Member Association News: Canada Announces Diving Team for Bangkok
July 4th, 2007
Four Senior National Team Members Lead Canada’s Diving Squad
Canadian Interuniversity Sport announced the athletes that will represent Canada in diving at the 2007 Summer Universiade in Bangkok, Thailand (August 8-18). The eight-athlete contingent will be led by senior national team members Roseline Filion (Laval), Véronique Lemieux (Mascouche, Que.), Kevin Geyson (Winnipeg) and Eric Sehn (Edmonton). Majoring in communications at Collège André-Grasset, Filion has had a strong season and is expected to finish in the top 12 at this year’s Universiade. Consistently making the top 12 internationally, Filion recently placed 12th at the 2007 World Aquatic Championships and 5th at the USA Grand Prix in the 10 meter platform. Fillion performed exceptionally well in 2006 as she captured bronze in the 10m synchro with Meaghan Benfeito at both the 2006 FINA World Cup and the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Fillion was 5th in the 10m platform and 3rd in the 10m synchro with Rachel Kemp at the 2006 Chinese Grand Prix.
In her first year with the senior national team, Université de Montréal’s Lemieux will be participating in her first multi-sport event. Competing in the 3m springboard, she finished 11th in the same event at the 2006 Russian Grand Prix. Studying Kinesiology at the University of Manitoba, Geyson won silver in the 10m platform at the 2006 Summer Senior National Championships. Training with the Pan Am Diving Club, Geyson placed 5th in the 3m synchro with Cam McLean and 9th in both the 3m springboard and 10m platform events at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Geyson is one of two athletes returning from the 2005 Summer Universiade team. Eric Sehn also returns from the 2005 Canadian contingent. The Geography major has enjoyed a successful diving career at Texas A&M. He swept all three diving events at the Big 12 championships during each of the past two seasons. In Canada, Sehn won gold in the 1m and 10m synchro with Wegadesk Gorup-Paul as well as bronze in the 3m and 10m events at the 2006 Summer Senior National Championships.
Rounding out the 2007 Canadian squad are the University of Manitoba’s Lauren Penko (Winnipeg), Polytechnique de Montréal’s Nicolas Leblanc (Longueuil), University of Miami’s Reuben Ross (Regina) and University of South Carolina’s David Ovelsen (Edmonton). Penko began competing on the international scene two years ago and recently advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s 10m event at the 2007 Italian Grand Prix. Leblanc is the lone returning member from the 2003 Universiade team. Competing in the 10m event, he won bronze at the 2007 Winter Senior National Championships, placed 5th at the 2006 Summer Senior National Championships and finished 9th at the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix. Ross, a freshman, won the Atlantic Coach Conference (ACC) titles in the 3m and 1m springboard events. At the NCAA Championships, he placed 4th in the 10m, 8th in the 1m and 9th in the 3m earning two All-American honours. Following a successful freshman year, Ovelsen finished 5th in the 1m and 9th in the 3m springboard events at the 2007 Southeastern Conference (SEC) championships.
Staff
The diving support staff will be comprised of team leader Anne Warburton, sports program manager with Diving Canada. Warburton will be joined by Aaron Dziver of the Montreal CAMO Diving Club and Herb Flewwelling of the Edmonton Springboard and Platform Diving Club. Coaching Canada’s National Senior and Junior teams, Dziver was named 2006 Junior Coach of the Year by Diving Canada. He was Canada’s team leader at the 2005 Summer Universiade and head coach at the 2003 Summer Universiade. One of Canada’s top coaches, Flewwelling has trained over 50 national senior and junior team members. The two-time Olympic coach has worked many international events including the Pan American Games, Commonwealth Games, World University Games, FINA Grand Prix and World Aquatic Championships. The diving competition begins August 13th with women’s platform. China won eight of the 12 diving events at the 2005 Summer Universiade, earning a total of 14 medals (eight gold, four silver and two bronze). Canada’s National Senior Team member Marie-Eve Marleau recorded the best result, finishing 5th in the 10m platform.
Canadian Diving Team
ATHLETES (University, Hometown, Events) Roseline Filion (Collège André-Grasset, Laval, 10m) Véronique Lemieux (Université de Montréal, Mascouche, 3m) Lauren Penko (University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, 10m) Kevin Geyson (University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, 10m) Nicolas Leblanc (Polytechnique de Montréal, Longueuil, 10m) David Ovelson (Univerisity of South Carolina, Edmonton, 3m) Reuben Ross (University of Miami, Regina, 3m & 10m) Eric Sehn (Texas A&M, Edmonton, 3m) STAFF (Club, Position) Aaron Dziver (CAMO Diving Club, Coach) Herb Flewwelling (ESP Diving Club, Coach) Anne Warburton (Diving Canada, Team leader) Jocelyne Carignan (Judge)
