A young Fruitvale swimmer served notice that she can compete with the best in Canada.
Twelve-year-old Eden Kormendy attended the Canadian Age Group Swimming Championships in Montreal July 24-29 and placed among the top five in the country in the girls 12-and-under category.
“I think it was good and an overall great experience,” said the Greater Trail Swim Club (GTSC) athlete.
Kormendy placed fourth in the 50-metre and 200-m breastroke and fifth in the 200-m Individual Medley and the 100 breastroke, missing the podium by mere tenths of a second.
Kormendy said that all she expected was to swim personal bests and have fun, and that her strong finishes were a bit surprising.
“It was hard, I felt a little scared and nervous because I was racing against all of Canada’s top swimmers,” she said.
In the 50 breastroke Kormendy knocked almost half a second off her preliminary time, swimming it in 36.11 with Hailey Pauletto the bronze medal winner from Quebec out-touching her at the wall by four-tenths of a second. Fellow BC swimmer Faith Knelson won gold in the event in a time of 34.52 seconds.
In the 200 breastroke Kormendy was in second place at the 100 metre turn, trailing only Ellie Maradyn of Edmonton. However, in the homestretch Pauletto and B.C.’s Blaire McDowell overtook her in the final 100 to finish second and third respectively, while Maradyn claimed the gold.
Kormendy excelled with the Trail Stingrays summer swim club before joining the Greater Trail winter club a year ago, and has made great strides improving her times with every swim.
“This program is all new to the kids, and it’s just a year old,” said GTSC president and father Chris Kormendy. “So she had pretty good results for being kind of a newbie on the scene. It’s definitely a little different from what we’re use to in the past.”
Eden loves to compete and the soon-to-be J. L. Crowe student has her heart set on improving and attaining her goals.
“I just have to keep training harder, and going to (swim) meets, and keep trying to get more best times,” Eden added.
The Fruitvale Elementary grad also helped her three-person triathlon team take first place in the Cyswog’n’fun sprint competition in Nelson on the weekend. She, along with brother Dylan and Trail’s Jackson Konkin, will also race in the 1,500 metre Apple Open Water Swim in Kelowna Aug. 16-17, and participate in an open-water clinic with Richard Weinberger - bronze medalist in the 10-km open water swim event at the 2012 London Summer Olympics.