By Sean Fitz-Gerald
Ryerson swimmers wrapped up personal records as their going away presents for coach Alison Lee.
Lee said she was very happy with her team’s performance at the meet. “Everyone exceeded their goals and went beyond what they thought they could do,” she said. “There were no limits. It was amazing.”
Lee, who doesn’t normally single out team members for praise, said she was impressed with the way rookie Chris Baronenas swam in the 100-metre breast stroke. Baronenas shaved a full 12 seconds off his personal best time.
Baronenas, a third-year hospitality and tourism management student, is a long distance runner, and didn’t start swimming competitively until a friend talked him into trying out for the team this season.
Baronenas said when he started in September, he couldn’t swim four lengths of the pool without taking a break.
“I couldn’t believe it, I had to look at it [the clock] like three times,” he said. “I hopped out of the water and I wasn’t even tired.”
“My dad came to watch. It’s the first time he’s ever seen me race, so I think that had something to do with it,” he added.
Lee was also impressed with swimmers Danny Beasse and Shariar Zayyani.
Beasse, a fourth-year architecture student, cut a full 14 seconds off his personal best time for the 200-metre breast stroke, finishing with a time of 2:52:47.
Zayyani, a third-year engineering student, also improved his personal best time. He sawed six seconds off his 100-metre back stroke, finishing with a time of 1:00:99.
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