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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Canada Games Manitoba swimmer speeds to gold

Vanlandeghem wins 100-metre freestyle

By: Tim Campbell

Posted: 08/26/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

MANITOBA'S third gold medal of the Canada Games came from a surprising source -- at least according to her -- swimmer Chantal Vanlandeghem.

Vanlandeghem, 15, posted a personal-best time of 54.12 seconds to nip Ontario's Sinead Russell at the touch in the 100-metre freestyle Tuesday night at CARI Aquatic Centre in P.E.I.

The margin of victory was officially three one-hundredths of a second.

"Oh, I knew it was going to be a really tight race going in and those last 10 metres, I knew they were there and I just put my head down and tried to keep my tempo the best," Van Landeghem said via phone after the race. "I had no idea it was going to be that close."

Vanlandeghem's gold bumped Manitoba's total to 12 medals at these games so far.

She said her pre-Games expectations were just personal.

"This is definitely a surprise to me because my goal coming in was just best times," she said.

Vanlandeghem will try to carry the momentum to the pool today, when she competes in the 100 metre backstroke and 50 metre butterfly. She has three other events later in the week.

On the baseball diamond Tuesday, Team Manitoba has taken care of its own business so far, leaving it in a strong position for a medal by week's end.

Manitoba edged rival Alberta 3-2 in a key Tuesday game at Memorial Field in Stratford, P.E.I., moving to 3-0 in the Pool B standings. That should be easily good enough for a spot in one of Thursday's two semifinals regardless of today's result against 1-2 B.C.

The top two teams in each five-team pool move to the medal round.

"We knew we'd be in a dogfight with them for a crossover spot," Team Manitoba head coach Andy Boehm said via phone after beating Alberta. "We got three in the first and they came right back at us, but we withstood the surge and held them to one in the first."

It evolved into a pitchers' duel, and Manitoba's Shane Seddon surrendered just three hits and went the distance for the victory.

In the final inning, he got a pop-up with one out and an Alberta runner at second, then struck out the final batter to nail down the win.

"My team got me three runs early today and I think that took a lot of pressure off," Seddon, a Winnipegger, said.

"Shane's a contact pitcher and our defence was making the plays," Boehm said. "Our defence got us to this point so far. I think we're looking good for the semis but until I get the confirmation from a reliable source, I won't be totally comfortable," Boehm said.

On the track, Manitoba added two more silvers thanks to solid races from Carly Paracholski and Quin Ferguson.

Paracholski, just 15, is headed for her Grade 11 year at Sisler but posted a personal best in winning silver in the women's 400 metres on Tuesday.

Her time of 54.95 seconds was only .36 seconds behind winner Kate Ruediger of Ontario.

"I knew I'd have a chance at top-four but I had to push for anything more," Paracholski said via phone. "I didn't know after the heats because everyone backs off (in them). My race Monday was really relaxed, no nerves. I had nerves today, so I just decided to push myself so I wouldn't have any regrets.

"Usually, I have a good finish but this time, the girl who won (Ruediger) started pushing it at 150 (metres) and in the last five metres, I was just trying to hold off (the girl in) third place."

Ferguson, the University of Manitoba's male athlete of the year for 2008-09, ran 47.32 seconds -- just a fraction off his personal best -- to finish second to Daniel Harper of Ontario, who stopped the clock at 47.15.

"I felt really good in the warmups and I ran the race I wanted to," said Ferguson, who moves to Victoria in the fall to continue his training.

Both Paracholski and Ferguson have the 200 metres and 4x400 metre relays left Thursday, and will take heat-winning Manitoba teams into the finals of the 4x100 metre relays later in the week.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 26, 2009 C6

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