12.06.87

Several meet records have been broken so far this weekend at the
seventh annual Youth Cup in the Etobicoke Olympium as 730 swimmers
14 and under, representing 73 clubs from across Canada, compete in
the the meet that ends today.

Jamie Stevens, a 12-year-old from the Olympium Swim Club in
Edmonton, was 4/10ths of a second short of setting a national age
group record last night in the boys 11 and 12, 400-metre
freestyle. He covered the distance in 4:23:36, the third fastest
time in Canada and a meet record.

Another meet record breaker, Andrew Foulds, 14, from the Thunder
Bay Thunderbolts, covered the 400-metre freestyle in the boys 13
and 14 age group in 4:05:63.

Joanne Malar, 12, from the Hamilton Wentworth Aquatic Club, broke
last year's Youth Cup record in the girls 11 and 12 400-metre
individual medley with a time of 5:08:50.

RECORD IN RELAY

A boy's relay team from the North York Aquatic Club, sponsors of
the tournament, set a record in the 400-metre freestyle relay on
Friday night. Kalman Fekete, Scott Speedman, Joon-Keong Chang and
Cam Rose surpassed the six-year-old record set by the Pointe
Claire Swim Club by slighly more than a second, with a time of
4:10:56.

There were records of a different sort set last night too.

Catherine Seeback of the Etobicoke Swim Club won her first race of
the meet - in the dark.

Only 20 minutes into the final races and in the middle of the girls
11 and 12 consolation 200-metre butterfly final, the lights went
out momentarily at the pool auditorium.

The blackout, due to a transformer malfunction outside of the
building, led to the rescheduling of the consolation race.

Seeback's race, however, the championship 200-metre girls butterfly
age group 11 and 12, which followed right after the blackout, took
place in a dimly lit auditorium.

"It was kind of scary," said the Brampton girl, 12, who won with a
time of 2:27:60. "The only thing that kept me going straight was
the black line on the bottom of the pool."

SIMILAR ATTITUDES

Chris Givens, Seeback's coach, says he sees similarities between
Catherine and Allison Higson, the 14-year-old who won a gold medal
in the 200-metre breaststroke at the Pan Pacific games this
summer.

"Their attitudes are similar, but there is a little difference in
their strokes," said Givens, assistant head coach at Etobicoke.
"Right now, Catherine's one of the best in the country, and if she
keeps working as hard as she is and keeps her attitude, she'll
continue to be the best in the country as she moves up in the age
groups."