University of Minnesota Athletics
5 Gophers to Compete at Canadian Nationals
3/31/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
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TORONTO - A group of Golden Gophers have headed north to compete in this week's 2015 Canadian Swimming Trials. The meet will begin Wednesday, April 1 and run through Saturday, April 4 at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre and will feature Minnesota's Samantha Harding, Jakub Maly, Jessica Plant, Kierra Smith and Devin Ste. Marie, who will be representing their respective club teams.
Kelowna, B.C. native Kierra Smith admits that  three years ago she did not know what the NCAA Championships were, wasn't able to locate Minnesota on a map and had never swam in a yards pool. Now coming off her junior season filled with accolades, including a 200-yard breaststroke National Champion crown and being tabbed as the Big Ten Swimmer of the Year, Smith will use this meet as a qualifier to represent Canada at this summer's Pan Am Games and World Championships.Â
Smith is seeded first in the 200-meter breaststroke with a 2:23.32, an event she hopes to represent Team Canada for at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
"I am so excited to have some of my Gopher teammates there," Smith shared. "We have worked hard all season, it will be fun to support each other at this meet and see each other swimming fast."
While the Gopher women competing all hail from Canada, Jakub Maly, an Austrian native will use the meet to gather times in the international format (long course meters, rather than the NCAA's short course yards) to qualify for this summer's World University Games and World Championships. Coming off last weekend's NCAA Championships, Maly feels well prepared.Â
Maly knocked down two Minnesota school records in his sophomore season as a Gopher in the 400 IM and 200 breast. Maly's primary focus this meet will be on his best event, the 400 IM. His best meter time in the event is a 4:19.21, and similar to Smith, achieving a new personal best would put him in a great position for the next summer's Olympic Games.
"The experience I gained this season made me not only grow as a swimmer, but as a person as well," Maly stated. "I learned that being a Gopher is not only a huge opportunity but requires a lot of responsibility as well. I could not be more excited to organize all the knowledge and experience I gained so far and make the third year even better."
Like Smith, Maly is very excited to have some Minnesota teammates competing and feels fortunate that head coach Kelly Kremer will be in attendance.Â
Jessica Plant and Devin Ste. Marie are a part of Minnesota's senior class that has won four-straight Big Ten Women's Swimming and Diving Championships. Junior freestyler Samantha Harding will also be competing.
The rest of the Golden Gopher swimming and diving family wishes these five competitors the best of luck this week. Updates will be posted on the team's social media, with a full recap of the 2015 Canadian Swimming Trials concluding Saturday night's events.
Schedule for Gophers at Canadian NationalsÂ
Preliminaries 9 a.m. CT // Finals 5:00 p.m. CTÂ
Samantha HardingÂ
400 LCM Free (Friday)Â
800 LCM Free (Saturday)
Jakub Maly
400 LCM IM (Thursday)
400 LCM Free (Friday)
200 LCM IM (Saturday)
Jessica Plant
200 LCM Free (Wednesday)
100 LCM Free (Thursday)
400 LCM Free (Friday)
Kierra Smith
200 LCM Breast (Wednesday)
100 LCM Breast (Thursday)
200 LCM IM (Saturday)Â
Devin Ste. MarieÂ
50 LCM Fly (Wednesday)
100 LCM Fly (Friday)Â
200 LCM Fly (Saturday)
Players Mentioned
