Matthew Swanston, a member of the Newmarket Stingrays, has accepted a scholarship to Stanford University in Palo Alto, Ca. Stanford is the No. 2 ranked swim team in the United States.
Newmarket
December 01, 2008 03:48 PM
John Cudmore, Staff Writer
Some guys react well to good news.
Matthew Swanston certainly did. And he’s had plenty in recent days.
One day after being named the Canadian male junior swimmer of the year at Swimming Canada’s Big Splash year-end awards banquet Thursday, the 17-year-old member of the Newmarket Stingrays went out and showed why by setting a Canadian age group record in the 200-metre backstroke at the Canada Cup swim meet in Etobicoke.
Swanston roared to a 1:55.47 clocking in winning the event that attracted an international field of senior swimmers.
In the process, Swanston established a record in the 15 to 17 age group, but was also only one second off the senior Canadian record in recording the fastest time this season by a Canadian swimmer.
Swanston, a Grade 12 student at Sir William Mulock Secondary School in Newmarket, also claimed a bronze medal Sunday night in the 100-metre backstoke, setting another Canadian record in the 15 to 17 age group.
The rest of the good news? The Newmarket resident also accepted a scholarship to attend Stanford University where he will join the NCAA’s No. 2 ranked Cardinal swim team next year.
“I’ve been thinking in terms of a scholarship for a while,” said Swanston, who is preparing for this weekend’s Youth Cup, in Etobicoke.
“With our graduating swimmers I always hear about their scholarships so that became my goal.”
Swanston received offers from several high profile schools, including swimming powers University of Southern California, University of Texas and University of Michigan, before settling on Stanford, near San Francisco.
“Stanford one of the top-ranked schools in the United States for academics and swimming,” he said.
In all, three members of the Stingrays received individual awards Thursday night at Swimming Canada’s awards ceremony.
Olympian Lindsay Seemann was voted the Speedo Golden Kickboard Breakout Swimmer of the Year by members of the national team.
As well, Stingrays head coach Alan Swanston, Matthew’s coach and father, was named Canadian male junior coach of the year.
The triple threat marked the club’s first awards at the national level.
The 17-year-old Swanston claimed the award as top under-18 swimmer, based on the highest scoring swim of the year.
Swanston’s winning swim was the 200-backstroke at the world junior long course championships in Monterrey, Mexico in July. His time of 2:00.53 scored 907 points on the FINA points chart.
“It was a great motivation for the weekend,” said Swanston, referring to the award.