>> Provincial Title for Knobbs

The Ontario synchronized swimming championships were held last weekend with 14-year-old Jennifer Knobbs earning the total aggregate award (top athlete) for 15 to 18 year old competitors.

The Oakville resident won first place gold in both solo and duet (with partner Amy Levine of Mississauga and back-up Taylor Durand of Toronto ).

She also earned second place in team and third place in figures, the latter behind her duet partner Levine, a Grade 11 student, and champion Morgan Clarke, a Grade 12 student. The scores were very close between the three of them.

Knobbs is a Grade 9 student at Silverthorne Collegiate in Etobicoke where she is part of their high performance program.

Her training includes at least 20 hours of work each week in the pool, combined with dry land strength training and dance lessons.

Knobbs is following up a stellar year in which she also won the total aggregate award in the U-15 category at the nationals, finishing first in her division in the solo and figures. She also picked up a bronze medal in the duet competition and was part of a group that placed second in the team competition.

Knobbs raised some eyebrows last October when she was the youngest competitor to try out for the Canadian national junior team and finished 12 out of 48 competitors.

A member of the Olympium Synchronized Swimming Club in Etobicoke, her immediate goal is to make the Canadian junior team and her ultimate goal is to compete in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.