Ella Rennie knows the pressure will be on when she takes to the pool Thursday at the 2020 U SPORTS Swimming Championships being held at the University of Victoria, B.C.
Despite the high stakes, the 18-year-old Barrie swimmer and first-year Western University student, who has been competing at a national level since she's been 12 years old, relishes the challenge of going up against the best.
"Everyone is there for the same reason. Everyone wants to win," said Rennie, who took home four medals at last week's Ontario University Athletics Swimming Championships held at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre. "I think Ontario has some very good competition – U of T (University of Toronto) obviously at the very top, so you're always there to catch them.
"I think with the next couple of top universities like University of Calgary and UBC (University of British Columbia) they have very fast swimmers as well, so just having that extra pressure on you knowing that there's a lot of fast girls out there just motivates me more to go catch them," she added. "They made it here, I made it here and we're both here to swim fast, and it'll be just who can execute their game plan the best."
The St. Joseph's High School graduate flew out to Victoria on Monday and admits she's excited to get going, even though she's feeling nervous.
"It's nice to get in some long-course time to swim and see if we can qualify for a couple of Olympic trials, but I'm really excited," said Rennie, who is studying kinesiology at school in London, Ont. "I'm nervous going into it, but we're going to use those nerves in a positive way. We're excited and we're just going to stick to the game plan and know that everyone has your back and I'm going to have other people's back.
"Just going to go there, have some fun, swim fast and see what we can come out with."
Rennie, one of eight Barrie Trojan Swim Club alumni competing, came out with quite the performance at the three-day OUA championships. She captured gold in both the 400-metre individual medley (IM) and 200-m breaststroke events, a bronze in 200-m IM and another medal in the 400-m medley relay.
Her biggest splash came in winning the 400-m IM when Rennie raced past U of T swimmer Abby McDonald on the last lap to prevent McDonald from winning her fourth straight OUA gold medal in the event.
While the 400-m IM is Rennie's strongest event, she admits she's had a bumpy road over the last couple of years in the event. She credits her Western coaches for her late kick thanks to the "painful" sets she went through in practice.
Rennie aimed to get in a good position with the strong U of T swimmers and with support from her teammates in the stands, she clocked in a finishing time of 4:50.56, just ahead of McDonald's time of 4:51.85.
"The 400 IM is such a drastic event because it's so long and there's all the strokes in it," Rennie said. "It shows who's the strongest flyer, backstroker, breaststroker and then whoever has it at the last. I tried just to stay calm before the race and then throughout the race I knew that certain people, and a lot of the U of T girls, would be ahead at some point.
"But if I could stick to the plan that I had going in with my coaches, then I knew I was physically able, with all the training and support I had from the team and everyone watching, to come back strong enough to hopefully get to the top, which was accomplished."
Rennie says it was tremendously satisfying to keep her composure and stay with the game plan en route to her gold-medal win over McDonald. Having the mindset and the physical state to stay with the game plan is something she has struggled with.
"The training that I've had here this year has been excellent and I think physically what's allowed me to stay with my game plan is that all the practices are so mentally tough that I've been able to mentally break down that wall," Rennie said. "During practice, even if I break down, I'm just getting back up. Every time you get back up you're going to see success and I think just being able to get back up during all those IM sets have been very helpful."
The accolades at the OUA championships didn't just end with the medals. Rennie was quite surprised during the meet when she was named the OUA female rookie of the year.
"It was an amazing experience, an amazing feeling when I heard my named called after that 200 IM swim," she said. "Just knowing that I went through hard practices, mentally and physically. Some practices and some periods within the last couple of years have been quite bumpy and just knowing that I was able to get back up after rough times and everything falling into perfect place right now is an amazing feeling.
"I honestly wouldn't change one thing, but for sure, I was not expecting that."
While it's been quite the first year of school for Rennie, she is quick to point out that all of this likely doesn't happen if it hasn't been for the support she has received over the years.
"My mom, she is amazing," Rennie said. "She calms me down, she tells me, 'You got this.' It's like, 'OK, you're right'."
Practising with talented Western swimmers such as Sabastian Paulins has also made her a better swimmer, says Rennie. Paulins, who she calls a role model and pushes her in practice, won four gold medals and a silver at the recent OUA championships.
"Everyone always sees it from an individual point of view when you touch the wall and your name is up there, but what I've learned over the last couple of months being here is it's a lot different than club swimming." Rennie explained. "It's not just saying 'I saw success and other people haven't,' but being on an amazing team that has your back all the time. Amazing training partners like Seb Paulins and Stephanie Cairns every day for IM and if they weren't there to push me I for sure wouldn't be here.
"As well as Megan Deering. We both made it on to the podium in 200-m breaststroke. Just knowing that we have a strong bond and all the coaches is one thing that has made this year so successful."
The 2020 U SPORTS Swimming Championships run from Feb. 20-22 at the Saanich Commonwealth Pool.
