The tournament was held from Aug. 4-13 and saw teams from the U.S., Brazil and Venezuela competing.
Canada had a strong showing from both teams.

The Canadian women’s team went undefeated to win gold, while the men’s side tied for third place with three other teams and ended up fifth overall. That was enough to secure the last qualifying spot for the Junior Worlds Water Polo Championship in Australia in 2012.

“Ideally, you want to bring home a medal, but we lost a few matches by one goal. The United States ended up losing the gold medal to the Brazilians by one goal,” Halajian said. “I would have liked to come home with a medal, but it didn’t work out that way.”

This was the second year in a row Halajian has represented Canada. Last year he travelled to Toronto and Serbia with the national team. This summer he’ll be heading to Europe with Water Polo Canada to take part in tryouts for next year’s squad.  Even though he didn’t win a medal, the 15-year-old Halajian gained valuable experience that will help him down the line.

“It was all very exciting. Just having the opportunity to play for the national team in amazing, but to get go to Puerto Rico and play against the U.S. and Brazil was incredible. I learned a lot and, at times, it was challenging,” he said. “Our hotel was right on the beach, so every morning we’d be up doing dryland training at 9 a.m. and jogging on the beach, and then we’d have to play a game at 3:30 p.m. But it was really fun.”

Halajian and Kotylak were two of the youngest players on their squads and both ended up playing in the starting line-ups for each by the end of the championship tournament, a major accomplishment for young water polo players.

Both players began their water polo careers at the Haney Neptunes Aquatic Club and are currently based in Langley, playing for the Fraser Valley Water Polo Club.


Scott McKenzie
The Times

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

The Fraser Valley Regional Synchronized Swimming Regional Championships were held at the Maple Ridge Leisure Wednesday, where members of the Haney Neptunes and Langley Flippers competed for spots at the Provincials.

The event started out with individual examinations by the regional judges, with Haney swimmers putting up the best scores in all of the age groups.

Kate Campbell was the run away winner in the Division 1-2 Beginners category with a score of 48.9, and was followed by Caitlyn McInnis who scored a 40.4.

In the Division 3-4 Beginner's category, Rebecca Todd scored a division-high 47.5.

There were only two swimmers in Division 1-2 Intermediate, but Haney's Anika Rich beat out Langley's Bethany Foot by almost five points.

Faith Philips and Tana George were standouts in Division 3-4 Intermediate, with Philips just edging George by less than a point.

Division 5+ Intermediate was also dominated by Haney, as Talana Madu, Sasha Walker and Morgan Mackay took the top three spots respectively.

In the Advanced division there were only two swimmers, both representing the Neptunes.

Madison Gwynne's 55.4 just beat out Kathleen Read's 54.4. The second half of the day was the routine swims, in which both the Neptunes and Flippers competed in both duet and team events. Haney's division three swimmers scored 44.6 in their "Madonna" routine, beating out Langley's "Ghostbusters" theme.

Haney's Intermediate's scored 53.8 in their Mariah Carey routine, outswimming Langleys score of 45.2
The Neptune's advanced swimmers swam to "All that Jazz," a theme borrowed from the movie "Chicago."
Haney scored an immaculate 54.8 for that routine.
Next for both teams is provincials, which happen later this month in Trail.

© Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Times 2008

Click here for the original article - Kelsey is a former Neptune and Neptune Coach