Harvey Hadley ’27 Competes at Ontario Junior International — Issue 16

The Ontario Junior International (OJI) swim meet, held this year from December 10–14 at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre, is the pre-eminent U19 swimming competition in Canada. The list of names in the OJI record books reads like a who’s who of former and current Olympians and Paralympians from Canada and around the world. Simply qualifying for the meet is a significant achievement, underscored by the fact that only five boys from Nova Scotia qualified this year, including Harvey Hadley ’27.

Canada’s top national youth meet is fittingly hosted at the country’s premier aquatic facility. While we are justifiably proud of the Elliott and Barbara Spafford Pool—our four-lane, 25-metre home pool—the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre operates on a very different scale. The venue features an eight-lane 25-metre competition pool, a ten-lane 50-metre training pool, and the centrepiece of the facility: a ten-lane 50-metre competition pool with seating for 3,500 spectators and a scoreboard that is, quite literally, larger than our entire pool.

The goal of qualifying for the Ontario Junior International in December 2025 was set back in September 2024, at a time when Harvey was still a long way from the standard. However, meaningful goals must be set before they can be achieved. Harvey competed in four events: the 50m backstroke, 100m freestyle, and his primary events, the 200m and 400m freestyle. These races span a wide range, from the explosive 27-second 50m backstroke to the endurance-based four-minute 400m freestyle.

Harvey recorded personal bests in all four events, with his 400m freestyle performance standing out as exceptional. He dropped eight seconds from his previous best, and more than 22 seconds from his time in September 2024, to earn a place in the B final, finishing 16th overall after entering the meet ranked 37th. Advancing to a second swim was not on the radar 15 months ago and was still considered a long shot just a week before the meet. He also made substantial gains in his other events, improving from 79th to 35th in the 100m freestyle, from 55th to 39th in the 50m backstroke, and from 46th to 25th in the 200m freestyle.

One of the most objective measures of competitive performance at a major meet is the progression of athletes metric, which evaluates how swimmers perform relative to their entry times and to one another. Among the 435 athletes representing 96 clubs at this year’s Ontario Junior International, King’s-Edgehill Highlanders ranked first overall in progression, as published by the meet organizers.

Highlander Swimming will continue training until December 23 before taking a short break and then preparing for the next swim meet for AA/Nova Tech swimmers on January 25 in Greenwood, followed by the AAA swimmers the next weekend.

Philip Hadley
Senior School Faculty
Coaching XC, T and F, KES Swimming