Burke enjoys silver lining at nationals in hot swing cut pic

Burke represented the Marlins' best hopes for a medal before last week's Canadian Age Group National Championships in Calgary -- and proved just why during them.

Matching the medal count he secured last summer in Montreal, the 15-year-old swimmer highlighted a busy four-day stretch with a pair of silver-medal performances in the boys breaststroke.

His finishes in the 50m and 100m, personal-best and club record times of 31.13s and 1:09.18 respectively, were just a heartbeat off of the winner from Pointe-Clarie, Quebec.

Burke shed more than a second off his third-place preliminary time in the 100m to move up a spot in Saturday's final, and made a slight improvement in the shorter distance as well -- allowing him to take second on Friday.

"Brent was really strong and aggressive out there," said Marlins head coach Jamie Brough, who pointed out that Calgary's much higher altitude definitely impacted his team. "He's still got a lot to learn, with also having had a DNF (did not finish) and another race that was well off his personal best. But he really competes hard."