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Rachel Nicol caps strong weekend in Austin at Pro Swim event

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AUSTIN , Texas – Canadian Olympic finalist Rachel Nicol of Lethbridge, Alta., ranked third in the women’s 50-m breaststroke for her second top-three finish this past weekend at the opening event on the Pro Swim Series circuit.

Saturday marked the Series’ debut of shootout-style 50-metre races across all strokes. Each event started with eight in the quarterfinal, with the top four moving to the semifinal round and the top two racing head to head in the final.

In the women’s 50-m breaststroke, the Calgary-based Nicol and Faith Knelson of Victoria ranked fourth and sixth in the preliminaries in 31.50 and 31.84. In the quarterfinals, Nicol was third in 31.03 and Knelson fifth in 31.53 .In the semis Nicol was third again in 30.93.

Molly Hannis defeated Katie Meili in an All American final in a meet record 29.71 to 30.87.

Jade Hannah of Victoria also ranked third in the women’s 50-m backstroke. She ranked fourth in the prelims in 28.93, fourth in the quarters in 28.71 and third in the semis in 28.60.

In another all American final Regan Smith beat Olivia Smoliga clocking 27.85 to 27.89.

On Sunday morning in the women’s 1500-m freestyle Mabel Zavaros of Toronto was seventh.

Canadian men’s finalists on the weekend were Rob Hill and Tristan Cote, both based in Calgary, fourth and seventh in the 200-m mystery medley; Alexander Milanovich of Etobicoke and Gabe Mastromatteo of Kenora, Ont., fourth and eighth in the 50-m breaststroke and Jeremy Bagshaw of Victoria in the 400-m freestyle.

Meanwhile, the Canadian contingent included four swimmers from the national team development program which recently trained at the HPC-Ontario. They were Noah Cumby (St. John’s Legends club and coached by David Ling), Oksana Chaput (Manta Swimming, Szilvie Carriere), Genevieve Sasseville (Chatham Pool Sharks, Kyle Pinsonneault) and Ainsley McMurray (Cote Saint-Luc Aquatics, Mike Calcutt).

The next stop on the circuit is March 1-4 in Atlanta.

Full results: Meet Results: 2018 TYR Pro Swim Series, Austin

Meet Results: 2018 TYR Pro Swim Series, Austin