The Holy Trinity Titans: Team's Review

The Holy Trinity Titans didn't just win their second straight NSSAA/BCSSAA District swim title last week, they tightened their grip on the crown. A sizable HT squad was at the Wayne Gretzky Centre Jan. 11, where 15 members and seven relay teams qualified for the upcoming CWOSSA Championships. The Titans were so strong they almost doubled the next closest squad in the combined team scores. Holy Trinity finished with a whopping 1148 points with Brantford Collegiate second with 598.“It's awesome because you look in the water and half the pool is dominated by HT swimmers – in the top five there's three from HT and we're scoring a lot of those points because we have a pretty big swim team for a small-ish county,” said Titan Oliver Godelie. A member of the Norfolk Hammerheads Aquatic Club, Godelie was a force throughout the meet, qualifying for CWOSSA in the Open Boys 50m freestyle, 200m freestyle, and 100m butterfly, as well as anchoring the school's championship 4x100m freestyle relay team. Not a bad district debut for the Grade 9 student.“It was really awesome because (during the relay) I hit the wall, looked at the scoreboard and was in first place and it's just such a great feeling, especially at a meet as big as districts,” said Godelie. It might have been a thrill for Godelie to perform well on a big stage, but it didn't come as a shock.

As a member of the Hammerheads, the youngster often trains for events like the district competition.“I was expecting from the start to make CWOSSA, to make OFSAA – not to place necessarily but I was expecting to be there – so it doesn't come as too big a surprise,” he said. Another Grade 9 student making waves for Holy Trinity was Kyla Twinem. The former member of the Brantford Aquatic Club broke the district record for junior girls 50m breaststroke (40.81s).“My coach (Josh Reid) was way more excited than I was,” Twinem smiled. “He was getting me pumped up for a week saying 'if you keep your time you'll get a record'. I'm really happy about it but hopefully, I'll do better next time.”The next step for the Titans is the Central West meet that goes Feb. 14 in Wilmot. Top qualifiers there will move on to the OFSAA Swimming Championships in Windsor Feb. 27-28. With first semester exams on the horizon, the Titans won't get much of an opportunity to train as a team prior to the CWOSSA meet.

Twinem will take it upon herself to keep the rust off.“I want to get more training in because I can push myself more,” she said. Other HT standouts include Femke Backx, who placed first in the Open Girls 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle, and 100m backstroke, as well as anchoring the 4x100m freestyle relay team to a first-place finish. Xander Zona won all of his events – junior boys 100m freestyle, 100m individual medley, 50m breaststroke. Zona also anchored the Titan senior boys 4x50m freestyle relay team to victory. A few of the other individuals qualifying for CWOSSA include Nicholas Kauk, Matthew Kauk, Alex LeBouthillier, Elijah Easton, Emilia Veri, Hayley Mattice, Josiah Smith and Bella Azzopardi.