Swimmer Evan Van Moerkerke reflects on growing up in Tillsonburg and winning silver in the men’s 4x100 freestyle relay at the Pan Am Games
A t 6’9” tall, Evan Van Moerkerke is used to having people look up to him. But having strangers ask for his auto- graph? That still feels a bit surreal. Ditto for all the interview requests. But after earning a spot on the Canadian National Swim Team in April and picking up a silver medal at the Pan Am Games in July, Evan has become a bit of a celebrity in southwestern Ontario. On this particular night, the 22-year-old Tillsonburg native is at Lake Lisgar Waterpark, where
he’s celebrating with his hometown fans. The crowd gathered on deck includes various aunts and cousins, former coaches, swim team mem- bers, neighbours, friends, and of course, reporters. The weather is chilly and threatening rain, but none of that dampens the enthusiasm poolside. “Here, let’s compare hardware,” jokes Tillsonburg Mayor Stephen Molnar, handing Evan his mayor- al chain of office in exchange for a chance to hold up Evan’s medal. The meet and greet continues
throughout the evening and while Evan is gracious to everyone, he’s especially patient with the kids. Af- ter all, it wasn’t that long ago that he was their size. The youngest of three children, Evan spent much of his childhood at the Tillsonburg Community Cen- tre, watching his older brother and sister compete with the Tillsonburg Aquatic Torpedoes (TAT). Then one day he decided to give it a try too— if only to help pass the time. “I mostly remember the social aspect of swimming when I was younger,” Evan says. “I think that was probably a sign of great coach- ing. They kept it so fun and inter- esting that it didn’t really seem like work.” It wasn’t until Evan was a teen- ager that he began to get more seri- ous about his swimming. By then he was training with TAT’s successor, Southwestern Aquatics. “In 2011, I went to the world tri- als and made the world juniors,” he recalls. “It was a complete surprise and I was like, ‘Wow, I could really do this.’” The Canadian Mens 4x100 Freestyle Relay team celebrates winning silver at The 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto. From left: Santo Condorelli, Karl Krug, Evan Van Moerkerke and Yuri Kisil.
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