The Toronto Pam Am Sports Centre seems to be conducive, these days, to elite level performances - and Summer McIntosh isn't the only swimmer to think so.

While the 16 year-old Canadian sensation broke a pair of world records recently at the 2023 Canadian Swimming Trials in Toronto, a pair of locals also were raising the standard, both personally and regionally, at the very same meet.

Of particular interest was the continued rapid ascension of Alexandre Landry. The Valley East native continues to chop off times in far bigger increments than expected, setting a new PB in both the 200m breaststroke (2:19.24 - 12th) and the 100m breaststroke (1:03.08 - 8th), both of which now stand as regional records as well.

In fact, his 200m breast time bettered the previous mark which had stood for nearly forty years, a clocking that was originally recorded by one Alex Baumann - double gold medal winner at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, NCAA standout and Sudbury Laurentian Swim Club (SLSC) teammate Nina Kucheran was also busy rewriting a pair of regional records of her own, racing to personal best times in both the 100m breaststroke (1:08.29) and the 200m breaststroke (2:26.90), ranking fourth in the country in both distances.

This was the third time this year that Landry has competed at the TPASC, now more than comfortable with some of the structural advantages to the venue that has seen countless records fall.

"The way the sides are built, the deck level is the same as the pool," explained Landry. "There are no high walls so the water doesn't get pushed back into the pool. I was on outside lanes for the prelims, which was kind of an advantage for me."

"I am almost never in the outside lanes, usually, so this was different, but fun."

After attending some training sessions and racing the TYR Pro Series last month in Florida, Landry spent some time finetuning his craft, with the results more than a little obvious.

"I was changing my stroke a little bit, working a lot on my arms," he said. "With a month in between, I took off about four seconds on the 200m breaststroke, just from a technique perspective - well, that and working out in the gym and stretching."

The performance from the SLSC pair was just the latest in the way of good news for the club, with Callum Duncan (age 10 - silver in both the 50m and 100m breaststroke) and Daxton Hester (age 11 - silver in 50m freestyle; bronze in 100m freestyle) both reaching the podium at the 2023 Winter Ontario Festival Championships while Ethan Handy (age 18 - silver in 1500m freestyle; bronze in 800m freestyle) and Ben Schell (age 16 - bronze in 200m backstroke) both doing likewise at the 2023 Winter Ontario Youth-Junior Champs in late February.

Rounding out the SLSC contingent that were competing that weekend were Lauren LaPrairie (11), Hudson Green (12), Jack Smith (12), Adan Lindfield (16), Grace Thomas (16) and Noah Rioux (17).