second at 510.25 and Rachel Kemp of Victoria third at 482.10. Ware also won the one-metre on Friday.

Taylor Olanski of London, Ont., was the victor in the girls 14-15 platform for her first career national title. ''It's just fantastic to get the win,'' said Olanski. ''I knew the other girls were going to be amazing and bring their best stuff. I raised my level of difficulty for this season and that's made a big difference.''

In the 12-13 age group, Philippe Gagné of Montreal took the boys three-metre and Emily Schmidt of Victoria the girls one-metre.

''My goal is to win three gold but I'm still doing better than I thought,'' said Gagné, the one-metre winner on Thursday.

''My reverse one and half and my compulsories were my best dives,'' said Schmidt. ''I really wanted to be on the national team and I had to get myself focused, I listened to my coach and did really well.

Lindsay Leonard of Pointe-Claire, Que., took the girls 11 and under platform

The competition is also a selection meet for the world junior championships in September. Competition continues through to Sunday at the Pan Am Pool.

Full results: http://www.issmembership.com/diving/live/schedule.aspx

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