>> OSSC Swimmers Off to Mexico for ASUA Meet

Three OSSC athletes will be getting another taste of international competition next week as they travel to Mexico with the National 13 – 15 Team for the first ever ASUA Pan American Synchronized Swimming Championships.

Candace Caskey, Rachel Kowalski and Annette Petersen are three of 10 swimmers who were selected from across the country to form the national team that will participate in the 13 – 15 age category at the ASUA Meet August 22 – 26 in Oaxtepec (just south of Mexico City) Mexico. The meet, a new addition to competition at the International level, was established to help develop emerging elite synchro swimmers and will host teams from some 12 countries including Argentina, Canada, Costa Rica, United States, Peru, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Mexico to name a few.

Synchro Canada , the single national governing body for synchronized swimming in Canada , selected the 13 – 15 National Team after conducting team trials during which invited participants executed 4 pre-set figures before a panel of judges. The 10 athletes with the top10 figure scores were unofficially named to the team on June 10, and later centralized in Montreal where they began training on July 30. Click Here to read Synchro Canada Press Release

The opportunity to represent Canada next week is just one more achievement for the 3 OSSC swimmers this year. In May, Candace, Rachel and Annette – all members of OSSC's Gold team – traveled to Peru with club coaches Kelly Hogan and Kerri Morgan to claim top prizes in figures, solo, duet and team at the III Synchro Peru Aquatica Cup; in June, the team competed at the 2006 Canadian Espoir Synchronized Swimming Championships where they swam their way to a second place finish to capture the Silver Medal and broke Quebec's long-established stronghold on the podium.

The ASUA swim meet will get underway on August 22 with Duet and Solo Preliminaries, followed by figures and Duet finals on August 23, team finals on August 24 and Solo finals on August 25. You can join the girls on their upcoming journey by catching all the action at http://www.asua-aquatics.org/html/English/Sync.html and viewing pictures at http://www.fmn.org.mx/micrositios/panam06/fotos.html