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SR in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, A pr i! 26 ,2 01 8 | SPORTS Visit insidehalton.com for more coverage Zavaros enjoys golden return from Commonwealth Games HERB GARBUTT hgarbutt@metroland.com You could forgive Mabel Zavaros for having a bit o f a slow start. The day before the Eastern Canadian Swim Champi­ onships began, Zavaros spent 24 hours on a plane flying back from Australia where she represented Canada at the Commonwealth Games. So when she was third after the opening leg of the 16- and-over women's 200-metre backstroke, you could un­ derstand i f she was feeling the effects o f jet lag. Except over the final 150 metres, she proved that wasn't the case. By the midpoint o f the race, she had taken the lead and as she made her final turn was leading by more than two seconds. Her time o f two minutes, 11.30 seconds - a personal best and the third best time in Canada this season - gave her the first o f three gold medals at the meet. Rather than being worn down from her 15,000-kilo­ metre trip, Zavaros was still riding a high from her biggest international meet where she made finals in both o f her events. "It was really cool. Seeing the athletes from the other sports, and the crowd was incredible. It just felt like ev­ erything was more exciting," the Burlington swimmer said of her experience at the Commonwealth Games. "It made you feel 10 times better and you wanted to perform so much better." And Zavaros did. She twice improved her personal best to qualify for the 100m butterfly final in 58.62. She broke the 59-second mark for just the second time in the final to finish eighth. Three days later she knocked more than a second o ff her best time in the 200m butterfly with a 2:08.71 to qualify for the final, where she finished sixth. "I was pretty happy that I was able to pull o ff a few best times at that level," the 18-year-old said. Joining Zavaros at the Commonwealth Games was Oakville Aquatic Club (O AK ) teammate Mack Darragh. Darragh won his 200m butterfly heat in 1:56.96 and went on to finish sixth in the final. He was edged by 2/100ths of a second for the final spot in the 100m butterfly final and was also ninth in qualify- Scott Grant photo Mabel Zavaros reached the final of both of her events at the Commonwealth Games. Taking just a couple of days off after returning from Australia, Zavaros won three gold medals at the Eastern Canadian Swimming Championships in Windsor. ing for the 200m individual medley, missing the final by one spot. Zavaros left the Commonwealth Games wanting more opportunities to compete for Canada. The next opportu­ nity w ill be the Pan Pacific Championships in Tokyo in August and Zavaros can earn her spot at the Canadian tri­ als in July. "After getting a taste of swimming at that level, I think Pan Pacifics would be really good for me." Zavaros also made the most o f return to national com­ petition, though she said Eastern Canadians were about getting some more swims in and supporting her Oakville Aquatic Club teammates. After taking the first two days o f the competition off, she added gold medals in the 200m breaststroke (winning by more than two and a half sec­ onds) and finishing in a dead heat in the 50m freestyle. She also teamed up with sister Rosie, Christian Ji and Dy­ lan Scholes to win a silver medal in the 4x100m medley relay. OAK's Callum MacPherson also earned a gold medal, winning the men's 14-16 200m freestyle. He added a bronze medal in the 50m freestyle. Rosie Zavaros won a silver medal after being edged by 3/100ths o f a second in the 50m backstroke and earned a bronze in the 200m backstroke. Collyn Gagne had a similar fate, finishing second in the 17-and-over men's 400m individual by 2/100ths o f a sec­ ond. He added silver medals in the 1500m freestyle and a bronze in the 400m freestyle.Lukas Wormald won bronze medals in the 17-and-over men's 200m and 400m individual medley and Scholes claimed a bronze in the 13-15 women's 100m freestyle. zaeedcf .(r- a YOUTH SOCCER SUMMER 2018OUTDOOR HOUSE LEAGUES AT APPLEBV COLLEGE & ST. THOMAS AQUINASFOR BOYS & GIRLS BORN 2002-2016 LEAGUES AVAILABLE TUES-SAT 4* 12 weeks of games, starts June 3-9 0 Soccer Tots program for players bom 2015/2016 includes parents & kids in fun 30min sessions * Teammate requests accommodated Paid, certified coaches 4* Team uniform included 4* Each player receives a ball J* Team photograph included & End of Season Awards 2002-2014 LEAGUES: $207.96 2015/16 SOCCER PROGRAM: $97.35 mailto:hgarbutt@metroland.com