In February and March, just weeks before the Canadian Olympic Swimming Trials were set to begin, St. John’s native Peyton Mullowney was the fastest 200-metre breaststroke swimmer in the country among 16-year-old females. In addition, she was No. 3 in the 100m breaststroke, and fourth in the 50m breaststroke.
And then the pandemic hit.
As a result, the Trials set for March 30-April 5 in Toronto were postponed.
Other events, namely the Canadian junior championship and the nationals, would follow.
But nevertheless, 2020 hasn’t been a total wash-out, because Mullowney also found out she will be competing in the top collegiate ranks in less than a year.
Now 17, Mullowney is the latest swimmer from Newfoundland and Labrador to secure a full athletic scholarship to a United States university, recently signing her NCAA Letter of Intent to attend the University of Denver on a full-ride beginning next fall, 2021.
Peyton Mullowney is a Pio. ✍️ #PioneerTogether
Posted by Denver Swimming and Diving on Monday, November 16, 2020
“The scholarship has been a bright spot in what otherwise has been a pretty challenging year,” said her father, Rob Mullowney.
Peyton Mullowney is a former St. John’s Legend, starting with the Aquarena-based club as a 13-year-old.
She swam only a couple of years in St. John’s before moving with her family to Ontario.
Her father was the vice-president of operations with the American Hockey League’s St. John’s IceCaps before taking over as chief operating officer and alternate governor for the AHL’s Belleville Senators.
Rob Mullowney has since moved on to the big club, joining the NHL’s Ottawa Senators as their senior director of corporate partnerships in June of 2019.
Peyton Mullowney, who is in Grade 12 at Ottawa’s Immaculata High School, joins another St. John’s native and former Legend on an NCAA swimming scholarship; Noah Cumby is attending Texas Christian University.
She initiated the recruiting process by engaging a company, American College Connection, which reaches out to universities and colleges.
“She started getting recruited in the summer of 2018,” her father said. “She was talking to coaches all the time. They remained in contact, seeing how her times were progressing.”
When Denver reached out, Mullowney was immediately intrigued. The Pioneers’ women’s swim coach is Canadian, Alicia Hicken-Franklin, from Campbellville, Ont., and as a result, will support Mullowney’s Canadian swimming aspirations.
Denver is also a smaller campus, “and she really liked the atmosphere there,” her father said.
Denver’s athletes also partake in altitude training in the Mile High City, which helps aerobic capacity.
In swimming, the Pioneers compete in the Summit League with midwestern, western and southern U.S. universities like North Dakota, South Dakota, Illinois and Omaha.
Denver has won the last seven Summit League women’s swimming championships.
Peyton Mullowney has a younger sister, Maeve, who is in Grade 8 and swims with Ottawa’s Kingfish club.
Robin Short writes about sports in Newfoundland and Labrador.
