Pickering teen set to swim, study at Mac

PICKERING -- Competing for the Pickering Swim Club since age eight, Jeff Cernele’s life has always found a place for swimming.

So, to go off to university to focus solely on academics and leave swimming behind wasn’t something the 18-year-old Pickering resident was willing to contemplate.

In the fall, Cernele will continue competitive swimming, while also studying kinesiology, as part of Hamilton’s McMaster University men’s swim team.

After attending a tryout at the university last November, he recognized pool work and school work could co-exist nicely.

“(McMaster) has a good kinesiology program and that’s what I wanted to get into,” he said in a recent interview poolside at the Pickering Recreation Complex. “I went down last November and everyone on the (swim) team is nice and it seems like a good group of people. I got to know them really fast.

“I definitely wanted to attend school over swimming, but McMaster allows that (to do both). I definitely wanted to keep swimming.”

Cernele looks forward to competing for McMaster under head coach Andrew Cole while swimming against other university teams in the province.

“I’m very excited; I can’t wait. (University swimming) is not the same as club swimming, it’s more team oriented and I enjoy the team aspect of it.”

The St. Mary Catholic Secondary School grad says he’s prepared to swim any distance or any event for McMaster, noting he’s an all-rounder in the pool, although he hopes to compete in the 200-metre individual medley at the university.

“I’m open to anything; whatever they need me to swim,” he said.

Cernele notes success in the pool didn’t come until relatively late in his competitive swimming career at the Pickering Swim Club. He didn’t qualify for the provincials until he was 13. But, once he got the first taste of provincial success, he went on to swim at the provincials seven times -- four in long course (50-metre pool) and three in short course (25-metre pool) -- in his 10 years at the club.

In addition to the provincials, Cernele also qualified for the Eastern Nationals at Etobicoke’s Olympium pool in February where he faced many of the top senior swimmers in the country.

While he may be moving on to university, Cernele says he still plans to return to the Pickering Swim Club to train in the off-school months with long-time coach and PSC head coach Lucie Hewitt-Henderson.

He credits Hewitt-Henderson for his growth as a competitive swimmer.

“The coaching there has been awesome. Lucie has been so motivating and inspiring. For me, she’s the perfect coach.”

In addition to club swimming in Pickering, Cernele also competed on the St. Mary Catholic Secondary School swim team this year. He helped capture gold for St. Mary at the Lake Ontario Secondary School Athletics (LOSSA) and Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) championships while competing with teammates Jose Baylon, Michael Foster and Josh Elsier in the 200-metre medley relay event, setting a new record for the event at OFSAA.

While attending McMaster, he hopes he can help the swim team capture an OUA (Ontario University Athletics) championship during his time at the campus.

“I think it would be cool to help them win a OUA title. I would like to win that for McMaster.”