Satbir Singh | Sports Information Coordinator 

Ava Snyder has felt every up and every down since January.

The 20-year-old will be joining the Mohawk Mountaineers in September as a member of the cross country team, while also studying Health, Wellness and Fitness at the college. But before all that begins, Snyder has been selected to represent Team Ontario in triathlon at the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games this August.

"I'm super happy to get this opportunity," Snyder said.

The process to get to this stage over the last few months, however, hasn't been easy.

From Burlington, ON, Snyder has competed in triathlons since 2017 and through the years has stayed relatively healthy. In 2018, she would earn a silver medal at the Ontario Summer Games – and it was at this moment she began to believe she could one day compete at the national level.

Snyder officially submitted her intent to Triathlon Ontario to represent the province at the Canada Summer Games this past January.

"I was very confident in myself and I was pretty happy with how my training was going," Snyder reflected.

Fifteen female athletes put their names forward to represent Team Ontario. Only three would be selected.

Snyder had the attitude that she belonged on the team.

"There's a spot for me and let's make that spot mine," she recalls telling herself.

In the early months of 2022, Snyder's training included swimming six days a week, biking three to four times a week, and running every other day, including one day per week with the Mountaineers cross country team.

"Cross country running is obviously a lot different than triathlon, so it was good to have that different mindset," Snyder said. "Just having a run-focused mindset was really refreshing."

The confidence to possibly represent Ontario was now at an all-time high.

In March, things took a turn. Snyder headed to Banff, Alberta, to visit her brother and enjoy some snowboarding. Upon her return she felt some pain on the inside of her left knee.

"It started out as a six-out-of-10 (pain level) so I thought it was OK to push through," Snyder said. "When it was really bad it was like an eight-out-of-10 to some days feeling like I could barely even walk."

It was at this point the triathlete was shutdown from all running, and even biking was painful. Swimming – one of the three stages to triathlon - became the only focus.

On a journey to find a diagnosis of what was wrong with her knee, Snyder visited three different specialists, seeing each doctor multiple times. She received different answers varying from a possible nerve impingement to being told she should run through the pain.

Now only a month away from triathlon season, Snyder had not run for two-and-a-half months and still had no clear answer as to what was wrong with her knee.

"I was pretty down," Snyder recalled. "It was one of the darker moments of my life, that is for sure."

It was then in May when Mountaineers cross country head coach David Hopton introduced Snyder to Geoff Gamble – a chiropractor at Niagara Health and Rehab Centre in St. Catharines, ON.

On Snyder's first visit to Gamble, she was taken through a run gait analysis, or in other words, a tool used to assess the way a person walks and runs.

She admits to being skeptical at first, specifically after being given so many different answers before. But Snyder also lives by the motto of 'do what you love and love what you do,' ultimately choosing not to give up.

"After we went through the entire process of the gait analysis, my mind and feelings completely switched because I realized how in-depth Geoff was and how much he truly knew about running, and about body anatomy and how it all works," Snyder said.

It was at this point that the confidence Snyder had pre-injury started to creep back. She finally felt her body was working with her rather than against her.

Snyder was running again as of June 1 and had to complete two run time trials within two weeks to keep the Summer Games hopes alive. She completed one on June 13 and the other on June 17, the last day possible to submit trial times.

"It was definitely one of the most shocking moments of my life," Snyder said.

Then, on July 9, Snyder was set to compete in Triathlon Canada's National Championships. The race played a big part in Team Ontario's selection process.

Reflecting back to that race, Snyder said she had a great swim and continued to be part of the lead pack during the bike stage.

"It ended up being one of the hardest bike rides ever because I was in a field of people that I've never actually been able to keep up with or race with," she said.

Once at the running stage, Snyder's knee didn't act up and there was no pain. The overall run wasn't the greatest, she said, but it was enough to earn one of three Team Ontario spots.

"I'm going to the Games with a strong mindset, knowing that I have prepared as well as I can and I've done everything I need to do and honestly, I'm just going to give it my all," Snyder said.

She acknowledged that making the Summer Games was the ultimate goal, but added "I would really like to turn some heads in the triathlon world".

Snyder and Team Ontario will compete at the Canada Summer Games on Aug. 8 in the sprint triathlon and again on Aug. 11 in the super sprint triathlon.